This past summer, the Land Trust helped rear and release a batch of monarch butterflies from an egg explosion in Brookings, OR. On September 14th, Stewardship Director Amanda Egertson and her kids Lucy and Eli released monarchs at Hollingshead Park in Bend in front of an excited crowd of butterfly believers young and old. Forty-five days later, on October 29th, monarch G1615 (better known as 'Flamingo') was spotted in California!
Photographer John Dayton spotted Flamingo at Natural Bridges State Beach, an overwintering site in Santa Cruz, CA where Flamingo was roosting with hundreds of other monarch butterflies. Flamingo traveled 493 miles from Bend--the farthest any recorded monarch has traveled this season! Dr. David James keeps the records on monarch survivorship for a larger research project at Washington State University. Flamingo is the first monarch released by the Land Trust to be found at overwintering grounds in California. We are hoping Flamingo is simply the first of many more!
Thank you to the Brookings Connection, the Egertson Family, Bend Parks and Recreation, and John Dayton who spotted and photographed Flamingo!
Learn more:
- Monarch Conservation at the Land Trust
- Learn how Flamingo's journey went from Brookings to Bend
- Help monarch butterflies, plant milkweed!