They look like monarch butterflies but they’re actually painted ladies and they’re making an appearance on the central coast in record numbers.
Local butterfly experts speculate it may be California’s superbloom that’s creating more vegetation for the painted ladies to feed on.
Painted ladies are smaller and fly faster than monarchs and they also migrate north, from Mexico. While hiking at the Fort Ord monument, one nature lover counted 28-butterflies per minute on march 30th.
