Mexico | Migration of the Monarch Butterflies

About this trip

One of the most amazing phenomena in nature is the epic annual migration of eastern Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) southward from their breeding grounds in the United States and Canada to overwintering sites high in the mountains of central Mexico. Hundreds of millions of Monarchs fly up to 3000 miles to eventually reach the belt of high volcanic mountains which stretches across the southern end of the central Mexican plateau. At about a dozen isolated places within the high-altitude forests of this zone, Monarchs pass the winter in aggregations that can exceed 2 billion individual butterflies. Stand amid the fir-covered mountains and witness this awe-inspiring spectacle firsthand as the monarchs flutter, dip, and swoop overhead.

Highlights

• Spend time exploring the city of Morelia and take in its rich culture and history.
• Hike or ride horseback to three different monarch reserves, where millions of individual monarch butterflies gather.
• Photograph the dramatic colors of the butterflies as they hang in clusters from the trees, drink from streams, feed on wildflowers, and soar in the air above.
• Spend time exploring colonial Angangueo, which was once a mining town but now derives most of its livelihood from butterfly ecotourism and agriculture. 

Meet Your Leaders

Susan Meyers

After visiting the Mexican overwintering colonies with Dr. Bill Calvert in March 2003, Susan began volunteering with Monarchs Across Georgia (MAG), a committee of the Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia. She facilitates educator workshops using the Monarchs & More curriculum and incorporates community science projects such as Monarch Larva Monitoring Project, Journey North tracking, Monarch Watch tagging, and Project Monarch Health. She administered MAG's Pollinator Habitat Restoration Grants (2012-2020) through the US Fish and Wildlife Service and was honored with a Conservation Partner Award for her work with monarchs. 

Organizing trips to the Mexican overwintering colonies since 2004, she initiated the Mexico Book Project, bringing books written in Spanish to schools near the sanctuaries. In 2018, Susan was selected to coordinate the Symbolic Monarch Migration, a 22-year-old program created by Journey North. This annual tri-national project mimics the monarchs’ journey by engaging thousands of youth from across the United States and Canada in creating paper butterflies to send to the students in Mexico. As real-life monarchs arrive in Mexico for the winter, these symbolic monarchs are delivered to schools surrounding the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. In the spring, as living monarchs return north so will the paper butterflies carrying messages from the students in Mexico.

 Susan received her BS in Microbiology and MS in Environmental Science from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, and Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne respectively. She retired in 2012 as an instructor from Stone Mountain Memorial Association where she taught K-12 students a variety of science-based lessons from geology to life cycles. Susan is also a Georgia Master Gardener, Master Naturalist, and certified Environmental Educator.

Kim Bailey

Working in the field of education for over 25 years, Kim has enjoyed a wide range of experiences including teaching middle school life science classes, leading wilderness adventure trips, directing outdoor environmental education programs, and training teachers and naturalists.  She has also volunteered for Master Gardeners, Master Pomologists, Georgia Native Plant Society, Monarch Across Georgia, Bee City USA, and National Wildlife Federation’s Habitat Stewards. She first visited the monarch overwintering sanctuaries in Mexico in 2002 and has since co-led many trips to the monarch biosphere region. Over the years, she became enamored with natural history of Michoacán as well as its many cultural and culinary delights.   

In 2014, Kim moved to family property located in the mountains of Western North Carolina and founded Milkweed Meadows Farm. Generations ago, the land was a working dairy farm.  Today, instead of producing milk, the farm grows milkweed, specialty fruits such as pawpaw and native passion fruit, pollinator-friendly potted plants, heirloom vegetable seeds, wildflower seeds, and cut flowers.  Kim not only enjoys gardening for bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other wildlife at the farm, but loves sharing knowledge about creating pollinator habitats with others. She has a true passion for pollinators and is a frequent speaker at local and regional symposia, events, and schools. Educational programs and/or farm tours for groups are also regularly scheduled onsite at Milkweed Meadows.  

Kim holds a BS in Biology and Secondary Education and a MS in Curriculum and Instruction.  When not out digging in the dirt or selling plants at local farmers markets and garden festivals, she enjoys hiking local trails with her two Carolina dogs, trying out new recipes as part of an adventuresome cooking club, and attempting to fly fish.