Joann Merritt's Essays

Even A River Runs Through It
November, 1997

Pemberton Draw meanders through the Harris Ranch. In the pre-dawn dimness of October 9th dense billowing fog filled the draw, giving it the appearance of a river of foaming milk. One might say it was an earthly Milky Way - well, Midnats found earth stars, didn’t they? We drove to the hilltop located about 1/4th of a mile east of the ranch entrance in order to get a better view of this surprising phenomenon. This overlook alone was worth answering our alarm clock’s 6 a.m. call, but there was more to come. With the first light of the day Bobwhites and Curve-billed Thrashers began calling and nearby cattle started moving around.

We then drove to the pecan orchard where thousands of Monarch butterflies were resting before resuming their trip to central Mexico. The morning sun warmed the butterflies. Many of them fluttered down to mud puddles to sip their breakfast of mineral water while in a breathtaking display a thousand or more orange-hued Monarchs flew to the countryside to nectar on fall flowers blooming there. The abundant Broomweed’s delicate yellow-green foliage was topped by bouquets of brilliant yellow flowers and the tiny white flowers of Heath Aster were scattered in clusters among the Broomweed. Both plants provided excellent nectar sources. As far as the eye or binocular could see there were graceful Monarchs sailing and floating over this color-filled landscape while the blue sky and golden morning sun made a perfect canopy for the scene. The beauty of that morning will always be with me. I’m glad I was there.

Before leaving the ranch we stopped at the tank for a couple of hours. We observed 37 species of birds including Say’s and Eastern Phoebes, Red-breasted Nuthatch, a few winter sparrows and three species of our common fall warblers. This was Harris’ Tank at its best. Note: The Cassin’s Kingbird found recently made 182 species found at Harris’ Ranch - dare we hope for 200 species?

We returned to Harris’ in the early morning hours of October 13th. The temperature was 41 degrees and the Merritts as well as the Monarchs were cold and eager for the sun to rise and warm them. It was a calm morning, not even a light breeze was stirring. An estimated 20,000 Monarchs hung motionless on the trees. As soon as the warm rays of the sun reached the orchard, butterfly wings began flashing semaphores among the leaves. The Monarchs basked, absorbing the warmth until about 9 o’clock when a brisk northerly wind began blowing. The butterflies commenced flying out of the orchard in an unhurried and orderly manner, not in one large group as I had supposed they would. In 30 minutes the beautiful Monarchs had all been carried aloft by the north wind and had departed for their winter home in Mexico.

Adios y hasta la vista, Mariposas!