Monarch Butterfly Overwintering — El Rosario Mass
1,149.00 $
The El Rosario monarch butterfly overwintering colony in Mexico at peak density — the oyamel fir trees laden with monarch clusters that collectively weigh dozens of tonnes, the butterflies’ orange and black wings covering every branch surface.
Description
The El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacán, Mexico, hosts one of the world’s most spectacular wildlife congregation phenomena — hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies overwintering in a handful of high-altitude oyamel fir forests. At peak density in December-January, the trees are so heavily laden with butterfly clusters that branches routinely break under the weight. This image was made in the early morning when the butterflies are still chilled and torpid — the entire tree canopy visible as a solid orange-and-black mass of clustered wings, the individual butterfly forms legible but the dominant visual impression that of a tree whose leaves have been replaced by 20 million butterfly wings. Shot at f/8 with a wide-angle lens from close range, the full depth of the butterfly cluster is preserved, the rearmost monarchs visible through the gaps in the forward clusters.
