Landscaping for Butterflies

By Cheryl Allen

If you are like me, you spent at least part of the winter leafing through gardening catalogs. I love winter, but by February I am ready for a new season. How better to prepare than planning for something new in the yard or garden? Better yet if that something new improves my backyard habitat by attracting and nurturing butterflies.

Why butterflies? Most of us are simply enchanted with their beauty. A more practical reason to attract butterflies is we need them. The adults’ constant search for nectar is a critical fragment in the grand scheme of nature: the flower feeds the butterfly which lives to reproduce while the butterfly ensures the plant’s own future generations by carrying pollen from blossom to blossom. Also, both adult butterflies and their larvae serve as food for other animals. And the study of butterflies adds to scientific research.

One problem for butterfly proliferation is shrinking habitat. Endangered butterfly species do not get the press that threatened birds and mammals do, but many species of lepidoptera (from the Greek lepis which means “scale” and ptera which means “wing”) are on the verge of extinction. We can do our part to replace some lost habitat by making our backyards butterfly havens.

What attracts butterflies? They need sunlight and warmth, shelter from the elements, water they can access, and nectar and food sources.

Butterflies are “cold blooded” which means they cannot generate their own warmth. Few yards are so shady they discourage butterflies. A south facing stone wall or the south side of a building offers an additional butterfly-attracting warm-up area.

Butterflies need shelter from the wind, protection from their predators, and protected areas for breeding. Shrubs, fall litter, and windbreaks made of trees, fences, or strategically placed buildings help provide this. And don’t be such a neatnik in autumn; leave a few messy spots of leaves and branches around your yard for butterfly pupa to winter over.

Just like us, butterflies need water as well as a supply of minerals. Fragile creatures that they are, their water sources must be extremely shallow. Wet sand, earth, and mud make the best butterfly fountains; bury a bucket of sand in a sunny place and place a few rocks and sticks on the surface and fill with water. If your neighbors don’t, mind, a mesh bag of wet manure hung from a tree branch also works well. Butterflies get their minerals from damp sand, earth, mud, or manure, but you can add a livestock salt block for an extra treat.

For nectar sources, butterflies are partial to blossoms of purple and gold, but also like red, orange, and pink. For purple, plant pin-cushion flowers, Russian sage, Joe Pye weed, purple coneflower, or a butterfly favorite, butterfly bush. For gold, try coreopsis, yarrows, marigolds, and goldenrods. Different species of butterflies prefer different colors, so for the best variety of butterflies, plant a wide variety of colors. The red of cardinal flowers, the orange of butterfly weed, and the pink of milkweed will add diversity.

Butterflies prefer flat-topped flowers that offer flat landing pads they can access without damaging their wings. Plants with clustered flowers allow the butterfly to reach many sources of nectar with little expenditure of energy. Because of their short proboscis, butterflies also favor short flower tubes. Plants that satisfy these criteria include coneflower, aster, gaillardia, shasta daisy, black-eyed Susan, butterfly bush, goldenrod, veronica, yarrow, and sedum.

Butterflies need nectar all season long. Aim for a variety of bloom times so that something is available spring, summer, and fall.

If your space or budget is limited, plant old-fashioned zinnias in mixed colors and in the fall, save the seeds for next year.

We learn the stages of an insect’s life in elementary school science class: egg, larva (caterpillar), cocoon (chrysalis, pupa), adult. We learn about metamorphosis and maybe even diapause (hibernation). Butterfly needs vary depending on which stage they are in.

Adults, of course, need nectar, but the plants on which they feed frequently are not the plants on which they lay eggs. Generally, a diverse collection of native plants and trees will serve your butterfly visitors well, but you can supplement these with specific plants such as members of the dill family (dill, parsley, coriander, fennel), wild plants such as milkweed, and flowers such as nasturtiums.

Again, if you are like me, your yard probably already has many butterfly-friendly features in the flowerbeds, vegetable and herb gardens, and foundation plantings. Remember to refrain from pesticide use, as even some “organic” pest control can be harmful to butterflies at one stage or another of their life cycle.

