2 Where Monarchs Gather

As part of Becky’s April Bright Square Photo Challenge over at The Life of B, I’ve opened the archives to January 2020 to share our 19 day trip to USA. Join me on a pictorial travelogue of the best and brightest of our pre-pandemic adventures in California and Nevada! The rules of the challenge are simple: most photos must be square and fit the theme word bright. Look for #brightsquare.

From November to February, thousands of orange Monarch butterflies gather in a sheltered grove at Pismo Beach on the Central California coast. They’ve travelled up to 2,000 miles, from as far north as Canada, to see out the winter.

We watched for ages as the brightly coloured butterflies clustered in the tall eucalypts and Monterey cypress trees, only leaving to feed on nectar from nearby flowering plants.