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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><h1><img width=610 height=81 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image002.png@01CCACFC.13AECA60"><o:p></o:p></h1><h1>Butterflies all aflutter along East Bay shore<o:p></o:p></h1><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_19417494">http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_19417494</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="mailto:martz@bayareanewsgroup.com?subject=San%20Jose%20Mercury%20News:%20Butterflies%20all%20aflutter%20along%20East%20Bay%20shore">By Matthew Artz<span style='color:blue'><br></span>The Argus</a> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Posted: 11/27/2011 12:00:00 AM PST<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Updated: 11/27/2011 04:07:13 AM PST <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><br><br><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><img border=0 width=286 height=400 id="Picture_x0020_11" src="cid:image001.png@01CCACFB.C8F06BF0"><o:p></o:p></p><p class=bodytext><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>FREMONT -- Unlike recent years, Christina Garcia needed a pen, paper and a fair amount of time Friday to count all the monarch butterflies dangling in clumps high atop the eucalyptus trees at Fremont's Ardenwood Historic Farm.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Garcia, a naturalist with the East Bay Regional Park District, counted 4,176 butterflies -- the most since 1998 and way more than the 224 she counted last year.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>"It's great to see so many of them," she said. "We thought they were going to keep dropping in numbers and maybe not come at all."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The butterflies, which spend their winters along the Central and Southern California coast, also can be seen at San Leandro's Monarch Bay Golf Course and for the first time since 2004, at Point Pinole Regional Shoreline in Richmond.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The Xerces Society, a butterfly conservation group, began the Thanksgiving week butterfly count more than a decade ago to monitor the dramatic decline of monarchs wintering in the state. Counters last year spotted 129,460 butterflies, down from nearly 400,000 a decade earlier.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Garcia said this year's resurgence might be due to the especially wet spring. Late rain is good for the milkweed plant, which serves both as the monarch's egg repository and a major food source. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Most monarchs live less than six weeks, first as caterpillars chomping on milkweed and later as butterflies that mate and produce hundreds of eggs. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>But the current crop of monarchs lead a very different life. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Instead of rushing to mate, they expend their energy flying at speeds as high as 25 miles per hour to the same select shoreline locales where they'll live for months before mating in February.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Much of their winter is spent huddled in trees with their wings overlapping like shingles to protect them from wind and rain. But when the sun comes out, they'll cascade down toward the ground foraging for nectar.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>"It's awesome," Garcia said. "You can even hear their wings fluttering."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>This is the first year that visitors to Ardenwood are allowed to visit the butterfly grove unattended. The district also runs weekend butterfly walks throughout December and January. The park is located at 34600 Ardenwood Blvd., Fremont. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.ebparks.org/parks/ardenwood">www.ebparks.org/parks/ardenwood</a> or call 510-544-2797.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=tagline><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Contact Matthew Artz at 510-353-7002 or <a href="mailto:martz@bayareanewsgroup.com">martz@bayareanewsgroup.com</a>. Visit his blog at <a href="http://www.ibabuzz.com/tricitybeat">www.ibabuzz.com/tricitybeat</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'>_______<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Scott Hoffman Black<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Executive Director<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Chair<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> IUCN Butterfly Specialist Group<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>1971 – 2011: Forty Years of Conservation!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>We have moved!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>628 NE Broadway, Suite 200, Portland, OR 97232, USA<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a href="https://webmail.integra.net/src/compose.php?send_to=sblack%40xerces.org"><span style='color:blue'>sblack@xerces.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Tel: (503) 232-6639 ext. 101<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Toll free: 1-855-232-6639 ext. 101<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Cell: (503) 449-3792<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is an international nonprofit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>To join the Society, make a contribution, or read about our work, please visit <a href="http://www.xerces.org"><span style='color:blue'>www.xerces.org</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>NEW BOOK NOW AVAILABLE:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a href="http://www.xerces.org/announcing-the-publication-of-attracting-native-pollinators/"><span style='color:blue'>Attracting Native Pollinators. Protecting North America’s Bees and Butterflies</span></a></span></i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>