Day 7: Santa Cruz Overwintering Sites

We started the day early at Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz to join the local folks in the official Thanksgiving monarch count. Martha Nitzberg, a ranger at Natural Bridges, coordinated the effort and we were pleased that Paul Cherubini joined us. We climbed down the boardwalk where at one time 120,000 monarchs created an orange canopy in the eucalyptus trees. But today there were hardly any to be seen. We took a moment to learn the process of how to count: each of us would count the monarchs in each cluster then we would compare numbers and reach a consensus. Loners and flyers would be counted separately. At first we saw only 436 monarchs in 6 small clusters in the middle of the grove facing east. But then some hikers told us about more on the west side of the thicket, where none of us “experts” expected them. Paul explained that the storm on Friday likely blew some of monarchs from their eastern orientation to move to this side to protect themselves from the intense wind. The clusters there were larger and denser. We updated the census to 1,254 monarchs at this site, better than our first numbers, but considerably lower than last year’s count of 3,500. We also learned that because of the storm we might find monarchs in unusual places.

We jumped in our cars and drove to our next stop, Lighthouse Fields. Almost all the monarchs were clustering on a single Monterey Cypress in the center of the grove facing south. We had the incredible good fortune of running into John Dayton, a renowned professor at San Jose State and a monarch specialist who has personally monitored the California overwintering sites for over 20 years. His explanations easily revealed the depth of his knowledge that tapped into our own desire to learn more about these fascinating insects and their behavior. We could talk with him all day, but we had to move forward with the count!

From outside the rope fence, our estimate was 1,700 monarchs. But we had a wide variation in numbers. Martha asked John Dayton for his estimate: 4,000. Then we discovered an explanation for the discrepancy – the storm had moved the monarchs here, too! Under the authority of the uniformed park ranger we hopped the fence and from our improved vantage point we could see several densely packed clusters on the same tree not visible from the outside. Our unofficial count more than doubled. Although the final official numbers for this site are not yet available, everything seems to indicate they will far surpass last year’s 2,607.

We talked to Paul about this interesting increase of monarchs at Lighthouse Fields when most of the oth

er Western sites have declining numbers. Much of the increase could be due to the improving habitat conditions for the area. More trees have been planted offering more wind protection.

We had a fun discovery back at our cars. Paul noticed a monarch caterpillar on a nearby milkweed, and we found two more, an unusual find for so late in the season.

It was time to begin our trip back to the LA area, but we stopped to see one more site. At Moran Lake the monarchs rested on eucalyptus trees in loose clusters in a broad area. The clusters were lower than the previous sites and the grove and canopy was larger with an opening for the morning sun. As much as we wanted to continue participating in the count, we knew we had to leave. What a great morning with fun people to share our love of monarchs!

Day 6: Pacific Grove

We woke up to a very chilly morning with temps barely 50 degrees and walked through Butterfly Grove. It was the morning after the storm. A few monarchs were on the ground, likely downed from the wind and rain, unable to move until they warmed up. Grounded monarchs are in a dangerous position. As a survival mechanism, they will often crawl up a nearby tree or stick a bit off the ground if they can’t fly to protect themselves from predators. But the monarchs we saw today may have been too wet or too cold to even crawl to safety. Fortunately as the sun warmed they were able to fly to the lower branches of the tree to continue sunning.

We found the monarchs in a few small clusters on the north side of the trees. Usually they would line up on the south, but they used the eucalyptus trees for protection from the storm’s winds.

The hot topic of conversation today was the tree pruning at Pacific Grove. We overheard several conversations of deep concern for the monarch’s future at Pacific Grove. We spoke to one docent who was there when the arborist instructed the city pruners. It was his opinion that the arborist primarily wanted to prevent any falling limb danger to neighboring structures. But we think if a monarch specialist had been consulted the impact may have been less. Time will show if the city made a serious mistake or not.

It's likely hard to imagine the importance of the monarch butterfly to Pacific Grove's economy. Known as "Butterfly City," tourists during the overwintering season are a primary revenue source for the area. Signs with monarchs grace the area, everything from the Chamber of Commerce, businesses to local street addresses. It's a haven for monarch lovers to feel at home.

We stopped by the Pacific Grove Natural History Museum that features a permanent monarch exhibit and gift shop. You can just imagine the time (and money) we spent there! We met several people who were very involved in the local movement to protect the monarch butterflies. The tree pruning broke their hearts. But it’s encouraging to talk to people dedicating their time to help preserve monarch butterfly habitats.Then we took a leisurely drive up the coast to Santa Cruz then enjoyed a short walk in the Redwood Forest.

We met Paul Cherubini in person for the first time over dinner and had a most delightful evening! Paul is a walking book of monarch information and always offers an interesting perspective. He often challenges the status quo with his keen observations and meticulous record-keeping and photographs. His love of monarchs runs deep and he helped us understandPhoenix and Arizona as well as the local California counts. Paul helped us better understand the role of autumnal sites in overwintering communities, diapause and reproducing monarchs, new local overwintering sites, and the possible effect of low predators in the larger cienega monarch reproducing sites in Arizona. We also talked with Paul, as we did with David Marriott, about the strange phenomena we experienced at home with a female monarch appearing to be laying eggs on a Desert Milkweed (abdomen pressing against the stem) but no eggs deposited at the site. It seems that a female monarch may have an instinctive response to milkweed that promotes this behavior. Maybe the female was immature, not gravid. Interesting. This is just a small sampling of the monarch conversation we had with Paul. What a great evening!