posted by Travel Cat on Jan 22
Every Year there is a massive influx of millions of Monarch butterflies to certain towns in Mexico - and you could see it for yourself.
By visiting the Mexican state of Michoacan to the west of Mexico City towards the end of February, you could witness around 120 million Monarch butterflies take to the skies as they start to become active after the colder winter months.
The sky around you literally turns orange with millions of tiny wings fluttering past you in search of a tasty breakfast!
Why Here?
Every year in North America, the Monarchs react to the wetter colder climates by moving south with the sun from about August onwards, they stop over in California and Florida around October before flying to Mexico for the winter. After a few months of inactivity in the cooler weather, they start to head back north around February/March, through the southern states for late spring, then reaching their destination in summer.
However, this migration is amazing as no one butterfly will ever make the whole round trip - only it’s offspring or even the generation after that which returns to the northern states and Canada the following summer!
Butterflies need warmth to grow and fly as they are not warm-blooded like ourselves, so if these Monarchs are going to be adults throughout the year they need to follow the sunshine to stay active - hence the migration south towards the tropics. After all - we travel there for warmth too!
Why Visit?
Apart from the amazing sight of all these animals in the same place - their awakening coincides with the calving of Grey whales in Baja California just a bit further west again.
There are many stories of the mothers bringing their calves over to small boat so they can be petted and scratched by humans! Strange really considering that we humans virtually wiped them out over 100 years ago!
There are hundreds of Grey whales around at this time including wandering males too! San Ignacio Lagoon is fast becoming the best site to find ‘friendly’ whales, and offers many boat trips throughout the season specifically for this phenomenon!
Further events in Mexico include:
1st - Constitution Day - A celebration of past events - Nationwide
2nd - Candlemas - To celebrate the end of Christmas - Nationwide
10th to the 16th - Carnival - Not quite as grand as Brazil - but a great event none-the-less - Nationwide
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