Butterfly Walks Schedule (with changes)

Moon Garden by Kathy Phelps

Walk Report

Classes

New Members; Member Spot Light

Help Wanted - programs and butterfly garden

Quote and Quick Index

…and more

NABA's MISSION STATEMENT:
To promote nonconsumptive, recreational butterflying and to increase the public's enjoyment, knowledge and conservation of butterflies.

September 9, Sunday, Final State Butterfly Count at Busch Wildlife Area, 9:45 a.m.
Meet at the Jim Ziebol Butterfly Garden by the headquarters. Dennis Bozzay is a florist and our experienced head gardener. He will give butterfly gardening tips on Sept. 9. Those of you who saw his garden on Aug. 12 know his exceptional abilities. These counts have been held since 1992 at over 20 sites across the state. The count data keeps us advised as to how the different species fare over the years. We encourage any gardeners (helpers) to arrive early, at 8:00. The butterfly garden needs some light work, weeding, etc. Anyone can go out during the week and weed or work if they have time.

September 16, Sunday, Hilda Young Conservation Area (Eureka area), 9:45 a.m.
Directions: from Hwy 109 & W exit off I-44 (westbound), go south on Hwy W 2 miles, then go west on Hwy FF 2.7 miles to well-marked parking lot on left.

October 14, Sunday, Tyson Research Center, 10:45 A.M.
Meet at the main gate. The Center is located on the north side of I-44 at the Antire Road exit.

Cancelled: October 21, Sunday, Busch Wildlife Area, will NOT be held.

All walks: Bring water, insect repellent, hat, sunscreen, binoculars, field guide, snack/lunch, friend. Consider long pants.

September 15 (Sat.), BUTTERFLIES FOR BEGINNERS
A "Talk 'n walk" slated strictly for beginners will be held Sept. 15 (Sat.), 10 am to noon, at Missouri Botanical (Shaw's) Garden, 4344 Shaw (North of Tower Grove Park, 2 blocks east of Kingshighway). Learn to identify the butterflies you are most likely to see. Discover which flowers butterflies prefer. We'll walk from Ridgway to the Butterfly Meadow in Kemper. Bring: sun hat, water, pencil … and a friend! Questions? Call Linda Virga, Education (314) 544-3313.

HOSPITALITY EXTENDED
Thanks to Kraig Paradise and Dennis Bozzay who both hosted garden walks at their homes in August. Kraig also furnished hummingbirds, and Dennis arranged for Mississippi Kites to fly over.

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MOON GARDEN
by KATHY PHELPS

I must admit my moon garden is my favorite garden, mainly because of my strong attraction for a full moon. The cool moonlight blanketing the landscape fascinates me. Its casting shadows fascinates me. I can sit for hours watching the effects a full moon has on any clouds in its vicinity. The moon garden contains all white or pastel flowers. It also includes plants with silvery foliage. The variations in daytime appearances remain variations in the moonlight. During the day the flowers retain their individuality. Under the moonlight they combine to form larger shapes. The white coneflowers lose their centers and resemble hanging skirts. Woolly lambs ear becomes a low cloud. Masses of pure white flowers on David phlox hover like spaceships. White blazing stars suspend their spikes, and the stalks on sea breeze salvia resemble candelabras. The moonlight creates shadowed shapes in the foliage to add even more contrast and interest. It combines the other landforms and plants around the yard into colorless flat shapes.

Many butterflies visit white flowers, and they visit the moon garden as much as my butterfly garden. A white butterfly bush grows at the back edge of the moon garden. During one summer of abundant butterflies, I counted eight species nectaring on it at one time. Crystal white zinnias are one of my favorite moon-garden flowers, and my records include 16 butterfly species feeding on them. The dwarf zinnia layers yellow-centered flowers for months. White coneflowers feed more butterflies (22 species) than purple coneflowers. My nectaring records also show 10 species on lantana and 12 on white butterfly bush.

If you decide to plant a moon garden, have it facing east toward the rising moon and place it in the open where no trees will shade it. Besides the flowers listed above, my garden includes: sweet alyssum, shasta daisies, dusty miller, love-in-a-mist, sonata cosmos, white obedient plant, David and Franz Shubert phlox and Hawaii white ageratum. The moonvines grow on lattice to make a partial back wall for the back of garden on the north. I start enjoying the moon garden every night for the four nights before the full moon. The garden's appearance changes nightly as the moonlight increases. The moon rises an hour after sunset the night after full moon, giving me another night without staying up too late. Several of the flowers are night-scented, which only adds to the experience. The full-moon watching for these nights adds up to only 24 nights from June through September. Then subtract those with rain or thick cover, and it makes every moonlit night beside the moon garden special. The butterflies I watch and enjoy the whole growing season.

