Posts Tagged: David James

Not Good News on the Monarch Front

The dwindling number of monarchs overwintering along the California coast is of great concern.  This just in from entomologist and migratory monarch researcher David James, an associate professor at Washington State University, who maintains a...

Overwintering monarchs clustering in an 80-foot-high eucalyptus tree at the Natural Bridges State Park butterfly sanctuary, Santa Cruz on Dec. 30, 2016. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Overwintering monarchs clustering in an 80-foot-high eucalyptus tree at the Natural Bridges State Park butterfly sanctuary, Santa Cruz on Dec. 30, 2016. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

On Sept. 6, 2016, It Happened

On Sept. 6, 2016, it happened. A monarch fluttered into our pollinator garden in Vacaville and touched down on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. It wasn't just "any ol' monarch"--if there's ever such a thing as "any ol'...

This monarch, tagged and released in Ashland, Ore., on Aug. 28, 2016, touched down in a Vacaville garden on Sept. 6, 2016. It flew 285 miles in 7 days or about 40.7 miles per day, according to WSU entomologist David James. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This monarch, tagged and released in Ashland, Ore., on Aug. 28, 2016, touched down in a Vacaville garden on Sept. 6, 2016. It flew 285 miles in 7 days or about 40.7 miles per day, according to WSU entomologist David James. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Lawn-pocalypse! Surviving Drought

Ah, summer! The season of sunburns, pool parties, and… lawn droughts. If your once lush, green carpet now looks like a crunchy brown doormat, you're not alone. Let's dive into why your yard is staging a dramatic death scene and what you can do to...

Bermuda grass and weeds overtaking drought stressed turf grass.

A patch of former lawn, mostly dead, with a few green weeds and Bermudagrass

Revisiting the Issue of Monarch Butterflies Missing from California Classrooms

A monarch butterfly caterpillar goes through five stages or instars before it J's and becomes a jade-green chrysalis. Scientists estimate that only 10 percent of the eggs and 'cats survive to adulthood. They don't "survive" at all in...

A monarch caterpillar crawling on a milkweed leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A monarch caterpillar crawling on a milkweed leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A male monarch butterfly foraging on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifola) in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatle Garvey)

A male monarch butterfly foraging on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifola) in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatle Garvey)

A Fascinating, Must-Read Book: 'The Lives of Butterflies'

“Butterflies are treasures, like great works of art. Should we not value them as much as the beauty of Picasso's art or the music of Mozart or the Beatles?—Lincoln Brower (1931-2018), renowned Lepidopterist educated at Princeton and Yale...

In the field: David James, an entomologist and associate professor at Washington State University.

In the field: David James, an entomologist and associate professor at Washington State University.

A monarch butterfly on Tithonia rotundifola in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A monarch butterfly on Tithonia rotundifola in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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