Resources:

• The Butterfly Garden, by Mathew Tekulsky, The Harvard Common Press, 1985
  
• Creating a Butterfly Garden, by Marcus Schneck, Simon and Schuster, Inc. 1993
  
• “Create a Butterfly Haven,” Organic Gardening, Rodale Press, Jan./Feb. 2003
  
• “Attracting Butterflies to Your Backyard, Schoolyard, Workplace, or Community Wildlife Habitat,” National Wildlife Federation Guide, available online by clicking here.
  
• “Special Feature Gardens,” Landowners Guide, available online by clicking here.
  

Insects: Edible and Otherwise?

By Jason Morrison

Once again it’s time for our friends to come along and join us for picnics, hikes in the woods, canoe trips, and backyard barbecues. I’m not talking about Ron your coworker or Chris your neighbor or even your brother Ted. I’m talking about our friends, the insects. Now I know some of you are thinking, “Each time I go outside the insects drive me crazy!” Well, even though this may be true, it is important to understand how these wonderful, six-legged beasties interact in this wild world.

Insects, even though many times they annoy or seem to try to hurt us, actually help us in more ways than any other type of creature in the world. They pollinate our plants and help to give us fruits, vegetables, honey, and many other sources of food. In some cases they help us control “pest” species of insects by predation, and they are commonly used by biologists to help control invasive plants like purple loosestrife. They are a source of food for many different mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, birds, and peoples of the world. In fact, the Native Americans of the plains states would harvest thousands of grasshoppers to consume. So just because a few make us uncomfortable, we shouldn’t let those give the others a bad name. And yes, they all do have a place in an ecosystem (even mosquitoes).

First of all, we need to know exactly what an insect is and is not. An insect has six legs, three body parts (head, thorax, and abdomen), and usually a pair of antenna. Most have wings, but not all. If a creepy crawly has more than six legs, less than three body parts, or more than one pair of antenna it is NOT an insect, period. Other close relatives are Arachnids (spiders, ticks, mites), Centipedes (one pair of legs per body segment), Millipedes (two pairs of legs per body segment), and Crustaceans (lobsters, crabs, pill bugs).

Next, we need to know the differences of some major families of insects. Listen closely: All bugs are insects, but not all insects are bugs. There is one order of insects called Hemiptera. Those are the only true bugs. They include assassin bugs, stinkbugs, and box elder bugs. All other flies, bees, ants, etc., etc., etc. are NOT bugs. Each of these insects has their own family. Here is a list of common families you can find in and around your home:

• Coleoptera - beetles
  
• Diptera - flies/mosquitoes
  
• Isoptera - termites
  
• Homoptera - leaf hoppers
  
• Hymenoptera - bees/ants
  
• Lepidoptera - butterflies/moths
  
• Orthoptera - grasshoppers
  
• Odonata - dragonflies
  

Finally, just for more random information to pack into your mind (who knows, maybe one day you’ll need this for your appearance on Jeopardy), we currently have roughly 1,000,000 species of insects in the world. And entomologists (people who study insects) find new species constantly, especially in rain forests. Estimates by many scientists range from 1.25 million to 3 million total species in the world. Any way we look at it, insects by number and mass are a very important part of the natural world. It is prudent that we understand their total involvement in our daily lives so that we may appreciate them more. Until, next time - Buzz off!

Do They Really Lose Their Temper?

By Bob Dispensa

You may have seen this before: a raccoon staggering around in the daytime, walking in circles and bumping into things. What on earth is wrong? Is there anything you can do?

What you may have witnessed was the effects of a distemper infection. Distemper is a viral disease of carnivorous animals caused by a paramyxovirus. Related paramyxoviruses cause mumps, measles, respiratory syncytial disease and parainfluenza (including croup) in humans. Humans cannot get distemper, and the disease is uncommon among wild animals.

Distemper comes in two types - canine and feline. Both are highly infectious for certain carnivores, and especially deadly to the young. Some wild animals (raccoons, weasels, ferrets, skunks, mink, otters and badgers) may be infected with both. Because of differing outcomes and susceptible animals, we will look at the two types separately.

