Ellwood Butterfly Preserve
Goleta
Map link.
The monarch butterflies come each year and stay for a few months. The peak for this year has already happened and was not nearly so impressive as the one last year, but there are still quite a few hanging around in the blue gum eucalyptus grove. We went out to Ellwood to see the colony that stops there. There are a few entry points to the Ellwood Bluffs area and we started close to the butterfly preserve area. There are three signs near the beginning to inform about the butterflies and a well established trail leads from there to the grove where they flock. There are a few trees in bloom, but otherwise not so many flowers.
We crossed a little wooden bridge over a stream bed that was soggy in places, then some planks over a bit more puddled water into the grove. At first, there are a few butterfly shapes easily spotted fluttering between the tree branches.
Just a few tens of yards further into the grove, and looking up might reveal a bunch of particularly fat leaves hanging dead on one branch or a thing like a fluttering bee wasp nest on another. Looking more carefully, these are clumps of butterflies hanging together in the trees. We could see sunny spots where butterflies sat spaced in the sun as well as the big clumps that were often, but not always, in the shade. A volunteer is even on hand to answer questions and point out the larger clumps.
We walked around the little loops that pass through the preserve to check for more butterflies.
While on the bluffs, of course we had to go out onto them a little bit.
Afterwards, we watched the butterflies for a little bit longer. At one point, one of the clumps burst apart and butterflies were suddenly flying very densely above.
After a while, we returned the way we'd come originally.
*photo album*
©2013 Valerie Norton
Posted 7 Feb 2013
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