Orange wings are on the move around Santa Barbara.
The public is asked to keep watch for these wings to help track the area’s most royal of insects: monarch butterflies. Data collected by the region’s amateur etymologists will help scientists understand where these disappearing butterflies are at different times of year and inform the upcoming 29th annual Western Monarch Count.
“Millions of western monarchs used to return to coastal California every year, but the population has plummeted in recent decades,” due to climate change, habitat loss, pesticides, and disease, according to the California State Parks Foundation…