Fall 2021 - Giving Thanks for Monarchs (and Scrub Jays)
Giving Thanks for Monarchs (and Scrub Jays) After the devastating news last year that there were no monarch butterflies at the Pacific Grove Monarch Sanctuary, we were overjoyed to see these iconic insects make a comeback in 2021! My husband, Brian, and I had to witness this miracle for ourselves, so took a drive down to the sanctuary over Thanksgiving weekend. Pacific Grove is truly our 'happy place,' where we were married years ago and enjoyed many long weekends in the ensuing years. So on our way into town we stopped by Bookworks for some coffee and pumpkin bread, savoring it at an outdoor table and noting, with joy, the occasional monarch flitting past. Nearby a scrub jay perched with an acorn in its beak, casting a wary eye in our direction before burying its treasure in some nearby ivy. We had just recently learned, from Doug Tallamy's "The Nature of Oaks" that jays may carry an acorn as far as a mile before burying it. Furthermore, just one si...