Posted by Elise Wormuth on November 30, 2010 at 6:35 PM
The Monarch butterflies are here in Santa Cruz. You will most often hear of them being at Natural Bridges State Park, and indeed they are there, in the butterfly grove. My camera group went there on Sunday and I think we were all kind of disappointed -- even those of us with 400mm lenses found them too far up in the trees to get the kinds of pictures we wanted, and there were so many people on the walkway and observation deck that none of the butterflies came anywhere near us. It also costs $10 to get into the parking lot, a steep price if you come home unhappy with your shots.
Another place where you might have more success is in Lighthouse Field park, right off of West Cliff Drive. Very close to the corner of Eucalyptus Ave. and Pelton Ave., there's a roped-off grove of eucalyptus where you have a better chance of catching the butterflies up close. You can park on the street for free. I didn't see any of the hanging groups at that location, but there are eucalyptus blooms quite close to the ground in a couple of places, and after I stood there quietly for a while, some Monarchs came around, along with bees and hummingbirds, and a bright yellow bird that I was unfortunately too slow to capture.
Maybe you all know this already, but if you're in the Santa Cruz area in the near future, it's worth a look. Of course I don't mean to suggest you can't get good pictures at Natural Bridges -- one woman got quite nice ones -- just that there's another, less well known place you can try.
Posted by John W. Wall on December 1, 2010 at 6:31 PM
I wonder if they're at Pacific Grove too. It was warm the only time I went there. Lots of monarchs, but all of 'em flittering around!
Discussion
2 repliesAnother place where you might have more success is in Lighthouse Field park, right off of West Cliff Drive. Very close to the corner of Eucalyptus Ave. and Pelton Ave., there's a roped-off grove of eucalyptus where you have a better chance of catching the butterflies up close. You can park on the street for free. I didn't see any of the hanging groups at that location, but there are eucalyptus blooms quite close to the ground in a couple of places, and after I stood there quietly for a while, some Monarchs came around, along with bees and hummingbirds, and a bright yellow bird that I was unfortunately too slow to capture.
Maybe you all know this already, but if you're in the Santa Cruz area in the near future, it's worth a look. Of course I don't mean to suggest you can't get good pictures at Natural Bridges -- one woman got quite nice ones -- just that there's another, less well known place you can try.
There are other spots in CA for the Monarchs. as well.
Here is a link to them, with directions:
http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/californiamenu/a/monarchs.htm
Sandy