There's good news and not-so-good news about the Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count in California.

Last December the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation released preliminary figures. Now they've announced the final tally: almost 272,000 monarchs (Danaus plexippus).

The good news is that it's a little up from last year. Yes! But the not-so-good news is that the total is 39 percent lower than the long-term average.

The Xerces Society has sponsored and spearheaded the count since 1997. The project spans 16 counties along the California coast. It's called the “Thanksgiving Count” but it's a three-week project centered around the holiday. Who surveys them? Volunteers. It's a massive and important endeavor.

"Results from a survey of monarch butterfly overwintering sites in California show that there are more monarchs overwintering in the state this year than last," wrote Sarina Jepsen, director of Xerces Endangered Species Program, and Scott Hoffman Black, Xerces executive director, on their website. "Volunteers with the Xerces Society's Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count visited 187 sites and tallied a total of 271,924 monarchs. Although more monarchs were counted, the average number of monarchs per site is not significantly different than last year's count, and this year's population estimate represents a 39% decline from the long term average. The number of monarchs counted this year is but a fraction of the 1.2 million monarchs recorded in the late 90s."

They noted some promising data. "Fifteen sites that have been continuously monitored had the highest numbers of butterflies in a decade. Several sites that had not seen monarchs for years were occupied, and there were a number of sites, such as the Berkeley Aquatic Park, that hosted overwintering monarchs for the first time. In Marin County in the northern extent of the overwintering range, 11 sites had increased numbers and two new sites each supported more than 8,000 butterflies."

Unfortunately, the sites surveyed in southern California showed fewer monarchs than last year.

Xerces is working feverishly to save the monarchs and is encouraging others to do so, too. “The monarch butterfly population has recently declined to dangerously low levels,” Xerces wrote on their website. “In the 1990s, estimates of up to one billion monarchs made the epic flight each fall from the northern plains of the U.S. and Canada to sites in the oyamel fir forests north of Mexico City, and more than one million monarchs overwintered in forested groves on the California Coast. Now, researchers and citizen scientists estimate that only about 56.5 million monarchs remain, representing a decline of more than 80% from the 21 year average across North America.”

Personally, we were delighted to see monarchs overwintering in the Berkeley Aquatic Park and the gathering--though sparse--near St. Peter's Chapel on the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, Solano County.  Monarchs used to overwinter in the eucalyptus trees near the Solano County Juvenile Hall, Fairfield, but someone felled the trees.

 Meanwhile, what can we do to conserve the monarchs?  Xerces lists these excellent points:

• Plant native milkweed and nectar plants. Find sources of local, native milkweed seed in your state using our Milkweed Seed Finder.
• Learn more about growing milkweeds on our Project Milkweed page.
• Avoid using insecticides and herbicides.
• Support agriculture that is organic or free of Genetically Modified ingredients.
• Become a citizen scientist and contribute to research efforts to track the monarch population in its breeding and overwintering range.
• Support the Xerces Society's monarch conservation efforts

Another thing we can do is become "Monarch Moms" and "Monarch Dads." Rear them for conservation purposes. Then release them and watch them soar. It's a feeling like no other.  If you look on Facebook, you can network with  the Monarch Moms and Monarch Dads out there.

Examples:

The Beautiful Monarch
Public group administered by Holli Webb Hearn
"The Beautiful Monarch group was created to teach members how to raise and properly care for the monarch butterfly from egg to flying adult along with learning about their predators, diseases and other monarch facts. It is my hope that as a collective group we will help and teach one another along with any new members that join us."

Raising Butterflies and Moths for Conservation (+All Pollinators)
Closed group monitored by Mona L. Miller (apply to join)
"Our focus is the preservation and protection of North American butterflies, moths and pollinators, particularly the Monarch Butterfly."

There's even a Monarch Teacher Network. (Teaching and Learning with Monarch Butterflies)

Go, monarchs!

You could say that noted entomologist/author Stephen Buchmann has a thing for buds, bees, beetles and butterflies...buds that burst into flowers, and bugs that burst into pollinators.

The UC Davis-trained entomologist, author of the newly published paperback book, The Reason for Flowers: Their History, Culture, Biology, and How They Change Our Lives, "has been on the cutting edge of many areas of pollination biology," said Robbin Thorp, distinguished emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis who served as his major professor. Buchmann, who received his doctorate in entomology from UC Davis in 1978, is a researcher and adjunct professor in the departments of entomology and ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

"Steve jumps onto new ideas with great enthusiasm and explores them in depth," Thorp said. "He has been a leader in areas like buzz pollination, the contribution of electrostatics in pollen harvesting by bees, and adaptations in bees that collect oils from specialized flowers.  He raised important issues about the conservation of bees in co-authoring the benchmark book,  The Forgotten Pollinators, a decade before colony collapse disorder (CCD)  in honey bees captured the attention of the media and general public."

