Tag Archives: butterfly

Butterfly Count in San Francisco – 2017

This year’s sunny butterfly count day – June 18th, 2017 – made up for last year’s dismal fog. Eighteen spotters in eight groups, led by butterfly maven Liam O’Brien, counted a record number of butterflies: 1435 or 1440, (we’re still … Continue reading

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Butterfly Count 2016 – San Francisco

This year’s foggy butterfly count day – June 4th, 2016 –  yielded fewer butterflies than usual, though the number of species was around the same. The Common Buckeye was the most commonly spotted butterfly in 2016, with the Cabbage White … Continue reading

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Sunny Day with Butterflies and Bees in Sutro Forest

One of the lovely things about Mount Sutro Forest is its changing moods. We posted pictures here of a foggy day recently, when the forest was ethereal and damp. But the previous afternoon, it was sunny in the forest. A … Continue reading

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San Francisco Butterflies – Count Results for 2014

Each year, in the 4 weeks before or after the 4th of July, the North American Butterfly Association, NABA, sponsors a butterfly count across the nation. Here in San Francisco, Liam O’Brien manages it, maneuvering around the fog of summer. … Continue reading

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“Invasive” Plants can Save Native Wildlife

We recently came upon this article by author Toby Hemenway, on his blog Pattern Literacy.  Written from the point of view of a permaculturist, it responds to nativist objections that the permaculture community plants non-native or even “invasive” species. Since … Continue reading

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How Many Butterflies? San Francisco Butterfly Count, 2013

Each year, in June or July, a group of volunteers goes out and counts butterflies. This year’s butterfly count in San Francisco was on June 8th, and yielded 751 individual butterflies, of which 703 were identified by species. (The spotters … Continue reading

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San Francisco Butterfly Count 2012 Results

Every year, the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) sponsors a “July 4th” butterfly count; it’s a count of all the species volunteers spot within a 15-mile radius on a particular day in the 4 weeks before or after July 4th.  … Continue reading

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Bees, Weeds, and Nativism

Nativists who favor “native pollinators” often believe that these insects – bees, butterflies, moths and similar insects – rely on native plants. The plants and insects co-evolved, goes the argument; and so to protect one, you must plant the other. … Continue reading

Posted in Environment, Mount Sutro Stewards, nativism, Natural areas Program | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Monarch Butterflies in Eucalyptus in San Francisco

Like everyone else, we knew that Monarch butterflies visit California’s coast in winter. What we didn’t know was that they’re right here in San Francisco! (The picture here isn’t from San Francisco, it’s from a commercial stock-photo site.) MONARCHS AMONG … Continue reading

Posted in eucalyptus, Natural areas Program | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

San Francisco Butterfly Count Results, July 2011

The San Francisco butterfly count, led by Liam O’ Brien and sponsored by the North American Butterfly Association, has announced its results. This year, it was held on July 3 on a bright sunny day, compared with last year’s June … Continue reading

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Twin Peaks and the Mission Blue Butterfly: Why it’s Still Uncertain

[THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN IN APRIL 2011 AND UPDATED Feb 2012] Last year, journalists were celebrating the return of the Mission Blue butterfly to Twin Peaks. From the SF Chronicle of 7 May 2010: “Everyone comes back to San Francisco, … Continue reading

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Endangered Butterflies

A commenter on this website, ‘Jonathan’, suggested that a good reason to destroy the Mount Sutro Cloud Forest would be to bring back habitat for endangered butterflies. Besides the Mission Blue Butterfly (for which there’s an attempted reintroduction on Twin … Continue reading

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The Failed Experiment at Tank Hill

Someone emailed us to ask why UCSF were  bothering with demonstration projects, when there was the obvious example of Tank Hill. “Trees were cut down, natives planted and died,”  said the email. What did they achieve? So we looked into … Continue reading

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Butterfly Count Results, 2010

It’s nice to have positive things to say about Nature in the City (which we’ve disagreed with, more than once), and this is really a win. Despite some pretty cold foggy weather, their June 7th Butterfly Count got 34 participants … Continue reading

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Mission Blue Butterfly- An Uncertain Experiment. Why?

This post was sparked by our discussion in comments with reader JMC, who advocates replacing the Sutro Forest with Mission Blue habitat (disturbed grassland with lupines and other flowering plants). Recently, a Mission Blue butterfly was spotted on Twin Peaks … Continue reading

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Butterfly Count: June 7th

We’ve talked about Nature In the City and its negative attitude to trees. Today’s post is positive: They’re leading a San Francisco Butterfly Count, in collaboration with the North American Butterfly Association. We believe it will be okay to count … Continue reading

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