Mission Blue, Mission Reds

Red and blue?  Norteños and Sureños? Not so fast.

Thanks to Mission Mission, we all know about the Mission Reds, the minor league baseball team defending the ‘hood from 1928-1937 against the evil San Francisco Seals.

They even had their own mural at Albion and 16th in the 1980’s — a mashup with the Mission’s own Woodward’s Gardens from the late 1800s (which deserves its own post later…)

But these Mission cycling guys decided to use baby blue, not red for their colors.  Whaaa???  Where’s your historical continuity, bike dudes?

But wait! Baby blue actually makes sense as I just read about the rare Mission Blue butterfly via Eye on Blogs.

It used to be widespread throughout the Bay Area, but you can guess the story — it is now only found in the Marin Headlands, San Bruno Mountain and… Twin Peaks.  But even the Twin Peaks population (PDF) has taken a serious hit over the past 10 years — their main meal, lupine, has not been doing so well lately.  However efforts are underway to bring them back to the hood.

To aid the recovery of the beautiful Mission Blue Butterfly, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department (SFRPD) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) will start releasing 22 of the endangered butterflies on Thursday, April 16, 2009 in natural areas on San Francisco’s Twin Peaks….

…“The mission blue butterfly is a critical indicator of the health of San Francisco’s biological diversity,” said Jared Blumenfeld, General Manger of the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department.  “This magnificent species, which can be found nowhere else in the world, cannot be allowed to go extinct. By releasing twenty-two mission blue butterflies into their native habitat on Twin Peaks, we hope to bring this species back from the brink.”

They’re about the size of a quarter, so keep an eye out.  And plant some lupine.

This has been your irregularly scheduled color commentary on the Mission.