Western Monarch Day Feb 5, 2024

Western Monarch Day

Western Monarch Day celebrates a stunning natural phenomenon, the annual migration of thousands of flame-colored butterflies to California. Traveling south to escape the winter weather, they use air currents to help them make journeys of hundreds of miles. They descend to gather in large numbers on eucalyptus trees, like the ones pictured on our homepage today in Goleta, Santa Barbara County. Those gathered to see clusters of butterflies in 100-foot-tall trees might confuse them for clumps of leaves at first. However, as the sun"s rays gently fall upon them, their wings will begin to flutter. Bring your binoculars and take the opportunity to witness these winged wonders huddled together. It"s truly a sight to behold!

© Craig Rademacher/500px/Getty Images

palette

Today in History

Feb 5, 2018Iceberg off the coast of Antarctica
Feb 5, 2019Welcome to the Year of the Pig
Feb 5, 2020Frozen beauty
Feb 5, 2021A sea of swirling stone
Feb 5, 2022Monarch butterflies in Angangueo, Mexico
Feb 5, 2023Monarch butterflies, Pismo Beach, California
Feb 5, 2025Scottish Blackface sheep, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Feb 5, 2026Salt evaporation ponds on the island of Gozo, Malta

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Oct 7, 2018Room at the top?
Dec 26, 2024Boxing Day
Feb 23, 2022Point Reyes National Seashore
Oct 24, 2021Bavljenac Island
Jul 20, 2019Bringing the moon to Earth
Mar 17, 2024St. Patricks Day
Nov 28, 2025Celebrating Native American Heritage Day
Jan 11, 2025Heri es-Swani in Meknes, Morocco
Jul 11, 2022World Population Day
Apr 2, 2023Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, East Java, Indonesia
Mar 15, 2025Ides of March
Mar 9, 2019Let the harvest begin
Dec 26, 2025Boxing Day
May 17, 2022Salt ponds of Maras, Peru
Nov 19, 2022Zion National Park turns 103
Mar 8, 2018Celebrate International Women’s Day
Nov 23, 2025Fibonacci Day
Mar 26, 2023Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California
Jun 14, 2023Flag Day
Mar 1, 2020Casting a vote for women s history
Nov 8, 2019Chapel on the rock
May 10, 2018Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, New York
Sep 26, 2023Venice Skatepark, Los Angeles, California
Jan 6, 2026Nuuk, Greenland
Apr 11, 2021The mountain of 30,000 sakura
Oct 3, 2018Monarch butterflies migrate south
Nov 11, 2019On a Healing Field for Veterans Day
Jul 5, 2022Fannette Island, Lake Tahoe
Aug 19, 2018Oh, the places you’ll go
Mar 21, 2023International Day of Color