I’ve watched you now a full half-hour,
Self-poised upon that yellow flower;
And, little Butterfly! indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! – not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!
William Wordsworth
This weekend people in Santa Cruz spent more than “a full half-hour” watching as the monarch butterfly alighted—not on “that yellow flower,”—but on the leaves of eucalyptus trees in Natural Bridges State Beach. They came to greet the thousand of insects with their rich, autumn-colored wings, who will either winter in the park or move down to yet warmer pastures in Southern California or Mexico.
The event was first launched 31 years ago by park ranger Alex Weiss, and has since grown into a major festival, with bands, art projects, and tours. The irony is that the monarch butterfly population is shrinking due to climate change and a host of other environmental factors. Monarchs are especially vulnerable to cold weather, and survive by clustering together in protective forests. Cold snaps and illegal logging across North America threaten the survival of the species, and in 2010, their population was expected to drop by 50 percent.
Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks, which recently collected $7,000 to repair a footbridge to the grove damaged in last winter’s storms. Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel and KION.
