Date: 12/14/2009

Number: 1

For Monterey County:

Pacific Grove Butterfly Sanctuary: 989 (12/5), 635 (12/11)

George Washington Park: none found (12/4 and 12/10)

Point Lobos State Park: 1 (12/5), awaiting results (12/9)

Palo Colorado: none found (12/4 and 12/10)

Andrew Molera State Park: 164 (12/5), 130 (12/10)

Sycamore Canyon: none found (12/4 and 12/10)

Private Property, Big Sur: 4,329 (12/4), 3,624 (12/10)

Prewitt Creek: none found (12/4), 1 (12/10)

Plaskett Creek: 199 (12/4), 262 (12/9)

Total: 5,682 (12/4-5), 4,652 (12/9-111)

The first round of surveys was done on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 4th and 5th. The light fog along the coast produced an amazing sunrise on the Big Sur coast, however, the fog burned off quickly. The temperature stayed around 60 degrees all day with little wind during my surveys on Friday. Saturday was a completely different story! The morning started quite overcast then the winds picked up around mid-late morning, ushering in heavy rains over the following days. During this set of surveys, the butterflies were clustered much in the same way they had been in previous weeks. The second round of surveys was done on Thursday and Friday, Dec. 10th and 11th. The weather was cloudy and cool, with light mist to a moderate drizzle at times. The butterflies seemed to clustering tighter together than they have been, though at most sites they haven't changed position on the trees. At the Pacific Grove Sanctuary, I found the butterflies scattered in several small clusters all along the row of eucalyptus, rather than in just a couple trees. Nine butterflies (5 loners and 4 in a cluster) were even found in the cypress tree that hangs over the road!

San Luis Obispo, CA

Latitude: 35.2 Longitude: -120.6

Observed by: Jaime
Contact Observer

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Contact will be made through a web-based form.