Butterfly Pause: Photo Of The Week

VACAVILLE, CA – This stunner photo of a monarch on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) was snapped at the end of August in Vacaville by Kathy Keatley Garvey, communications specialist for the Department of Entomology and Nematology at University of California, Davis.

But she noted that this year ranks as the worst monarch season ever seen in California by butterfly guru Art Shapiro. The distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at the UC Davis, has monitored butterfly population trends on a transect across central California for 46 years, from the Sacramento River Delta through the Sacramento Valley and Sierra Nevada mountains to the high desert of the Western Great Basin and reports 2018 as a troubling year.

"I have not seen a wild egg or caterpillar of the monarch this entire calendar year at low elevations," he said during a recent interview on the "Insight with Beth Ruyak" program, Capital Public Radio, Sacramento.
"Not one."

Shapiro, a member of the UC Davis faculty since 1971, and author of the book, Field Guide to Butterflies of the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento Valley Regions, visits his 10 sites along the Interstate 80 corridor generally every two weeks "to record what's out." The largest and oldest database in North America, it was recently cited by a British conservation biologist in a worldwide study of insect biomass. Follow his research website at http://butterfly.ucdavis.edu/.

If you have an awesome photo of nature, breath-taking scenery, kids caught being kids, a pet doing something funny or something unusual you happen to catch with your camera, we'd love to feature it on Patch.

We're looking for high-resolution images that reflect the beauty that is Northern California, and that show off your unique talents. Email it to autumn.johnson@patch.com.

FOR MORE OUTSTANDING PHOTOS, ALSO SEE:

• Bee & Petal; Picnic Perfection; Beach Day

• Dogs Dig Art; Stunner Blooms; Sun Splendor

• Stunner Skies, Views & A Very Cute Elephant

--Photo credit: Kathy Keatley Garvey, who contributed to this post