Every fall, the longest known migration of any insect results in blankets of orange covering oyamel fir forests in Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the butterfly sanctuaries provide overwintering habitat for millions of monarchs that have traveled 2800 miles from Canada and the United States to overwintering sites in Mexico.
It’s still a mystery on how this generation of monarch butterflies finds their way to Mexico. These southern-bound monarchs are four to five generations removed from the pregnant females that started the northward migration the previous year.
This stunning transformation of this Mexican Forest with the monarchs’ arrival is one of the world’s greatest wildlife spectacles. Here are some highlights from our recent trip to two reserves (Piedra Herrada and El Capulin) in Mexico State.
