Like most insects that advertise themselves with red or orange, Checkerspots do not taste good to predators. From the plants they eat, the caterpillars pick up bitter chemicals called iridoid glycosides.
Some docents say the temperatures could be impacting the number of Monarch's this Winter.
The Yolo County Resource Conservation District is working with the Xerces Society and landowners to increase breeding and foraging habitat for western monarch butterflies across the county.
According to California State Parks Interpreter Danielle Bronson, the Pismo State Beach Butterfly Grove recorded a record low number of butterflies wintering in the area this season. The results are similar to the rest of the state, which has also seen a marked decline in the fluttering population in the past year.
Volunteers from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation counted only 2,300 butterflies at the Pismo Beach grove at this season’s annual Thanksgiving Day tally.
That number was down roughly 81 percent from the 2017 count of 12,300.