And, Thorp says, "Steve enjoys new technologies and exploring ways they can be applied to pollination research.  At the annual Bee Course in Arizona,  he provides a very popular demonstration of life within carpenter bee nests."

Thorp and Buchmann are among the instructors at The Bee Course, which attracts conservation biologists, pollination ecologists and other attendees from all over the world. It's affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History.

So last year when Simon & Schuster published Buchmann's latest book, Reason for Flowers, it drew quite a splash. Bee scientists and bee enthusiasts, teachers and students, and lovers of flowers and just plain lovers, grabbed copies of the book, which, as of Feb. 9, is now in paperback. National Public Radio (NPR) interviewed him.

One word immediately grabbed everyone's attention: "sex."

"The reason for flowers is actually one word: sex," Buchmann told NPR's Arun Rath. "So, flowers are literally living scented billboards that are advertising for sexual favors, whether those are from bees, flies, beetles, butterflies or us, because quite frankly most of the flowers in the world have gotten us to do their bidding. But that's only the first stage because flowers, if they're lucky, turn into fruits, and those fruits and seeds feed the world."

A scientist who seemingly never sleeps, Buchmann has published more than 150 scientific articles and 11 popular nonfiction books, including The Forgotten Pollinators (a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist) with Gary Nabhan. His book, Honey Bees: Letters from the Hive, is a National Science Teachers' Association Outstanding Science Trade Book. He's also written a children's book The Bee Tree (with Diana Cohn), described as the true story of a family of honey hunters in peninsular Malaysia. 

So, we asked Buchmann to provide "10 reasons for flowers." He provides greater detail in his book, but here are 10 reasons:

1. Flowers Feed The World. Because pollinated and fertilized blossoms turn into nutritious fruits and seeds, these invaluable foodstuffs keep the world's 7.2 billion people from starvation. These resulting fruits also feed birds, bears and other wildlife. 
2. Tasty and Nutritious. Although the calories from starchy cereals and grain crops feed the world, we enjoy and need the “nutraceuticals” and antioxidants inside colorful cranberries, blueberries, oranges and apples. They keep us healthy and happy. 
3. Edible flowers. Some flowers (e.g. roses, some marigolds) are great as edible garnish and foods. Find out which ones can be eaten and what they taste like.
4. Humans might never have evolved, or survived. Early hominids certainly recognized that flowers were the harbingers of tasty fruits. Without flowers, perhaps no people today.
5. Flowers make us smile. Give someone a flower(s) and they flash a genuine Duchenne smile. Rutgers psychologist Dr. Jeanette Haviland-Jones has infused subliminal amounts of rose and gardenia vs. manmade scents into room air. Subjects  use more enjoyment words and were more likely to approach or touch a stranger when the floral scents were present. Flowers may counteract the semiochemicals for fear, anger and anxiety that humans seem to constantly be emitting.
6. 200 million red roses! Americans buy about 10 million cut blooms every day. On Valentine's Day that can jump to 200 million cut flowers, especially red roses. Most of these flowers are grown in Columbia and Ecuador then arrive in the bellies of jumbo jets arriving at the Miami airport.
7. As costly as gold. Saffron is the world's costliest spice and the subject of countless fake imitations. The spice is the dried styles from crocus blooms. Hand-picking and the fact that this represents such a tiny fraction of the entire plant, make it so costly and precious.
8. For inspiration and romance. Flowers have inspired generations of poets, writers and artists. Their myriad shapes, colors and scents enrich our lives with beauty. Their sexuality and alluring scents bring romance into our lives.
9. Most ancient. The world's earliest known flower is the 8-inch tall fossil Achaefructus that grew in China 130-160 million years ago. Turns out that these and other early blooms were puny runts. They wouldn't win best of show ribbons in any flower show.
10. Flowers in the service of science. Without Gregor Mendel's crossing experiments with the humble garden pea, we wouldn't have learned about the laws of inheritance when we did.

 So, flowers feed the world, keep us healthy and make us smile. What could be better than that?

Bee my valentine.

There's something about a honey bee foraging on a flowering quince that makes you long for Valentine's Day and the end of winter.

