Free Republic

Initial results are in and the western monarch butterfly is making a comeback. In California, researchers are seeing 50 times more monarchs at overwintering sites this year compared to last. "To have this many this year, is just, I'm jumping out of my skin excited," said Craig Corwin of Arroyo Grande. Corwin brought his camera to capture the butterflies in clusters and fluttering about. "There's nothing like it. It's just amazing," he said. There are more than 22,445 monarchs at the Pismo State Beach Butterfly Grove. "Last season, we saw just around 200 at our peak," said Danielle Bronson, State...

Around 100,000 monarch butterflies are estimated to make up the whole western population this year.Around 100,000 monarch butterflies are estimated to make up the whole western population this year. With 12,364 in Pacific Grove, which is the most butterflies they’ve seen in five years. So the big question is — why so many this year compared to last year when there were essentially none? Stephanie Turcotte-Edenholm, an educational docent for the Pacific Grove museum of natural history education said, “The monarchs decide where they want to go and where they get their needs met. So if it was too dry...

The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History is doing its annual monarch butterfly count. They are seeing thousands more than last year. "So the importance of counting is to understand one what's happening with the population overall," said Stephanie Turcotte-Edenholl, the educational volunteer at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History. Every year western monarchs are counted across the Western U.S. The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History counts the monarchs at the Butterfly Monarch Sanctuary, behind the Butterfly Grove Inn in Pacific Grove. On Thursday, Oct. 29th, the museum counted 9,544 monarchs. In 2020, the sanctuary saw zero monarchs....

The Central Coast has seen a near 100% drop of the butterflies since the 1980s.