Ron's Butterfly Habitat Summary 2005

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 Pottstown, PA

 The 2005 butterfly season calls for some reflection over the years.  Our urban butterfly garden began in 1994 with 3 small Butterfly Bushes, after I read an article in the Morning Call, an Allentown, PA newspaper.  My neighbor asked me what I was doing and I told him I really didn’t know.  I was correct since I didn’t see any butterflies the first year.  My plants were too small and too few.  In 1995 I planted many more plants and the butterflies began to arrive.  In 1996 we started the Annual Butterfly Garden Open House and invited the public to come and see the butterflies and the plants that attract them.  We stopped having the open house in 2002 with over 887 visitors.  Over the years I developed the garden into a habitat with many host plants.  The habitat now contains about 40 Butterfly Bushes, and good quantities of Purple Coneflower, Zinnia, Tithonia, Verbena Bonariensis, Mountain Mint, Giant Hyssop, Field Thistle, Common Milkweed, Swamp Milkweed, and Butterfly Weed.  Fruit plays a major part in our attraction as well.  You must place your watermelon & apples in a shaded area or an area with a backdrop to be effective.  On to what happened in 2005.

 2005 got off to a fast start with warm weather in May and June.  By June 30th I had already seen 11 species.  By the time the season was over I had tied my record from the last year of 34 species, although I didn’t have any new species.  My most notable sighting was the Pipevine Swallowtail.  The total species for our urban habitat remains at 49.

 I saw my first Monarch on July 3rd and the second one on July 7th.  Of the 34 species I saw there were only two that I didn’t see more than once.  Overall, the quantities of butterflies was up.  Swallowtails were a little scarce.  Painted Ladies, American Painted Ladies, Peck’s Skippers, Hackberry Butterflies, Red Spotted Purples, Great Spangled Fritillaries, Varigated Fritillaries, Checkered Skippers, and Azures were abundant.  The consistent 90 degree weather may have contributed to the large quantities of butterflies in 2005.

Highlights of my season included Harold Lebo’s open house in Berks County, 2 trips to the Susquehanna River at Marietta (we saw 2,000 butterflies in an hour and a half on the second trip), a September 20th trip to the Holtwood Power Plant, near Maryland border where we saw over 200 Monarchs on Butterfly Bushes growing in the wild, and my 3rd consecutive trip to Fort Indiantown Gap, to see the Regal Fritillaries (this is one of America’s great habitats.)  Other highlights included raising 11 Monarchs from eggs in my habitat.  The Monarchs were still laying eggs in my habitat on August 23rd.  I had a record 4 sets of Monarchs that mated in my habitat in 2005.  The Monarchs had a fabulous year.  Also, we tagged 49 Monarchs during migration – I saw about 200.  I learned the average time a Monarch spends in my habitat during migration was 30 seconds.  I had an 80% capture rate this year  - up from 50%.  I held my net handle with two hands to get some additional force.  The migrating Monarchs are very feisty.  Again, if you want to tag Monarchs, go to www.MonarchWatch.org to order you tags.

The biggest story on butterfly habitat attraction occurred in Wyomissing, PA in 2005.  Jeff Degler of Wyomissing was able to attract 43 species in his habitat, which is about 108 feet long and 7 feet wide.  The most notable species was the Appalachian Eyed Brown, which was discovered by his 5 year old son, Kyle, on an apple at 7pm.  This summer Jeff saw 5 to 15 Monarchs at a time when I only saw 2 or 3 at a time.  He saw 40 to 50 butterflies at a time in this relatively small residential habitat.  His family had to call off a whiffle ball game this summer because the butterflies were in the way.  Congratulations to Jeff on an unbelievable season!

Finally, the Pennsylvania Butterfly Preserve is up and running.  We received tax exemption as a 501C-3 non-profit organization in October, 2005, which means contributions will be tax deductible.  We have four board members and plan to issue a press release in March of 2006.  See you next year.

Ron   

Butterfly Sightings Summary
2004 Butterfly Habitat Summary   2006 Butterfly Habitat Summary
2001 Butterfly Habitat Summary 2002 Butterfly Habitat Summary 2003 Butterfly Habitat Summary
1998 Butterfly Habitat Summary 1999 Butterfly Habitat Summary 2000 Butterfly Habitat Summary

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