This blog concentrates on the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Angangeo.
We stayed at the Casa del Anticuario in Morelia, which in itself contains a lot of history.
So on to the butterflies.
We left our hotel at 9:00am for a 2.5 hour ride up the mountain to the Pueblo of Angangeo This ride is a constant uphill ride to an elevation of 3300 meters or almost 11000 feet. One we arrived at the top of the mountain we had to climb for another 45 minutes to the summit.
Here are some photos of our experience as well as a bit of history of the Monarchs in Mexico.
Fortunately we had an option to rent a horse to maneuver that climb, So we hopped on our horses an proceeded up the mountain. On arrival, we had to continue walking for about 30 minutes to arrive at the sanctuary. On the way in we spotted several stray monarchs.
When we reached the summit, there we posted signs to remain very quiet. What we witnessed was nothing short of amazing. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of monarchs perched on treetops for everyone to photograph. It was a long and arduous climb but well worth the effort. Especially for the poor horses that had no access to water during the trip. We chose to walk down the mountain to return.
Milkweed is their source of food, which is apparently only prevalent in that region of Mexico, and Canada in the summer.
Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve
The 56,259 ha biosphere lies within rugged forested mountains about 100 km northwest of Mexico City. Every autumn, millions, perhaps a billion, butterflies from wide areas of North America return to the site and cluster on small areas of the forest reserve, colouring its trees orange and literally bending their branches under their collective weight. In the spring, these butterflies begin an 8 month migration that takes them all the way to Eastern Canada and back, during which time four successive generations are born and die. How they find their way back to their overwintering site remains a mystery.
The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve World Heritage property protects key overwintering sites for the monarch butterfly. The overwintering concentration of butterflies in the property is a superlative natural phenomenon. The millions of monarch butterflies that return to the property every year bend tree branches by their weight, fill the sky when they take flight, and make a sound like light rain with the beating of their wings. Witnessing this unique phenomenon is an exceptional experience of nature.
Criterion (vii): The overwintering concentration of the monarch butterfly in the property is the most dramatic manifestation of the phenomenon of insect migration. Up to a billion monarch butterflies return annually, from breeding areas as far away as Canada, to land in close-packed clusters within 14 overwintering colonies in the oyamel fir forests of central Mexico. The property protects 8 of these colonies and an estimated 70% of the total overwintering population of the monarch butterfly’s eastern population.
Integrity
The
property includes more than half of the overwintering colonies of the
monarch butterfly’s eastern population. They provide a good sample
of the areas that are essential for maintaining this superlative
natural phenomenon. The maintenance of the standing forest and the
microclimates that they create is the key management requirement,
thus any threat to the forests is of utmost concern. Illegal logging
is a known threat to the property with potential direct impacts on
its Outstanding Universal Value. Public use has been increasing and
the levels of visitation and infrastructure provided require careful
control both in relation to impacts on the ecosystem and the quality
of experience provided by the property to visitors. Due to its
migratory nature, the maintenance of the overwintering phenomenon
also requires attention to the conservation of the monarch butterfly
by those countries through which it travels during its life cycle.
No comments:
Post a Comment