Butterflies
They’re on their way
Jack Beigle was the first to report a Monarch sighting in Pacific Grove — a single “scout” seen last week.
“It would be interesting to know if the Monarchs sort of glide down a freeway route to the Sanctuary, or if it is a random distribution of arrival all over town” said Helen Johnson of Monarch Alert.
Anyone spotting a Monarch in Pacific Grove over the next few weeks is urged to call Monarch Alert at 1-877-7740, Mailbox 7. If the butterfly is tagged, the tag number would be helpful but it is not vital. Or spotters may call Cedar Street Times at 831-324-4742. We’d like to know where it was seen.
Monarchs were seen last week in coastal Marin as well. There were five sightings in one day at Muir Beach and three in the Marin Headlands.
Monarch update: Bye, bye, butterflies
By Jessica Griffiths
Well, it’s official: the Monterey County monarch season has come to a close. Our final monarch count at the Pacific Grove Sanctuary was last Wednesday, and it looks like the monarchs finally decided to start dispersing. Our last count was just Read more…»
Monarch Update
By Jessica GriffithWe counted at PG on Friday Feb. 27.
There were still 11,605 monarchs, and they were all still clustering in the pines and cypress trees outside of the Sanctuary boundaries. Not a single one on any eucalyptus! They were flying around and mating like crazy by 9 a.m. that morning. There were still around 900 monarchs at the private property site in Big Sur, but the monarchs are basically gone from all of the other sites. Just that site & the PG Monarch Sanctuary still have butterflies.
This week will be our very last week of monarch counting, so stay tuned for one more update!
Butterfly Update
Hello one and all,
This weekend was Valentine’s Day, and romance was in the air…or at least it would have been if it hadn’t been pouring rain! (Not that I’m complaining; we need that rain.) While the weather these last few days has put a damper on the monarchs’ mating, now that the skies have cleared they are ready for action. This morning at the Monarch Grove Sanctuary we had dozens of monarchs flying and chasing each other as early as 8:30 AM. If anyone is in the neighborhood in the next couple of days, I suggest you head over there to watch the show the butterflies are putting on.
Our weekly total today at the Sanctuary was 12,664, which is only slightly down from last week. As I mentioned, their mating and departure was put on hold for the rainy weather, but we fully expect things to kick into high gear this week. There is just one more count left in February, but because there are still so many monarchs left, we will do one more count in the first week of March. We want to keep track of the monarchs as long as they are here.
That’s it for now. Get out there and enjoy the sunny weather!
-Jessica