Every fall, the magnificent monarch butterflies fly thousands of kilometers to Mexico. There they overwinter together, in the spring they then go back up to Canada.
By Andreas Beerlage; Photos: Pascal Maitre
There is a crackling in the air, barely perceptible at first. It becomes more audible with every step into the dense coniferous forest: it swells to a rustling of millions of small wings. And then, suddenly: right in the middle! “It’s overwhelming, a three-dimensional experience: They fly all around you. As high as you can see in the sky. Down to the ground. And they cover all the trees around you,” says butterfly researcher Karen Oberhauser.