Reader Photo: So many butterflies

Because Los Angeles is experiencing a cold snap and we’re indoors trying to bundle up and stay warm, the desire to be outside is (momentarily) being cured by this photograph. Kannan Muthuraman captured this photo of two branches filled with monarch butterflies -- how many, we’re still not sure -- at the Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove.

“From ground level, unless they move, it all looks like a branch filled with dry leaves. I was super excited right after realizing that they are, after all, not dry leaves,” Muthuraman wrote in an email. “It’s a treat to watch so many of them at one place.”

Muthuraman shot the photo using his D800E camera and a 70-200 mm lens with a 2x teleconverter.

Each week, we’re featuring photos of Southern California submitted by readers. Share your photos on our Flickr page or reader submission gallery. Follow us on Twitter or visit latimes.com/socalmoments for more on this photo series.