Awakening Moment Winter is the season for monarch butterflies to migrate from the Pacific North West to the California Coast. I visited two of the popular spots where the monarch butterflies like to spend their winter days. In Pacific Grove I found the biggest clusters of the butterflies. I waited for ~30 minutes as the sun started to shine on this cluster and started to warm it up. At some point, the butterflies started to get a bit more active. Then, all of a sudden, within seconds, they all decided to take off and disperse from the cluster. This picture captures the moment when many butterflies took off and left the cluster at the same time, showing off their bright orange color in the sun.