where are all the Monarchs?

[Mark Walker]

Thanks for the info Paul.  I'm aware of the butterflies that fly with the
turkey vultures along the ridge by Kathyrn Drive.  I'm also aware of a
colony that overwinters on eucalyptus just north of San Simeon State park,
near the road that follows San Simeon Creek.  I was not aware of the site
behind the Hamlet restaurant.

I spend a lot of time in Cambria. I lived there for awhile, wiring the Green
Tree Motel, along with many custom homes, while going to school at Cal Poly.
My parents live on Buckley Dr., and I have sadly seen much of the pristine
ranch land and Monterey Pine forest disappear to development on the north
end.  I've often wondered how many other butterfly trees there might be out
in the undeveloped forest habitat behind the town.

There's another nice site in the riparian habitat just south of Cuesta
College.  I'll bet there's more on the land at the Diablo Canyon PG&E
nuclear reactor site.  I'm always interested in finding out about more.

Mark Walker.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Paul Cherubini [SMTP:paulcher at concentric.net]
> Sent:	Friday, December 04, 1998 7:39 AM
> To:	MWalker at gensym.com
> Cc:	leps-l at lists.yale.edu
> Subject:	Re: where are all the Monarchs?
> 
> Mark Walker wrote:
> 
> >
> > I was up in Cambria, CA over the US Thanksgiving weekend holiday (a
> > favorite Monarch overwintering spot), and I did see a considerable
> number of
> > Monarchs flying about when the weather was favorable.  The area can
> become
> > inundated at times, but that is not an annual phenomenon.
> 
> A big overwintering colony sometimes forms in Cambria along a small
> ridge just west (towards to ocean) of Kathryn Drive.  Another big site
> in the pine forests around Cambria is technically in San Simeon State
> Park, a few miles north of the town of Cambria.  To get to this site you
> drive north on coast hwy #1 for a few miles beyond Cambria and turn into
> the parking lot of a restaurant called the Hamlet.  Park at the north
> end of the parking lot.  You'll see hiking trails that lead up the
> nearby hill (to the east) that is covered with Monterey Pines. Hike up
> about half a mile and near the summit of the hill there is a very
> reliable colony of about 30,000 monarchs in a very printine like
> setting.
> 
> Paul Cherubini, El Dorado, California