Chasing Monarchs: Migrating with the Butterflies of Passage

by Robert Michael Pyle

Tracing the travel route of the monarch butterfly, a lepidopterist and author of Wintergreen follows the annual mass migration of the colorful insects from their breeding grounds in British Columbia to their winter home in Mexico. Reprint.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction, Science, Animals, Environment, Natural History

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 25, 1999

About the author

Robert Michael Pyle is a lepidopterist and a professional writer who has published twelve books and hundreds of papers, essays, stories and poems. He has a Ph.D. from the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. He founded the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation in 1974. His acclaimed 1987 book Wintergreen describing the devastation caused by unrestrained logging in Washington's Willapa Hills near his adopted home was the winner of the 1987 John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Nature Writing. His 1995 book Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide was the subject of a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly enjoyable book - surprising because to hear the premise makes it sound a good deal more arcane than it really is. The narrator is a science author/journalist and amateur naturalist who is trying to follow a subgroup of the Monarch migration south from Canada. He wants to establish that, counter to prevailing thought, some of the Monarch population that starts east of the Rockies goes directly south to Mexico, and not across to California and south to Baja. Gripping, eh?

What makes this much more than just a lepidopterist's obsession is the writing, which manages to be both light and serious, philosophical and scientific. I really enjoyed his meditations on the natural world and our interaction with it, as he journeys through a broad range of ecosystems and communities (both wild and human). Here's an example:

A brilliant tiger beetle alighted on my shirt, crawled onto my finger, and allowed a hand-lens exam - a rare event. Normally, cicindelids skitter and fly so fast along the beach or road in front of you that a glimpse is all you get. Stippled, marked with cream commas on the elytra and the mandibles, it was iridescent, emerald shading into amethyst. Such an insect!

Interesting tidbit: Vladimir Nabokov was an amateur lepidopterist, as was his wife.

Channeling Ken-Ichi, here are some nice terms and phrases from the book:

Chrysalides. Butterfly equivalent of a cocoon (which properly applies to moths).

Chrysolepic p 177. "Clothed in scales of gold" (apparently a neologism)

Turgor stiffness, as in drying wings of a Butterfly, or...

Embayment as of a river.

Fritillaries a large group of flowers

You have to care about the natural world, but if you do, this is a real delight.

[Alejandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enticing journal of the author's chase of the monarch butterfly from Washington to the Mexican Border.

Fascinating description of the natural wonders encountered by a knowledgeable scholar as he follows the Monarch's migration in his car.

I highly recommend the book to the general public as an introduction to the wonderful world of the Monarch Butterfly.

His thesis -first exposed in this book, that the monarchs from the West coast also migrate to Mexico has been corroborated by latter studies.

Also, the author and colleagues first identified the migration of the Monarch as an endangered natural phenomenon.

Please help us save the magnificent journey of the monarch butterflies and pollinator friends by restoring pesticide free habitats not only at the roosting sites in the far North and south in the Oyamel forests of Michoacán, Mexico, but in the pathways followed by the migration of thousands of miles.

[Naturegirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, this book satisfied the nerd in me. When I was a kid I used to raise monarch butterflies and they were everywhere, but thanks to climate change and pesticides, their numbers have been drastically reduced. This book is the journey of a scientist who follows monarchs, tags them, and tracks their flight patterns. He discovers some pleasant surprises along the way, such as monarchs in areas they've been reported to no longer be. I wouldn't recommend this for anyone not interested in science or butterflies, but it's entertaining and reads a bit like a Bill Bryson book while being very educational.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book talks about his journeys following the Monarch butterfly. I picked it up to learn more about this beautiful insect, but the book talk more about the author, the author's wife and his car than I would have liked to read about the monarch butterfly.

[Debra Daniels-Zeller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book because I was working on an article about Monarch butterflies, but once I started reading this story, I fell in love with the author's journey. Pyle followed Monarchs, starting in Washington State at the end of summer and his path zig zagged all the way to Mexico. I learned that not all western Monarchs fly to California for the winter and perhaps the eastern and western Monarchs' routes are so hard and fast and that perhaps some monarchs even cross the Rocky Mountains. Along this journey, Pyle adds compelling information about Monarchs and historical, geological and geographical details. He talks about rocks, plants and landforms as he searches for milkweed and butterflies. I really liked the sections when he was walking along the Mexican border and I was sad when it came to an end. Pyle even included information about what the average person can do to help conserve these butterfles that have been declining for decades. I"d plant some milkweed if Monarchs flew on the west side of the Cascades. His story made me want to visit one of the overwintering Monarch sites in California just to see so many Monarch butterflies in one place. I've got it on my calendar for next fall.

[Dale T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Pyle is a very keen observer and able to capture this in his writings. An expert in this field, he put a long detailed journey together to better understand the migration travel of this iconic species. Besides gathering new information, he reviewed much existing work, captured many human and other interactions along the way and completed this long journey in his well travelled "Powder Blue" honda. Well worth a read as are his many other books focusing on the west and NW.

[andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you enjoy hiking and watching nature unfold before you, you'll enjoy this adventure.

[Vera · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this book in August, within two weeks of the date when Robert Michael Pyle set out on his journey to follow the monarchs on their migration. The brilliance of his writing is in the way he captures the colors, textures, sounds, and smells--the FEEL--of the landscapes he's traveling through. I was already reading in the right season, with the approach of autumn, and this book really transports you to the overgrown fields, river banks, starlit nights he experienced on his road trip. It also takes you to totally unfamiliar environments, like the Bonneville salt flats. I've never seen them in real life or pictures, but I now have a crystal clear mental image of what they're like.

