The Beauty of the Monarch Butterfly

Stunning, beautiful, fragile, naturally elegant and graceful.  Once again our family was blessed to witness the culmination of the inexplicable Monarch Butterfly Migration in the Sierra Gorda Mountains of Mexico.

We, along with others silently gathered in the dusty, cool, pine woods setting high in the mountains of Mexico.  There as we watched as Monarch Butterflies filled the skies we were witnesses of the majestic beauty of even the simplest of creatures.  What a tremendous creation and an awe inspiring experience.  As the silence of the area penetrated the air we could hear the faint flap of butterfly wings.  Even though we were accompanied by a four year old and her two year old little brother we were able to enjoy the silence and the beauty of the moment.  (Although, in true honesty, with these two little ones it was shorter lived than I would have enjoyed.)

The sky was absolutely filled with Monarch butterflies and the tree branches are drooping with clusters of butterflies in the trees.  After the butterflies mated the males often fell to the ground and died leaving the females to rest then begin their flight back to the plains of Texas, U.S.A. and the preferred milkweed plant to lay their eggs.

As stated, after mating in the mountains of the Sierra Gordas the male species will die and often there are many butterflies littering the ground that have reached the measure of their creation and have died thereafter.  Any and all butterflies you see in these photos either landed on us or were gathered from the ground by our guide - those butterflies that had mated and were dying.

Our littlest princess was celebrating her birthday weekend and enjoyed riding horses up the mountains and seeing all the beautiful butterflies.  She was able to hold a couple of the male species as they were passing away.  It was beautiful to see the gentle touch of a child as they held a fragile creature.

Our Birthday Girl and Her Butterfly!