This year, for our annual photography trip to see the migration of the monarch butterflies, we went to Santuario Piedra Herrada, one and a half's hour's drive from Mexico City in the Estado de México, in the second week of February. Unlike last year, the weather was warm and sunny which meant we were able to see and photograph hundreds of thousands of monarchs flitting around.Every year, millions of monarch butterflies fly 3000 kms south from Canada and the United States, escaping the cold weather, to a small area in the mountains of Central Mexico where they winter in large colonies in the oyamel fir trees. The long journey down takes two months and they stay here until late February and March when they begin the trip back. To get to where the butterflies were wintering, we hiked or rode horses up the mountain to an altitude of over 3000m (10,000 ft), led by a local guide. This year, the monarchs were much closer and we stayed up there to photograph them for about an hour, watching the colonies suddenly come to life as the sun's rays touched them. The guide explained that the male monarchs have two black spots on their rear wings while the females are slightly smaller. It was a fascinating sight to see and we had plenty of time to get a wide variety of photos ranging from close-ups of individual butterflies to capturing them flying in the air, perhaps the most complicated shots to get.We had a refreshing day out in the mountains, witnessing and photographing one of nature's most incredible spectacles. This is definitely a must-see, at least once in your lifetime if you live in Mexico City, more if possible as each time and location is so different from each other.
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Margaret MetcalfeBorn to travel, explore and share photos and experiences Archives
May 2019
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