Canine distemper is mostly found in dog-relatives - wolves, coyotes, foxes and dogs, plus those mentioned above. Infections can be found year round. Because the virus is cold resistant, most domestic animal cases occur in fall and winter. Most wild animal cases are found in spring and summer in juveniles, since the young are more susceptible than adults. Viruses are transmitted through aerosol droplets (sneezing, coughing), direct contact and, rarely, contact with contaminated objects. The virus is usually inhaled, occasionally ingested. Canine distemper is not necessarily fatal.

Feline distemper affects bobcat, domestic cats and lynx, along with raccoons, mink, weasels, ferrets, otters, badgers and skunks. Transmission is mostly by infected body secretions/excretions, and possibly by fleas, flies and other insects. The virus is inhaled or ingested, and the disease is often fatal.

Symptoms are many and varied, but often include neurological disturbances. Infected animals may show aggressiveness, loss of fear of humans, disorientation, lack of alertness, convulsive or uncoordinated movements, aimless wandering and unkempt appearance. Sometimes nasal and eye discharge is present. Due to digestive system damage, infected animals may show excessive thirst.

Animals that exhibit these symptoms should be avoided. Chances of helping them are extremely small, and if the disease is not distemper, handling the animal could be quite dangerous. Distemper virus does not effect humans, but confusion with rabies is of concern, since it has many of the same symptoms as distemper. Other diseases may mimic distemper: tularemia, listeriosis, histoplasmosis, tetanus, poisoning and some parasitic diseases (like raccoon brain nematode).

Keep yourself and pets away from suspicious wild animals. Do not try to approach or handle such animals. Leave them alone and leave the area. If you or your unvaccinated pet has had direct contact or been bitten by a diseased animal, you should react as if rabies is involved, just to be safe. Distemper is harmless to humans, but rabies can be deadly. Capture the wild animal if doing so will not expose you to danger, or kill the animal without damaging the head. Make sure you let the conservation officer, police or sheriff department know if you have killed the animal. Call Animal Control at 449-7491 and they will test the animal for rabies. If you cannot capture or kill the wild animal, your pet will have to be quarantined or you may have to be evaluated for rabies exposure.

It is much easier and safer to just keep your distance from suspicious -acting animals. If they’re not afraid of you, you should be afraid of them.

Swallow Summer by Charles R. Brown

A Book Review by Cheryl Allen

Monitoring ground water at Fox Island is probably the closest I will get to field work. When I began participating in this project, I expected to eventually grow bored covering the same ground at the park on each of my surveys of the wells. But that has not been the case. Each time I walk my route, I see or learn something new.

Consequently, it is not difficult for me to understand why Charles and Mary Brown return, year after year since 1982, to study the cliff swallows near the Cedar Point Biological Station in western Nebraska. Driven by a passion for the birds, Brown leads us through a season in the field, complete with its frustrations over the weather, uncooperative subjects and inexperienced assistants, and its rewards of supporting behavior theories with cold, hard, earned-with-blood-and-sweat statistical data.

Available at the Allen County Public Library

Red-Tails in Love: A Wildlife Drama in Central Park by Marie Winn

A Book Review by Cheryl Allen

When one thinks of Central Park in New York City, 190 species of birds is not what comes to mind. Nor 53 species of butterflies and 16 species of hawks, not to mention hundreds of edible plants.

Yet this is the Central Park Marie Winn introduces to us in Red-Tails in Love. Full of first hand observations by the Regulars (New York's own Nature Nuts) plus facts from experts (sometimes very surprised experts), the book provides a different view of city life and the role that nature plays in the lives of some of its citizens.

Ostensibly, the book is about Pale Male and his serial mates, and their attempts to survive in a hostile environment, but it is more than just their story. It's also about how nature binds us to each other, and brings out the little hero in each of us as we try to help the other creatures of this earth not just survive, but thrive.

Available at the Allen County Public Library

The Life of a Woodcock

By Sara Kahn

Also known as the timberdoodle, mudsnipe, labrador twister, or bogsucker, the woodcock is a species from woodland habitat. The genus name for the bird, Scolopax, actually means woodcock in Greek. About the size of a robin, the woodcock has a feather design of mottled brown and russet. With an unusually long bill, the woodcock probes muck for earthworms. The nostrils sit high on the bill for this reason. A woodcock’s eyes are set high and back on its head. This is helpful in staying clear of vegetation, avoiding splattering mud, and is a good way to see predators. As a matter of fact, woodcocks have better binocular vision to the rear than to the front. The ears are positioned in front of the eyes!