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HORSESHOE LAKE BUTTERFLY WALK By Yvonne Homeyer
The butterflies were out in force for our August walk at Horseshoe Lake! A fresh Duke's Skipper was the highlight of the day. Belle Warden and Dale Delaney called everybody's attention to it. Until last year no one had found Duke's Skipper in the St. Louis area. Then Jim Ziebol came across a colony at Horseshoe Lake last summer. This is the first Duke's Skipper we have seen this year. Other highlights included a Swarthy Skipper, a Bronze Copper (perched on Lee Berger's arm), Gorgone Checkerspot, Sleepy Orange, and Southern Dogface. Several small puddles (and something else) attracted many of the butterflies we saw and allowed us good opportunities to study them. Common Checkered Skippers and Common Sootywings were numerous. Father Sullivan explained his observations about how pollination occurs in Partridge Pea. Dale and Nancy Delaney, Torrey and Lee Berger, Anne McCormack, Georgia, Father Sullivan, Joan Sadorf, Belle Warden, Carol Asbury and her husband, and Yvonne Homeyer tallied 28 species in a 2 ½ hour period:

E. Black Swallowtail, Pipevine Swallowtail, Cabbage White, Cloudless Sulphur, Orange Sulphur Sleepy Orange, Little Yellow, Dainty Sulphur, Southern Dogface, Bronze Copper, Eastern Tailed-Blue, Pearl Crescent, Gorgone Checkerspot, Question Mark, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Buckeye, Red-spotted Purple, Viceroy, Hackberry, Tawny Emperor, Monarch, Silver-spotted Skipper, Common Sootywing, Peck's Skipper, Swarthy Skipper, Common Checkered Skipper, Duke's Skipper

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BUTTERFLY CLASSES
NABA-St. Louis is offering two Butterfly classes at Meramec Community College as part of the "Master Naturalist" program started by Vicki Flier, Education Chairperson of St. Louis Audubon Society. The classes will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 6 and 13. Participants will be invited to join us on our butterfly walk on Sunday, Sept. 16 at the Hilda Young Conservation Area. The Sept. 6 class will be on the natural history of butterflies and will be taught by Dr. Tom Bratkowski of Maryville University. The Sept. 13 class will be on butterfly identification and will be taught by Jim Ziebol and Yvonne Homeyer. It will include a video of local butterflies.
To register for the courses, call 314-984-7777.

GREEN CENTER CLASS
"If You Build It . . . They Will Come": On Saturday, September 15, from 1-3 p.m., Yvonne Homeyer will teach an outdoor class at the Green Center, 8025 Blackberry Avenue in University City. It will consist of a butterfly walk combined with instruction about native Missouri wildflowers that people can plant in their gardens to attract butterflies. The Green Center requires advance registration, charges a nominal fee, and classes are subject to cancellation if not enough people sign up. Call the Green Center for more information or to receive a brochure on all their upcoming events, 314-725-8314, or visit their website at http://www.thegreencenter.com.

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The following people have become members of the St. Louis Chapter of NABA since August 1: Connie Alwood, Susan Dees, Judy Goldammer, Carol Gronau, Peggy Symes, Evelyn Treadway, Shirley Wright. Welcome to all of you!

One of our informal objectives is to get to know each other while we get to know the butterflies. In an effort to give our members a little more personal information, this newsletter's spot light is shining on BETTY TANNER. As a farm girl growing up in rural southern Mississippi, Betty spent most of her time milking dairy cows twice a day and planting and harvesting the fields along side three of her six brothers. Cooking large family meals with her two sisters was an everyday occurrence. Summers were spent cultivating the family vegetable garden and canning for the winter. Winter nights were passed reading, studying, doing needlework, and listening to jazz and classical music on the radio.

According to Betty, between chores, she observed insects and chased butterflies through some amazing southern wildflowers, mostly alone. "My brothers thought I had to be crazy. All the girls they knew, including my sisters, weren't interested in the natural world and showed a definite physical aversion to insects. They gave me my nickname, Wild Woman, and affectionately call me by it to this day. It pleases and suits me."

Betty holds a Certificate of British Literature from the University of Kent, Canterbury, England, and a B. A. from Northeast Louisiana University, Monroe, Louisiana. She has worked as a newspaper reporter, photographer and editor, a bank consultant and legal documentation specialist for a law firm in New Orleans, and now works as a clerk for CEI Communications in the Chesterfield Valley.

Betty is a former docent for the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House, a volunteer naturalist for the Missouri Department of Conservation, and currently is conducting a butterfly survey under the auspices of Dr. James C. Trager at Shaw Nature Reserve, Gray Summit, MO. "Working at Shaw for Dr. Trager has rekindled an old love of mine, being alone in the field with the butterflies and the plants that sustain them. The experience has helped me realize that I can be what I dreamed of being when I grew up, an entomologist," Betty confesses.

