Thursday, December 7, 2017
We visited Butterfly Farms in nearby Encinitas. The farm was established in 2013 to study the relationship of pollinators and butterflies, concentrating on the Monarch Butterfly. There is a 2,000 square foot Vivarium (butterfly free flight house,) where they can study the butterflies in a controlled environment.
We were surprised to see the milkweed here, which doesn’t look anything like what we have in Minnesota.
We saw several varieties of butterfly and caterpillars. Of course, there were Monarchs, but also Giant Swallowtail (black and yellow,) Queen (gold with black border and white spots,) and Cloudless Sulphur (yellow with gold/white spots.) There was one strange looking one for which we couldn’t determine the variety.
We stopped at a beachside restaurant for lunch and enjoyed watching the surfers and sailboarders out on the water.
During lunch, the alarms went off on almost every cellphone there. The Los Angeles area is experiencing several wildfires, which are being fanned by the Santa Ana winds. The fires are now extending into northern San Diego County, close enough for us to see the smoke. It was enough to block the sunset.
