The monarch butterfly has officially arrived in Michoacán.
According to the Revolución News, the first colonies were spotted around noon on Nov. 1 before millions of butterflies arrived in huge clouds by the afternoon.
Michoacán is home to the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, which spans over 562 square kilometers (also including parts of México state) and is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Every year, the reserve welcomes around 200 million butterflies that make a journey of some 4,000 kilometers from Canada to nest in the pine and fir forests of Mexico.
The ejidatarios (communal landowners) of El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary confirmed the arrival of the butterflies and are expecting the arrival of at least 250 million this year.
The sanctuaries are set to open to the public in the second half of November. The region expects 511,000 tourists this year, around 7% more than last season, according to the Tourism Minister for Michoacán, Roberto Monroy García.
The season is expected to bring in 625 million pesos (US $35 million) of economic revenue for the state.
“They are flying in the United States and Canada, but their breeding sanctuaries are concentrated in the Michoacán forests,” Monroy told newspaper El Universal.
Michoacán has three monarch butterfly sanctuaries open to the public: El Rosario (the largest), Sierra Chincua and Senguio, which are home to the butterflies from November to March each year. Visitors can walk around the designated areas on foot or on horseback. México state also has three butterfly sanctuaries open to the public.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declared the migratory monarch butterfly as endangered last year. However, on September 27, the subspecies was downgraded by the organization to “vulnerable to extinction,” a lower level in the risk classification system.
The reason for this change is that the IUCN has found that the models that predicted the insect’s disappearance were overly cautious, and the numbers are declining more slowly than previously thought.
With reports from Revolución News, El Universal, National Geographic and Gobierno de Michoacán
This has always been on my bucket list. Maybe this year is the time to finally do it!
How safe is it in Michoacan? The last 5 years it has been too dangerous to go.
We have been twice and felt quite safe. Michoacán is a amazing state, filled with wonderful people. Much of the trouble there is in the Tierra Caliente region, far from the reserves and not a place tourists generally head. El Rosario is nice, but if you take a day trip from the capital of Morelia (a fabulous city), it’s well over 3 hours each way which doesn’t leave much time for viewing. I highly recommend the Cerro Pelon B & B reserve in the small town of Macheros, state of Mexico. It is a truly exceptional eco lodge run by a family who are doing amazing things for this community and of course, the monarchs.
It is suggested we go between Nov and Nov 20 and March 10. I have gone once and it was so cloudy and cold they were not selling tickets to go into the Sanctuary. What is the best time during these months to go.
You mention that at El Rosario alone, 250 million butterflies are expected this year, “out of which almost 4,000 travel from Canada to nest in the pine and fir forests of Mexico.” Where did you get the number 4,000? That is a gross underestimate! My understanding is that the ultimate summer destination of the eastern monarch is in Ontario and Quebec, so the number coming from there would be well over 100 million. From our backyard in Syracuse, New York, we probably see close to 4,000 that are traveling from Ontario to Mexico. And we’re just a dot on the migration map!
Thank you for reading through and for pointing that out – you were right and we’ve fixed it!
I just read a lengthy article from the New York Times about the corruption and enormous deforestation happening in Michoacan due to illegal logging for avocado plantations…..which affects the butterfly habitat, as well as a host of other environmental problems, like draining aquifers. It is up to the Mexican government to manage exports of a product like avocado in a manner that does not destroy the environment. Sadly this is not happening due to lax oversight and corruption. Sure, the U.S. consumes all the avocados Mexico can provide, but it is, in the end, the governments responsibility to manage responsibly.