Woodcocks are active at dawn and dusk; this means that they are crepuscular. It is during this time that woodcocks perform the flight displays, which are followed by a “peent” call. Peenting is also used in territorial behavior. A single male may defend several spots in a field. To impress potential mates, the male does a zigzag flight in which he may fly hundreds of feet into the sky before coming down.

Although there is no positive way to distinguish between the sexes, the female is bigger. Males mate indiscriminately; the female is responsible for rearing the young. There is a maximum of four eggs laid and she lays one per day, incubating after the last is laid. Eggs are a pinkish cinnamon color and marked with brown. The nest is made among the fallen leaves under brush, tall weeds, trees, or rocky hollows in early March to June. As the female incubates the eggs, she relies heavily on her amazing camouflage and will stay on her nest until you can get close enough to touch her. If disturbed during early incubation, she may abandon her nest and only one brood is raised per year.

The young hatch over a twenty-four hour period and will start probing the soil for worms and insects after a day or two. At three weeks, they can fly short distances. They are with the mother for six to eight weeks until they go off on their own.

The female has some interesting behaviors as well. She will feign injury to lure predators away from her young. It is unclear whether woodcocks are one of the species that practices aerial carrying of their young. They may be faking this to lure away predators.

A young woodcock will be making its first move to warmer areas as the first hard frosts tell the birds to head south. Colder weather makes the ground too hard to probe and woodcocks need more than their body weight in worms daily. Migration starts in October and ends in mid-November. Woodcocks leave at dusk and fly through the night. Their flocks can range from a few to more than fifty birds. Wintering grounds are in Gulf Coast and southeast coastal states. The largest concentrations winter in central Louisiana. They migrate back to the north again as early as February, when the weather is warmer. The most northern states are reached by late March and early April.

Populations of woodcocks vary through the years. The birds are threatened by human development onto moist woodlands, timber maturation, and flooding. Bad weather, predation, accidents during night flight, hunting, disease, and parasites affect woodcock mortality. The woodcock’s life expectancy is 1.8 years, although banded woodcocks in the wild were found to be seven years old.

Interested in providing for woodcocks? High quality habitat for nesting is young, second growth woodlands with open spaces and is within ninety meters of a singing ground. Courtship will take place in spring near open fields next to forest edge, in abandoned fields with low brush, or in forest clearing. A quarter of an acre can provide enough of this needed space. However, large fields are needed for roosting. An ideal habitat will have an abundance of food as well as a shelter canopy that is diverse in age. As any cover matures, different tree species will take over and it becomes less attractive to the woodcock. Periodically harvesting large trees that would shade brush or hinder the growth of younger trees can be a solution or shrubs and trees can be planted. Management practices include cutting and controlled burning to renew the habitat for this bird and other wildlife and it must be maintained. Anyone willing to manage for woodcocks will be treated to a fascinating show of “peent” and nasal calls, foot-stamping to locate prey, and the sight of a shy, little, plump bird.

How Hummingbirds Fly

By Ron Divelbiss

All birds can fly forward, and some birds can hover for a short spell, but only hummingbirds can zip into backward flight, too. This is possible because their wings actually flip over on each stroke when hovering or going backward, so that the leading edge, which remains facing front in other birds, works in either direction. Hummingbirds also work their wings from what would be our shoulder joint, instead of flapping them at the elbow and wrist joints like other birds. To really appreciate the fantastic mechanics of a hummingbird's wings, try it yourself.

1. Hold your arms out with thumbs forward so your arms are slightly ahead of your shoulders.
   
2. Now swing your arms so that they point backwards, while rotating your arms at the shoulders so that your thumbs face back.
   
3. Repeat, so that thumbs again are facing front as you rotate your arms and bring them forward.
   
4. Now do it 70 times a second.
   

Hey, you're a hummingbird!