SPRINGTIME IN THE SONORA DESERT: At Tohono Chul Gardens, Tucson, AZ

Horse sculpture at the Tohono Chul Botanical Garden, Tucson, Arizona

It was springtime in the desert in southern Arizona. Wildflowers were blooming among the cacti, butterflies were flitting about, and a roadrunner dashed by through the underbrush. On the rocky ridge to the north, peaks capped with snow poked into the clear blue sky.

Queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus)

In late February, I spent a week with friends in Tucson, Arizona. One day we did an excursion to the Tohono Chul botanical garden for a delicious outdoor lunch in the Garden Bistro, followed by a walk among the desert plants.

Cholla cactus

Tohono Chul, a garden, nature preserve and cultural museum, is located in Casas Adobes, a suburb of Tucson, Arizona. The words "tohono chul" translate as "desert corner" and are borrowed from the language of the Tohono O’odham, the indigenous people of southern Arizona.

Petroglyphs and grinding stone

In one part of the garden one can see a display of rock drawings and stone implements from that culture.

Succulents

After a delicious lunch on the patio of the garden bistro, we purchased our tickets and set off on the trails through the garden, passing various types of cactus, succulents, desert adapted shrubs, wildflowers, and various sculptures.

The garden docents are founts of information

As we stopped to admire some golden poppies, a docent pointed out some rare pink poppies she had discovered growing in a nearby exhibit.

Barrel cactus with a cluster of fruits, one partially eaten

We were a bit early in the season to see the cacti in bloom, but we found a number of barrel cacti covered in succulent fruit–one of them already nibbled by some hungry animal that had braved the sharp spines.

Vegetable and herb gtarden

As we continued along the path we came to a fenced “kitchen garden” filled with beds of lettuce, broccoli, beets, onions, and a wide variety of other vegetables that thrive in Arizona’s mild winter climate.

Milkweed pod ready to disperse its seeds

The Tohono Chul garden is a pleasant walk among a wide variety of desert plants--some familiar and others a surprise. On our way out, a metallic hawk cast its eagle eye on our departure.
For directions, hours, and ticket prices, click HERE.

One of numerous garden sculptures

BUTTERFLIES ALL AROUND: New Butterfly Pavilion, Natural History Museum, Los Angeles

A Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly, a California native species

Butterflies are nature’s jewels of the air. When I was a child, one of our many family hobbies was collecting butterflies–searching the meadows and fields of Minnesota and Wisconsin in summertime for monarchs, fritillaries, white and yellow sulphers, mourning cloaks, and more, catching them in our butterfly net so we could see them up close. It was always a special thrill to find a swallowtail with its elegant wings.

Inside the Butterfly Pavilion at the Natural History Museum of LA County

Last week, I made a special trip to the new Butterfly Pavilion at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, to see some of the same species of butterflies again, as they flitted from flower to flower inside a large enclosed outdoor exhibit. Butterflies were everywhere--on the flowers, clinging to the netting, resting on the ground and flapping through the air. All of the more than 30 species of butterflies in the exhibit are native to North America and many live in California. Large illustrated cards are available to carry around and identify the species.

 The back side of the card illustrates some of the interesting facts about the shapes, sizes and colors of the butterflies in the exhibit:

• For some butterflies, bright colors and patterns help males and females find one another.

  

  A Julia Longwing butterfly, male

• Colors can sometimes help butterflies blend into their surroundings and hide from predators.

  

  The pattern on the Malachite butterfly's wings mimics sunlit leaves

• A few butterflies taste really bad. Predators remember bold colors and avoid them.

  

  The Monarch, a native in California, depends on milkweed plants for breeding

• Some wing patterns look like large eyes of other larger animals and “fool” potential predators.

  

  the White Peacock butterfly has several eye-spots

  To see the butterflies, you must reserve a ticket for timed entry. I visited in the middle of the day when the pavilion was warm and full of sunshine and the butterflies were busy feeding at the various flowers. After 30 minutes, the museum staff shooed me out so the next group of people with timed tickets could come in. I would have liked to stay longer--the thrill of seeing butterflies up close never goes away.
  The Butterfly Pavilion is located outside the south entrance of the Natural History Museum. It is a permanent structure that will be open seasonally. This year it will be open for one month, September 16 - October 16, 2016. For directions and parking, click HERE.

South Entrance of the museum

MONARCH BUTTERFLIES at the Ellwood Butterfly Grove, Goleta, CA

Monarch butterfly, Ellwood Butterfly Grove, Goleta, California

Among nature’s most incredible journeys is the annual migration of monarch butterflies.  After spending the summer fluttering and feeding in woods and fields in the United States and Canada, the butterflies travel south for the winter, flying up to 80 miles in a single day.  Monarchs east of the Rockies fly to the mountains of central Mexico. (See update below.)  Monarchs west of the Rockies make their way to California where they gather in eucalyptus groves along the coast.

On a recent sunny afternoon in early October, Art and I visited one of these butterfly groves near Santa Barbara, California--the Ellwood Grove and neighboring Coronado Grove in Goleta, not far from the University of California Santa Barbara campus. Tucked between a residential neighborhood and an open coastal mesa, giant eucalyptus trees grow along a seasonal creek. At the peak of the season, in December and January, more than 50,000 monarchs cluster in the trees in this grove.

We knew it was a bit early to see the giant clumps of butterflies hanging like bunches of orange and black living leaves, but already some of the monarchs had arrived for the winter.  As we walked the shady paths through the grove (which is protected as a nature preserve) a parade of butterflies flitted over our heads, their colorful wings catching the sunlight.  And then we came upon a bush where we found hundreds of butterflies perched like jewels as they fed on the flowers.  As we watched them up close, we could see their tiny legs and antennae and their coiled proboscises sucking up nectar. 

Monarchs have an amazing life cycle.  An adult monarch lays its eggs on milkweed leaves.  When the eggs hatch, the caterpillars eat the leaves. After a few weeks, when the caterpillars are about two inches long, they stop eating, attach themselves to a leaf, and form a beautiful light green chrysalis. Inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar grows wings and metamorphosizes into a butterfly. After about two weeks, the butterfly emerges, gradually unfolding its wings. When they dry, the butterfly is ready to fly.  It will look for food, lay eggs, and the cycle of life will begin again.

When monarchs eat milkweed sap, a little bit of the poison in the sap becomes part of their bodies.  It helps protect them from birds and other predators. (Predators do not eat monarchs because they taste bad.)

Information sign at Coronado entrance to grove

Monarch butterflies have a life span of about a year.  Each butterfly makes the migration trip only once.  The amazing thing is that they know where to go even though they have never been there before. If we return again next year to see the butterflies, we will see the descendants of those that fluttered over our heads on this trip.

Coronado Butterfly Preserve:  Located adjacent to the Ellwood Grove.  Click HERE for more information:

Video: For a great video of the butterfly migration and information about other monarch groves in California click HERE.

Directions to the Ellwood Butterfly Grove and Coronado Butterfly Preserve: Click HERE for directions to the Coronado entrance to the Elwood Butterfly Grove and links to other hikes in the Santa Barbara area.

UPDATE February 23, 2014:
Monarchs, milkweed and the spirit of Rachel Carson. See this article in the Los Angeles Times about how pesticides are endangering the monarch butterflies.  Fewer butterflies have migrated to Mexico this year than ever before.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/la-oe-nabhan-monarch-butterfly-extinction-20140223,0,7973387.story#axzz2uBU4ETM3

Marker showing paths from the grove across the mesa to the beach in Santa Barbara