Unlike the zoo, the Monarch Program in Encinitas, has a permanent butterfly enclosure. They call this the Butterfly Vivarium. They are a research and educational organization that studies monarch migration and butterfly relations with host plants. It is in a residential area and the museum part of the facility is a converted house.
I walked inside the house/museum but no one was there. So we walked into the Vivarium. A woman came out of the greenhouse and invited us to start our tour in the museum. On the way we were joined by a mother and her two children. Inside another mother and two children joined us. First we looked at a display of pinned butterfly specimens. I’ve gotten so used to seeing live butterflies that I couldn’t help but notice how strange the specimens look with their wings spread open so they are transformed from 3 dimensions into two. Our guide informed us the world’s smallest butterfly was a CA native, the pygmy blue. We looked at monarch caterpillars and chrysalises. Some of the caterpillars were in the process of transforming themselves, hanging upside down.
We watched a short video of the butterfly lifecycle and then went into the vivarium. The vivarium was a simple wood frame building with high ceilings and walls and roof of screening and clear plastic tarp. There was a little pool in the middle and flowers both in the ground and in pots. It was a much more restful environment than the zoo and there were even some benches and butterfly books for people who just wanted to sit and relax. The butterflies were all locals: mourning cloaks, red admirals, sulphurs, West Coast ladies, anise swallowtails, and cabbage whites. But the real treat for us was a California dogface. The California dogface is the state butterfly. It is notoriously difficult to photograph with its wings open revealing the rose upper wings with their dogface design. With its wings closed, it just resembles a sulphur with pointed upper wings. Our guide explained that the dogface butterflies are colonial so they won’t just drift into your garden if you plant their cassia food plant. They gathered them in the wild and bred them in the facility.
The Monarch Program is located at 450 Ocean View Ave. in Encinitas, CA. Their hours are Saturdays: 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM, or by appointment (including the winter months). In the summer, they are open Thursdays and Fridays as well. The admission is a $7 donation to the program ($6 teens and seniors, $5 children 3-12). They also sell butterfly plants and seeds. www.monarchprogram.org
