The Long Way South: Reflections on the Monarch Migration
Every now and then, nature offers us a reminder that the world is still full of wonders, quiet, delicate, and yet unimaginably grand. For me, that reminder arrived last year, not from a book or a documentary, but from a family member ( my youngest daughter) who travelled to Mexico and stood in the heart of the monarch butterfly sanctuaries. She sent me photos 💚that felt almost unreal: trees coated in shimmering orange wings, branches bending under the weight of thousands of butterflies at rest after their long pilgrimage.
I remember staring at those photos and thinking: Some of these butterflies may have started their journey in places as far north as Toronto, places I know, places I’ve walked and visited once in my younger years.
A migration measured in generations, not miles
The monarch migration is one of the most improbable journeys in the natural world. These tiny insects, delicate enough to be toppled by a strong breeze, travel thousands of miles across an entire continent. From the Canadian summer into the American Midwest, down through Texas, and finally into the cool, high-altitude fir forests of central Mexico, they move as if propelled by memory.
And yet, the monarchs arriving in Mexico each winter are not the same individuals that left the spring before. Several generations pass between the northbound and southbound trips, each butterfly inheriting an instinct for a destination it has never seen.
There is something profoundly humbling about that. A migration older than any map, carried forward by creatures that live only weeks, except for the special “super generation” that survives the long autumn flight south.
Seeing the journey through someone else’s eyes
My relative’s photos captured not just the beauty, but the atmosphere, the hush that falls over visitors when they enter a monarch sanctuary. They described thousands of wings opening and closing in unison, like a living heartbeat. They said that when sunlight hits the forest at the right angle, the air itself seems to glitter.
It struck me how the migration is both immense and intimate: millions of butterflies, each one weighing less than a paperclip, all drawn to the same sacred groves. To stand in the middle of that is to feel the fragility of the world and its resilience.
And now, whispers of monarchs in California
Only recently, I came across an article describing where monarchs can be seen in the San Francisco Bay Area places like Santa Cruz’s eucalyptus groves and a handful of coastal parks that still host overwintering colonies.
It was a comforting thought: Even here, far from the great Canada-to-Mexico pilgrimage, monarchs find refuge.
The Bay Area sightings aren’t guaranteed year to year, the western population has struggled more sharply than the eastern one but the idea that these same orange wanderers touch so many corners of North America made the migration feel even more expansive.
Why their journey touches something in us
Maybe part of the monarch’s magnetism comes from the contrast: such a fragile creature undertaking such a courageous odyssey. Or maybe it’s because, in some quiet way, the migration reflects our own lives, the distances we travel, the paths we follow without fully understanding why, the pull toward places that feel like home even when we’ve never been there.
For me, the monarchs also evoke memory. They remind me of the many chapters of my own life, the journeys I’ve taken, the work I’ve done, and the people who have walked beside me for part of the way. Seeing those photos from Mexico felt like receiving a postcard not just from another country but from another time.
A closing thought
The monarch migration reminds us that beauty is both fleeting and eternal, a paradox nature seems to handle far better than we do. Every autumn, the butterflies gather themselves and push southward again, carrying with them the promise that some things, despite the odds, endure.
And every year, somewhere between Toronto and Mexico, someone looks up at the right moment and sees a flash of orange in the wind and feels, if only briefly, that they are part of something much larger, much older, and infinitely more hopeful.
For details where to see this beautiful creatures in the California visit:
Where to See Monarch Butterflies in 2025
Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz is beginning to see monarch activity at Natural Bridges State Beach and Lighthouse Field State Beach. Early season counts show about 1,100 butterflies so far at Natural Bridges and just over 900 at Lighthouse Field. The Monarch Grove Trail at Natural Bridges is open for self-guided monarch tours.
🌐 Learn more: Natural Bridges State Beach
Pacific Grove
The Pacific Grove Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in Monterey receives swathes of monarchs from November to January. Early 2025 numbers have only tallied 63 individuals, but you may see them flying in the afternoons when it’s sunny and warm.
Lastly, here are the top five news stories for November 20, 2025:
1. Trump Signs Epstein Files Release Bill
President Trump signed a bill compelling the Department of Justice to release files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, following near-unanimous support in Congress.
2. Judge Ruled Trumps Deployment of National Guard violates Federal Law
A federal judge ruled that President Trump’s deployment of National Guard forces in Washington, D.C., was in violation of federal law, raising constitutional questions over recent responses to protests and security.
3.Strong Job Growth and Rising Unemployment
The latest jobs report showed rapid hiring in the U.S. but also a higher unemployment rate, leading to increased political pressure on the Federal Reserve and national debates on economic recovery.
4. Major Oil Drilling Plan and Environmental Pushback
The Trump administration proposed new oil drilling plans off the coasts of California and Florida, sparking bipartisan resistance and controversy over environmental policy and coastal protections.
5. Gaza Conflict and Global Armed Clashes
Five Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Khan Yunis amid escalating violence in Gaza, with simultaneous news of attacks and unrest in Pakistan and Nepal, plus major life sentences for human trafficking and terrorism convictions in the Philippines and Nigeria
