Ron's Butterfly Habitat Summary 2003
It was the year that was not going to be for butterflies at the beginning of the season when butterfliers were saying that the season was two or three weeks behind schedule due to an extremely wet and cold Spring. Tiger Swallowtails were not common, but disappointment was common. I did not see a Tiger swallowtail in my garden until July 7th. The Monarchs showed up in Mid-June and were plentiful to help save the day, although I averaged less than two per day in my garden. Butterfly sightings were down until the last two weeks of August and the first week of September. I was off from work on most of those days and was able to record many sightings. The sun was out every time I was off. Again, I remind you: "It is all about Sunshine and Habitat." This year I saw the Snout, Sootywing, Dun Skipper, Horace's Duskywing, Red Banded Hairstreak, and the Silvery Checkerspot for the first time in my garden, bringing the total number of species since 1994 to 46. I saw a record 30 species in my garden for 2003. 3:30 pm was a magic time in my garden. On two or three occasions I could barely keep up with the action. Although Tiger Swallowtails were not common, Eastern Black Swallowtails and Red Spotted Purples were much more prevalent this year. The fruit eaters were back this year. (Comma, Question Mark, Red Spotted Purple, & Hackberry) Apple was the fruit of choice, not the usual watermelon.
Rainfall was extremely high this year, but my plants did not bloom very well. Butterfly Bush was hurt by the cold winter. It had small blooms and kept going to seed right away. I deadheaded them, which I feel did increase my nectar supply and thus my sightings. As gardeners, do you ever feel that you are working all the time?? Verbena Bonariensis and Butterfly Bush were the top attractors with Butterfly Bush gaining a slight edge. Purple Coneflower, Swamp Milkweed, and Giant Hyssop did well as attractors. Zinnia, Field Thistle, and Tithonia did not attract well this year. The variety of butterflies was up this year in my garden, but the total number of butterflies was down compared to last year. If we had had the open house this year, the butterfly count would have been down for that particular day. In the wild, I noticed a Butterfly Weed plant that was bitten off by a deer last year did not come back this year. This plant, Asclepias Tuberosa, seems to be having problems going to seed as well. My plant had 100 flowers last year during the severe drought but did not produce any seeds. This year the same plant with high rainfall produced a few seedpods, but the seeds seem to be of low quality. I am not sure what is going on here.
This year we had Monarch, Spicebush Swallowtail, and Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars. A record of 3 sets of Monarchs mated in my garden. This was the first year that I, along with Emily Schleicher, a youngster from Boyertown, raised a Monarch from an egg that was laid on Common Milkweed in my garden. Also I tagged 23 Monarchs during the September migration in my backyard for the University of Kansas Monarch Watch. While doing this, I observed that the Monarchs were only staying 2 to 5 minutes in my garden. (And I thought that was the same Monarch flying around). I saw 60 Monarchs during my 3 days of tagging. One thing is for sure; I need to work on my netting skills. I enjoyed the tagging and will do it again next year. If you need information, contact http://www.monarchwatch.org.
I made it to the Susquehanna River at Marietta, PA for five visits this year. On one trip I claimed to have seen about 5,000 butterflies in three hours, about 1,000 of which were Silvery Checkerspots or Silvery Cresentspots as some books call them. Ask Karl Gardner how many he saw? Karl, could this have been fuzzy math or just one unbelievable butterfly day? What a habitat!! Again, host plants and nectar are what butterflies need.
I shot about 500 pictures this year, which kept Wal-Mart in business. No, I still do not have a digital camera. I still use the Nikon 6006, and a 35-80 auto focus lens with 200 speed Fuji film. Kay Rutter, our new and terrific webmaster, will be putting many of these photos in the photo gallery at www.butterflybutterfly.com. Fourteen of the photos will become 16 x 20 posters.
Other highlights of the season were my second trip to Fort Indiantown Gap to see the Regal Fritillary on July 1st. We did not see any since they were late this year, but I still had an enjoyable day. This is an incredible 200-acre habitat, which is home to about 1,000 Regals. Two years ago Major Yearwood gave an impassioned speech, which stated how important it was to him to save this butterfly. The Nature Conservancy under the direction of the Major preserves this habitat. This is the last large colony of Regals East of the Mississippi River. I saw an area where Crown Vetch is taking over the butterfly habitat. The Nature Conservancy is going kill it with Roundup. This makes sense to me. Thus, I want to know why we have to watch the open areas in our State Parks in PA be overtaken with Mile A Minute Weed, Multiflora Rose, Canadian Thistle, and Poison Ivy? I think these plants could be controlled safely with Roundup. This year I gave up on the French Creek State Park habitat. I learned I can not restore a habitat with mowing and shovels alone. I am convinced the only thing that could change the plant life back to what it once was (it included 3 different Milkweeds and many Field Thistles) would be a spraying program along with plowing the area. As it is now, it is extremely difficult to drive a shovel through the soil. I feel this was a great experience and will use this knowledge if we ever do the butterfly preserve.
What a butterfly year it turned out to be!
Best wishes for a great 2004.
Ron
