The full moon of March 13 will be accompanied by a total lunar eclipse. Fog permitting, we can watch it begin at around midnight on Thursday as the moon enters the earth’s shadow, or penumbra. The full eclipse comes at around 3 a.m. on Friday morning and will end at around sunrise. The vernal equinox follows a week later and begins the calendar year’s spring season.
A flutter—the collective noun—of butterflies has returned to the Bolinas area as pumpkin-colored monarchs take shelter in groves. As a caterpillar or larva, monarchs have black, white and yellow stripes; as a chrysalis or pupa, they become pale green with gold spots. They will be with us through spring and summer before returning south in fall.
Northern elephant seals are beginning their annual cycle back to the ocean, as males head north and females head west. Groups or pods of this year’s class of weaned pups are gathering and will soon begin teaching themselves how to swim and hunt fish as they linger on the beaches. Many of the females are gone, seeking their first meal in months. We will see some seals return to Chimney Rock to molt and grow new fur in the summer months.
Early milkmaids have been joined in the shade by mauve and white three-petaled trillium flowers.