"My best accomplishment is being blessed with three of the most wonderful children on Planet Earth -- Liza, Bill and Carrie," she says. Of her future plans, she says smiling, "Well, now that I received the blessings of my brothers at our last annual July 4th family reunion, I hope to earn a Certificate in Conservation from UMSL before pursuing my Masters in entomology with emphasis on plant-animal mutualism. The University of Colorado-Boulder looks promising. After that, I would like to head down to Costa Rica and work for a butterfly farm. But who knows where life will take me? Just as my favored beloved wanderer, the monarch, the limits of one's range is ever expanding when life is lived as the journey it is. I mean, life is an adventure. For me, the paintbrush of life is attitude. Mine is stay wild and free."

Betty's e-mail address says it all: Betty Loves Insects.  bettyluvsinsects@nsimail.com .and she's just fun. We're very glad to have Betty with us!

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PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT-
If you can provide ideas or share materials or if you are willing to present programs, please contact the Education Chairwoman, Linda Virga, (314) 544-3313, 9734 Antonia Drive, 63123; e mail: virgal5@aol.com.

WORK PARTY-
There will be a work party at the Jim Ziebol Butterfly Garden at Busch C.A. on Sunday, Sept. 9 from 8 A.M. until 9:44 A.M. This will precede the butterfly count scheduled for 9:45 A.M. Volunteers should bring shovels, rakes and other implements of destruction for weeding.

THANKS VICKIE-
Thanks to Vickie Flier for making our chapter a butterfly tablecloth to use at events, displays, etc. We will get a chance to use it at our table on Sept. 22 at the Butterfly House Fall Festival.

BINOCULAR SURVEY-
Several members have expressed interest in binoculars which will focus closely enough to allow good viewing of the butterflies. If you have recommendations or comments, please pass them along to Scott Marshall. E-mail Scottmarshll@cs.com or call (314) 961-0977. Items to address may include minimum close-focus distance, ease of focusing, price, etc. We will try to include the responses in a future newsletter.

BUTTERFLY HOUSE FALL FESTIVAL-
The Butterfly House will hold a fall festival on Sept. 18-22 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. at its facility in Faust County Park. Our chapter will be distributing information at a table on Saturday, Sept. 22. For more information about the festival, contact our member Donna Dupske (the Butterfly House's head of the Education Dept.), (636) 530-0076 xtsn 13.

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QUOTE-
"The most productive habitats for butterflies, those that have the greatest diversity of species and the largest numbers of individuals, are open areas with natural vegetation. Butterflies are more common in open areas because, as with people, most butterflies like sunshine. They are more common in areas with native plants because, for the most part, these are the plants that caterpillars require as foodplants. So, for example, you will find very few species of butterflies on large manicured lawns - these are essentially biological deserts."
Jeffrey Glassberg, Butterflies through Binoculars: the East, p. 5.

QUICK INDEX TO PLATES IN BUTTERFLIES THROUGH BINOCULARS (East) - if you like, print this out and staple it into the front of your book.
1-4 Swallowtails
5-7 Whites
8-12 Sulphurs
13-14 Coppers
15 Metalmarks
16-21 Hairstreaks
22-25 Blues, Azures
26-29 Fritillaries
30-32 Checkerspots, crescents
33-34 Anglewings
35 Mourning Cloak (tortoiseshells)
36 American Lady, Snout
37 Buckeyes
38 Red-spotted Purple, Viceroy
39 Leafwings, Daggerwings
40 Emperors
41 Wood-nymphs, Browns
42 Pearlyeyes
43 Satyrs
45 Monarch
46-48 Large skippers
49 Cloudywings
50-52 Duskywings
53 Checkered Skippers
54 Sootywings, Scallopwings
55-71 Folded-wing skippers

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YOUR OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS:
President Yvonne Homeyer
Vice President Dianne Benjamin
Secretary Ann Earley
Treasurer Tom Krauska
Head Gardener Dennis Bozzay
Conservation Jim Ziebol
Education Linda Virga
Membership Dennis Bozzay
Newsletter Scott Marshall
Public Relations Anne Craver
Walks & Counts Jim Ziebol
Webmaster Dave Larson

If you have questions or suggestions, e-mail Yvonne Homeyer
(homeyer@earthlink.net).

The next Board meeting will be Sunday, October 7, 7:00 P.M., location to be announced later.

VISIT OUR WEB SITE at http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabasl/stlouis.htm. Our Webmaster is Dave Larson.

If you have a newsletter item (announcement, article, useful information, funny story, etc.), please pass it on to the Newsletter Editor, Scott Marshall at (314) 961-0977, Scottmarshll@cs.com.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
(or view online membership application form)

If you or someone you know would like to become a member of the St. Louis Chapter of NABA, please fill out this application:

Name _____________________________________________
Address ____________________________________________
City _______________________ State _______ Zip_________
Phone ( ) _______________ e-mail _________________

Dues are $25 per year. Please make check payable to NORTH AMERICAN BUTTERFLY ASSOCIATION.
Please mail this form with your check to: Ann Earley, Secretary, 1425 Bobolink, St. Louis, MO 63144.

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Editor: Scott Marshall, Email: scottmarshll@cs.com
Suggestions, Corrections and Articles are appreciated.

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