Above the Tropopause: in Search of a High-Altitude Butterfly.

Loosely based on Audubon’s long-running Christmas Bird Counts, butterfly counts are held annually throughout the country within an 8-week window of early June and late July. In the Bay Area, the first count of the season is at the Pinnacles National Park. I was on my way recently to the last count of the season — the Yosemite Butterfly Count. I’ve run the San Francisco Count for the last 12 years.