To reach the
wintering grounds of the Monarch Butterflies we
rode small horses up the mountainside. These are transvolcanic
mountains in the Sierra Madre range of Mexico. Formed relatively
recently by the actions of volcanos, these mountains are steep and high
in altitude. I was very appreciative of the efforts of my horse!
Roughly a dozen of us rode for an hour accompanied by our
native guides. I was near the tail end of the line and as we wound our
way single file up the mountain the rest of the group faded in and out
of view. Along the trail Monarch Butterflies floated down the
mountainside. At one point the trail passed through an opening of
bright sunshine. The riders ahead of me flushed up a large swarm of
butterflies and as the monarchs rose up and then settled behind the
horses it was as if the other riders had been engulfed in a living
flurry of orange and black wings.
When we reached the sanctuary near the top of the mountain we walked
along the core of the wintering grounds. Between the ridge that we
stood on and the next ridge over was a valley filled with millions of
monarch butterflies. On the shadow side of the large Oyamel Fir trees
the butterflies covered every square inch of trunk and branch. With
their wings folded up they pressed close together, sustained by the
collective warmth of their bodies. On the side of the trees where the
light filtered through the canopy the butterflies, invigorated by the
sun's energy, flew down the valley in search of water and food and to
breed. As I watched the flow of orange down the mountain the phrase
"River of Life" came to my mind.
In ecology there is an idea called the Gaia Hypothesis that
says that the earth can be thought of as a single, self regulating
living organism. In some ways migrations are like blood coursing
through the super organism that we all live in. Each waterway, flyway,
and trail used as a migration path is like a vein, delivering
nourishment and resources across the body of our planet. A single
butterfly seems so inconsequential, but millions, even a billion
butterflies are a different matter. In the monarch sanctuary I saw and
heard part of a tree break from the combined weight of the monarchs
roosting on it. It was mind boggling how many butterflies had journeyed
to this tiny remote mountainside. Before me was more life in one
place
than I had ever consciously seen before. There was no denying that I
was witnessing part of an enormous phenomena played out across the face
of the earth, that the River of Life was part of something much greater
than any individual, you and I included.
In the last few months I have been privileged to see many
"Rivers of Life" flowing across the face of the earth. I felt an
electric like wave pass through me as over 10,000 snow geese flew over
me in the pre dawn hour in New Mexico. I saw pods of enormous Humpback
Whales languidly swimming past the coast of Hawaii at the end of their
journey from Alaska. I watched gathering flocks of song birds filter
through my property in Michigan on their way to places unknown to me.
And now I watched the orange river of life in Mexico as the monarchs
streamed by.
Most of us live in the daily and seasonal rhythm of fairly small
areas. At one time or another most of us also feel a need to belong to
something larger to give our lives purpose. By stepping back from the
rhythms of my local community and exploring fantastic journeys of other
animal's lives I've become increasingly conscious of a larger
community, and of something larger than all of us, that gives meaning
to all life
Charles St. Charles III
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