Look Up!

Yesterday we went to Pt. Pinole Regional Park to look for Monarch butterflies.  Each fall, Monarchs migrate from inland areas west of the Rockies to coastal areas with milder climates.  This is called "overwintering."  It's a mystery how they choose the same coastal areas year after year, but they do, and if you're lucky you can see masses of them at Natural Bridges State Park near Santa Cruz or in Pacific Grove near Monterey,  hanging from branches of eucalyptus trees. 

Sign directing us to trail to see Monarch butterflies

We set off.  After an ill-advised trek on a bumpy dirt road led us to  the San Pablo Yacht Club, not a Monarch in sight,  we got back in the car and found our way to Pt. Pinole.  We followed a well-marked trail to the trees where this year's migrants congregated. 

After about a mile, we found fifteen people, heads thrown way back, trying to see a couple of small Monarch clusters in high in a  tree.  A sign with an arrow indicated where to look up, but I could see nothing but two small patches of what looked like dark leaves.

Sign indicating where to look up

 An East Bay Parks naturalist had set up a camera on a tripod, and we got a good look at the clusters that way.  My own digital camera was useless--way inadequate zoom. A steady stream of gazers joined us.

This morning Jerry explained to me that entomologists have never figured out how the butterflies know where to migrate each fall. It's the grandparents of the current migrating generation who came last year, and those butterflies died long ago. The current crop had no guide to Pt. Pinole, they just knew where to show up.

The close-up of Monarch butterflies high in a tree