Flowering quince (Chaenomeles sp.) is one of the first flowers of the year to bloom. And bloom it does, in between the rain drops and rays of sunshine.

It's a delight to see the honey bees buzzing in and out of the delicate pink flowers as they tightly pack their yellow pollen for the trip back to their colony. Protein for the bees.

They're the real winged cupids of Valentine's Day, not the baby with the bow and arrow.

Wikipedia says of Valentine's Day: "The day was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In 18th-century England, it evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as valentines). In Europe, Saint Valentine's Keys are given to lovers  'as a romantic symbol and an invitation to unlock the giver's heart,' as well as to children, in order to ward off epilepsy (called Saint Valentine's Malady).Valentine's Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have given way to mass-produced greeting cards."

Remember those traditional Valentine's Day cards?

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Sugar is sweet
And so are you.

Me thinks that "pink" and "flowering quince" and "yellow pollen" and "honey" should have been in there somewhere...

If you go looking for a bumble bee, you might find a butterfly.

And vice versa.

The UC Davis Arboretum last Saturday (Feb. 6), was just starting to "get its spring on." We spotted a few honey bees and syrphid flies foraging on daphne (Daphne odora) in the Ruth Risdon Storer Garden, but nearby, in the Carolee Shields White Flower Garden and Gazebo, a single butterfly fluttered down on a silver anniversary butterfly bush (Buddleia “Morning Mist").

Could it be? It was. A mourning cloak, Nymphalis antiopa. Butterfly guru Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, said "Congratulations--good show. The first spotting (of the year) in the Valley." Shapiro has monitored the butterfly populations of the Central Valley for more than four decades, and posts his research on his website.

After perching on the butterfly bush, the mourning cloak soared high and then touched down on the sign that read "Silver Anniversary Butterfly Bush. Buddleia “Morning Mist.” What are the odds?

On his website, Shapiro describes the mourning cloak as a "very distinctive and charismatic butterfly, best known for its conspicuous activity in late winter, flying and acting territorial before any trees have leafed out or any wildflowers are active...in recent years populations of this butterfly have collapsed regionally; it disappeared from West Sacramento for several years and has been very scarce and erratic at other low-altitude sites; there was some improvement in 2005 and numbers of hibernators at low altitude were up in 2006, but very bad weather may have prevented much if any recovery."

Shapiro has seen two this year at higher elevations but not in the valley--yet. "In the Sacramento Valley there appears to be only one brood (in spring); the resulting adults migrate upslope and breed in the mountains," he says on his website.  "There is a reverse downslope migration by the next generation, in late September-October. It is not obvious why this seasonal altitudinal migration occurs, but both the California and Milbert's Tortoiseshells, its closest relatives, do it, too."

The mourning cloak, native to Europe and North America and widespread throughout the world, is the state insect of Montana. It's distinguished by its purple-black color, iridescent blue spots, and a yellow border on its upperside. The adults feed on oak tree sap, rotting fruit, and "occasionally on flower nectar," according to Butterflies and Moths of North America. Caterpillar hosts are willows including black willow (Salix nigra), weeping willow (S. babylonica), and silky willow (S. sericea); also American elm (Ulmus americana), cottonwood (Populus deltoides), aspen (P. tremuloides), paper birch (Betula papyrifera), and hackberry (Celtis occidentalis). Older caterpillars wander about and may be found on plants that they do not eat."

The UC Davis Arboretum will be the site of scores of visitors on Saturday, Feb. 13 during the fifth annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day. The campuswide event, free and open to the public, will take place at 11 different sites:

• Anthropology Collections, Young Hall, open noon to 4 p.m.
• Arboretum, Headquarters along LaRue Road, open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Bohart Museum of Entomology, Academic Surge Building, open noon to 4 p.m.
• Botanical Conservatory, greenhouses along Klieber Hall Drive, open 10 a.m. to  4 p.m.
• California Raptor Center, Old Davis Road, open 9 a.m. to noon
• Center for Plant Diversity, Sciences Lab Building, open 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Bee Biology Road, open 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
• Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Academic Surge Building, open noon to 4 p.m.
• Nematode Collection, Sciences Lab Building, open 1 to 4 p.m.
• Paleontology Collections, Earth and Physical Sciences Building, open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Earth and Physical Sciences Building, open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

And maybe--just maybe--visitors to the UC Davis Arboretum will see a mourning cloak.

Or maybe the first bumble bee of the year...a queen black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus?

If you go looking for a butterfly, you might find a bumble bee.