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Article: Butterfly heaven: watch monarchs winter along Northern California's coast.(OUTDOORS)
- Article from:
- Sunset
- Article date:
- December 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Sunset Publishing Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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When it comes to insects, most of us need an attitude adjustment. A guided walk with interpretive naturalist Martha Nitzberg at Santa Cruz's Monarch Butterfly Natural Preserve can do just that.
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"In our culture, we have an inherent dislike for insects," Nitzberg says. "But many are very beneficial to us as pollinators of our food and flowers, and some are also very beautiful." In a few moments at the observation deck in the Natural Bridges State Beach preserve, her point becomes clear. In an insect beauty contest, the monarch butterfly reigns supreme.
These orange and black-winged lovelies arrive by mid-October at several ...