Choke Canyon State Park 2011

I heard the beating wings as a thousand double crested cormorants flew by the point. Turning my head I knew they would be near as my hearing is so bad that for me to hear their wings, required it. They had just flown in a little while ago and the food they had looked for must be missing as they headed for the far shore.

A greedy Bonaparte’s gull landed near by my  bait and helped himself to the sliced fresh clam, but it didn’t matter as the fish weren’t biting, at least not the drum I had hoped for to make our evening meal. A killdeer watched me as a flock of least sandpipers waded along the shore, unconcerned with my presence.

It was so quiet and I felt the peace that comes with having no place to go and nothing to do but enjoy the solitude. I watched and saw a monarch butterfly and then another reach the shore and I realized I wasn’t watching a few solitary butterflies but part of the migration. They kept coming to shore, singles and doubles and while it wasn’t a swarm it was steady and I watched them beat their wings and then glide a bit before repeating the pattern.

I wondered if this was the peak of the migration as they should be heading for Mexico right now and while we have heard of it we have always missed it. It made me feel good to see that so many have escaped the pesticides sprayed to lessen the damage caused by other insects.

Having read that the numbers have declined, a result perhaps of having to raise crops to feed the seven billion humans, I wondered if there were that many monarch butterflies. Are there any other animals that can be seen with our eyes and number as many as us?

To weighty a matter for me to ponder, I feel my goal now is to observe and record. So timing the end of the mornings migration I counted sixteen butterflies in ten minutes, all headed south as if the earth’s compass  was commanding them to follow the magnetic force lines, and perhaps it is the force they align themselves with.

A fine morning at Choke Canyon State Park, no fish but butterflies and they are as important as the rest of us. It’s All Saints Day and I am reminded of St Francis of Assai who loved the animals so much and according to legend even befriended a wolf.  I think I prefer to stick with butterflies, at least for now.  Clear Skies.