The book is full of many fascinating things about monarchs: my favorite, that their Latin name may be taken from the girl Danae in Greek mythology who is so beautiful that Zeus comes to her in a shower of gold. Plus a lot of aspects to the insect that are more scientific but no less poetic in his recounting of them. Pyle is *passionate* about butterflies, and his childlike sense of wonder is contagious. You get the distinct perception that the world he's traveling in is much richer than other people's, because he's seeing so much more. Every fleck of color that flits by on the wing is identified by him and its life history briefly told. He's a true naturalist with encyclopedic knowledge.

His trip was an ingeniously simple idea: There's a lot that's still not known about the monarch's migration in the West, and he set out to learn more and either prove or disprove one of his theories about it by physically following the butterflies as they migrate to see what paths they followed. He would net a butterfly, tag it, then watch to see what direction it was flying when it disappeared from his view. Then he drove that way.

The one caveat of this adventure is that he actually saw and followed much fewer butterflies than he seemed to expect (or that the reader could hope, to make the whole tale more exciting). His timing seemed to be a little off--a few locals even tell him that they saw many butterflies pass through just a week or two before, when he himself finds none. So the book is filled (especially towards the end) with all the anticipation, yet frustration of several consecutive near-misses.

Still, his rich, detailed nature writing and all his other discoveries along the way make this book absolutely worth reading. I wonder if anyone has ever followed the rivers of the West via land the way he did.

[noahmm · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a beautiful, poetic story centered around the incredible migration of the monarch but weaves in the natural and cultural history of western North America where relevant as well. Not said explicitly, but a clear theme I garnered was how interconnected all places and organisms are despite how disparate they may seem at first glance. The author, clearly an accomplished lepidopterist, is also a very good writer whose words put you right next to him in a field of milkweed, butterfly net in hand. There is something inherently magical about the monarch’s much-storied flight, and I think Pyle captures it with a unique elegance that makes me glad to have purchased this title at my favorite used book store. He occasionally uses some technical language that non-biologists may struggle to understand at first but I feel as though it can be grasped within context. I think this book has appeal to naturalists and common folk alike, and I am very happy to have made its acquaintance.

[J.D. Steens · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is a travelogue that follows, roughly, the migration of monarch butterflies, with a tinge of dislike, or disdain, for those that don't share his naturalist worldview. A main takeaway from his travels is that the Rocky Mountain boundary between Western Monarchs, that winter in California, and the Eastern Monarchs that migrate to Mexico, may not be a strict as once thought.

I enjoyed reading about his routes through the back roads of the West, many of which I've taken myself. The two maps on the inside covers are good. I don't know why he was on the Black Rock Desert playa with rain threatening. I wouldn't be comfortable driving an old vehicle on some of the roads he describes as he did. Good to have people like him around, focusing on critters such as this.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who is not familiar with American nature, this was hard to read. I didn't bother looking up every name of plant or animal mentioned, because then I would be looking up something every other sentence.
I did really enjoy the themes and observations Pyle wrote about, though sometimes I felt clueless about the goal of his journey. Maybe it is just not a book for me.

[Linnae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pyle's grand idea was to literally follow monarchs in their migration south, and in the process study them, tag them, and try to get a better idea of what their migrating patterns are really like.

I was impressed with the depth of Pyle's knowledge--not only of butterflies, but many other insects and plants as well. How interesting it must be to know something about every bug you see on a given plant! While I was interested in the subject matter as well, it was a bit slow to read.

Maybe I was just in the wrong frame of mind. It felt like a book that should be savored; his whole journey is a meandering one with many switchbacks, a few glorious moments, and a lot of tedious bush-gazing. For whatever reason, I did not savor it. Instead, I found myself either falling asleep, or hoping (in vain) for a summary of the slower portions, rather than the moment-to-moment description of his 57-day journey. Even some pictures would have really helped.

I will say that it has renewed my determination to plant some milkweed in my yard. So, there is that.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this book is ostensibly about Pyle following monarchs migrating from the Pacific NW to Mexico, he actually sees very few of the regal butterflies along the way--yet the reader barely notices. That's because the pursuit ultimately seems secondary to the lore of monarchs (and other butterflies), on which Pyle is a passionate expert, and to a surprisingly interesting journey through some of the most deserted and least well known corridors of the American West. Actually I found the reason for the journey--to disprove the notion that western monarchs never migrate to Mexico--the least interesting part of the story and Pyle's constant repetition of this theory the one annoying note in the book.

[Kham · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know, I wanted to really like it, but I found there was a limit to how interested in butterflies I am. Read half the book and you will more than have a full appreciation of these amazing creatures.

[Merissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

BORING. I received this book as a gift and wanted to like it, but just couldn't get into it. I probably only got half way through it before handing it off to my boss who's really into butterflies so maybe he'll like it better than me.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Partly travelogue, and mostly fascinating information about Monarch butterflies, Robert Michael Pyle follows Monarch migration from British Columbia, east of the Cascades, and south to Mexico and back. I kept a map by my side while reading.

[DarkButterfly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't finish this book. Had to take it back to the library. A very deep read, should probably know something of the subject before you start. If you love butterflies like I do then this book may entertain you but it is not for the average reader.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written natural history with the occasional touch of humor. Slow in places, but in a way that suits the genre.

[P · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one sounded good when I picked it up. A bit too much detail about the butterflies for me but the idea of following their migration route sounded interesting. I didn't finish it.