In early December, Robert and I drove to Pacific Grove to view the migrating Monarch butterflies. I had always read about their miraculous migration from Mexico and back – taking place over several generations – and had longed to view them. Unfortunately the Monarch population has been dwindling over the last few decades. But this year, for some unknown reason, the numbers have rebounded somewhat and so 12,000 were counted at one of their largest coastal ‘overwintering’ locations – Pacific Grove. Few of these locations exist along the West Coast, where large groups cluster together throughout the winter. Most Monarchs live only 3 or 4 weeks, but the ‘overwintering’ population live for several months, staying relatively quiet and conserving energy until the conditions are encouraging for flying and mating.

So one cloudy Sunday morning, Robert and I drove down to Pacific Grove, just minutes from the Monterey Aquarium, to walk the (rather short, roughly several hundred yards) Monarch trail. To our surprise and delight, the number of Monarchs had, in the space of 24 hours, increased to over 50,000! The last time there were this many Monarchs was in 1997. They were like little dried brown leaves hanging in clumps from the lichen and moss draped across branches of the small pines in the grove. It was a real treat to see them clustering together for warmth and protection. The weather was bitterly cold (well, to us Californians) and so while there was no movement among the butterflies, there were also few visitors. We could observe in the quiet, peaceful, and rather misty morning.

We struck up a conversation with a visitor from South Dakota who volunteers to count and tag Monarchs. Apparently, when they are closed up on a tree, one can gently place a stickie tag on them to then be recorded by another volunteer when the butterflies move on to a new location. Our Monarchs in California do not actually go to Mexico, they are overwintering here from the Rocky Mountains, so their trip is much shorter. It is the East Coast (those on the other side of the Continental Divide) Monarchs that migrate yearly to central Mexico.

We could only stand the cold for so long, so we went into Monterey to grab a sandwich and eat on a bench overlooking a harbor. We watched a seal dipping and diving between paddleboarders and when the sun broke out of the clouds we thought we’d return to check on the Monarchs. We are so glad we did as the sun had warmed up the grove considerably and the monarchs were now flying about and displaying their beautiful orange color. The crowds had likewise appeared so viewing them was a little more difficult. We watched them flitting overhead and sampling the pollen on the lantana bushes planted along the pathway.

The Monarchs are at their peak population now in Pacific Grove. Over the next week or two they will start to leave for warmer locations along the California coast to spend the winter. But they won’t likely gather all together in such large numbers. I hope they return next year – I know I’ll come visit them again if they do.