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Monarch Butterflies

Danaus plexippus

Photo by TonyLe
Published on Project Noah
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36.9527, -122.056

Field Notes

Description:

"City in the Trees"

Habitat:

Eucalyptus Grove

Notes:

Every winter, thousands of Monarch butterflies migrate to a eucalyptus grove in Santa Cruz's Natural Bridges State Park.

In the cold morning hours, I could hardly tell where they were at; they were so high up the trees and in the shadows. With just the underside of their wings showing, they looked like dead clumps of leaves.

Once the sun hit them though, they would warm up, show the bright orange side of their wings and start to flutter.

They mostly dispersed one or two at a time, but once that morning, a bunch dispersed at the same time...

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (10)

Wow! I get excited when I see one monarch! Great first spot & welcome to Project Noah Tony!
What a beautiful spotting!!!
Fabulous! Great notes
Photographed
PublishedDecember 18, 2011

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