Thursday, January 3, 2013

Coronado Butterfly Preserve

I've heard about the butterfly preserve in Goleta from a lot of people over the last four years living here, and I finally got around to seeing it! I went on New Year's Eve day with Ashton and Suzanne, and it was such a perfect time to be there. It was a bit chilly, but the sky was clear and blue, and there were tens of thousands of Monarch butterflies hanging out (literally) among the trees.

When you first come upon this place, you don't realize what you're seeing because the butterflies are all bundled up on a branch or leaf (in groups of a hundred or more) and they remain fairly still. It kind of looks like black bundles of grapes, but more pointy (what with their wings being not-round and all). But if you stand still (and in the right lighting), you'll see the orange of their wings flapping slowly. And if you're lucky like we were, there will be a bunch of butterflies fluttering around, too! (Suzanne said the last time she went, there were hardly any flying around, and the bundles were solid black and not moving. They must've been resting!)

I forgot to bring an actual camera, so I made do with a few halfway-decent photos from my phone.

There are several bundles of butterflies in the center(ish) in the
lower third, and a bunch more in the middle area.
Can you spot the butterfly I caught mid-flight? (Click to enlarge.)

This guy was just chilling out right above our heads. (Click to enlarge.)

Another shot of all the bundles, plus a lot more butterflies
flitting about all over! (Click to enlarge.)

 This little outing means I get to check off one item from my Thirty Before 30 list! Yippee!

1 comment:

Thanks for your comment! I try to reply to all comments within the post itself so we can keep the conversation going.