When I got home on the Westside of Sc near Natural Bridges, there were two
tortoiseshells in my yard. I didn’t know what they were! But seeing your
apology for posting the wrong photo prompted me to look them up. So cool!
On Tue, May 19, 2026 at 9:05 PM Cliff Bixler <clifford.bixler50...>
wrote:
> We are yards from the CZU burn. Lots of Ceanothus up here. Sorry for
> accidentally sending a different picture.
> Cliff
>
>
> On Tue, May 19, 2026, 9:00 PM Suzanne Kent <surreykent...> wrote:
>
>> Today I identified 2 California Tortoiseshell butterflies in my Westside
>> Santa Cruz yard, nectaring on a (non-native) butterfly bush. I’m very
>> aware of butterflies and plant host plants of various kinds, but I have
>> never seen this species before, even though I have large ceanothus shrubs
>> in my yard.
>>
>> I agree with Ryan - I was astonished to recently observe the ceanothus
>> mass growth in the CZU burn areas - especially Ceanothus thyrsiflorus
>> (Blueblossom).
>>
>> On May 19, 2026, at 3:23 PM, Ryan Phillips <norcalbirding...>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Between Lexington Res and the Summit on Highway 17 it is popping with
>> Tortoiseshells! What an event that I cannot recall a magnitude like this in
>> the Santa Cruz Mountains during my 47 years (my entire life, ha) in the
>> SCM.
>>
>> Today while driving HWY 17 there was section where we were stopped and to
>> my surprise (of shear number) along the median there were thousands of dead
>> ones. I never thought about a HWY impacting butterflies in volume like
>> that. But many are low flying and it makes sense.
>>
>> It must be a result of the massive fires years ago where ceanothus (host
>> plant) has now taken over in mass in the burn areas.
>>
>> Get out and experience this. Who knows when we will see something like
>> this again.
>> Ryan
>>
>> *Ryan Phillips* ǀ Owner and Guide
>> Personal and Group Birding Excursions in Northern California and Beyond
>>
>>
>> Phone ǀ (831) 234-7324
>> Email ǀ <norcalbirding...>
>> Website ǀ *www.norcalbirding.com <http://www.norcalbirding.com/>* >> Facebook ǀ www.facebook.com/norcalbirding
>>
>> "Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes
>> and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?"
>> - Sir David Attenborough
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, May 19, 2026, 3:16 PM Chris Soriano <soriano151...> wrote:
>>
>>> I went to Mount Umunuhm yesterday to look for birds and saw literally
>>> thousands of maybe about a dozen different species of butterflies. I had to
>>> drive 5 mph up the road because they were literally covering the entire
>>> road. I did see ash-throated flycatchers in a few spots, that was fun. Also
>>> a baby mountain lion, but no mama mountain lion (fortunately).
>>>
>>> On Tue, May 19, 2026 at 3:07 PM Cliff Bixler <
>>> <clifford.bixler50...> wrote:
>>>
>>>> We have thousands of California Tortise Shell butterflies here. They
>>>> are erruptive and we have never had an outbreak like this in 30 some years.
>>>> They happen every 8 years or so I am told.
>>>> Cliff Bixler
>>>> Bonny Doon
>>>>
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>>>>
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