February 2002 Issue:
In This Edition:
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Coming Events |
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Thanks |
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NABA Opposition |
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Our Docents |
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Betty Tanner Essay |
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Miami Blue |
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New Database |
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Members |
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... and more |
NABA's MISSION STATEMENT: COMING EVENTS: Sunday, February 24, 2:30 pm, Colorado Butterflies Part II Slide Presentation by Dennis Bozzay at Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center, 11715 Cragwold, Kirkwood, MO 63122, (314) 301-1500. March: "Butterfly Gardening" Class offered by Dennis Bozzay. These two-hour classes, including slide presentation, will be offered on two Wednesday evenings in March through the adult education programs of UMSL and Jefferson College in Hillsboro. Contact the schools directly for dates and registration. Sunday, March 17, 9:00 a.m., Gardening Experience at Jim Ziebol Butterfly Garden, Busch Conservation Area. Let your hands lift your spirit in a truly down-to-earth way. The Jim Ziebol Butterfly Garden needs your helping hand to jump start the beds for a new season of wildflowers and butterflies. We need the time and talents of our NABA members to help make this year's garden better than ever. Questions? Please call Dennis Bozzay. After the gardening is finished, participants may want to stay to look at birds, spring wildflowers and - if we're lucky - some early butterflies. Sunday, April 7, 2:00 p.m., Annual Meeting & Election of Officers and Board Members, at Tom Terrific (Krauska's) house. Tom will also present a program "Ten Commandments of Butterfly Gardening." Thursdays, April 11 & 18, NABA Workshop "Local Butterflies: Identification And Natural History" from 6:30 - 8:30p.m. at St. Louis Community College at Meramec (also included in Master Naturalist Certificate Program). To register, call 314-984-7777. Tuesday, April 16, 8:00 a.m., Gardening Experience at Jim Ziebol Butterfly Garden, Busch Conservation Area (helping hands needed). Questions? Please call Dennis Bozzay. Saturday, April 27, 9:45 a.m., Butterfly Walk, Busch Conservation Area in St. Charles County. Directions: Take Hwy. 40 west across the Missouri River bridge into St. Charles County; exit at Hwy. 94. Turn left (south) on Hwy. 94 and go 1.1 miles to County Hwy. D. At Hwy. D (stop light), turn right (west). Entrance to Busch is about 2 miles down the road, on your right. Sunday, May 19, 1:00 p.m., Butterfly Walk at Tyson Research Center, co-sponsored by Friends of Tyson. Meet for lunch at noon. Directions: From the junction of I-44 and I-270, go west on I-44 about 7 miles to the AntireRoad/Beaumont exit. The entrance gate is at the end of the exit ramp (stop sign) and on your right. Sunday, May 26, 8:00 a.m., Gardening Experience at Jim Ziebol Butterfly Garden, Busch Conservation Area (helping hands needed). Questions? Please call Dennis Bozzay. Sunday, July 7, 9:45 a.m., 4th of July Butterfly Count, Busch Conservation Area. A Gardening Experience (helping hands needed) will be held at 8:00 a.m. at the Jim Ziebol Butterfly Garden before the count starting at 9:45 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 18, 8:00 a.m., Gardening Experience at Jim Ziebol Butterfly Garden, Busch Conservation Area (helping hands needed). Questions? Please call Dennis Bozzay. Saturday, Aug. 24 - 4th of July Butterfly Count, Horseshoe Lake State Park, Illinois. *********************************************************** THANKS: Many thanks to Torrey and Lee Berger for hosting the NABA holiday party at their home in December. And the prairie wildflower slides were terrific! *********************************************************** NABA OPPOSITION: WHY NABA OPPOSES INTERSTATE SHIPMENT & RELEASE OF BUTTERFLIES In the Winter 2001 issue of American Butterflies, Jeff Glassberg had an article on the inside cover about proposed regulations by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture concerning interstate shipment and release of butterflies. Since many released butterflies are bought out-of-state, the issue of interstate shipment and butterfly releases are intertwined. NABA is opposed to interstate shipment of all butterfly species and to the release of farmed butterflies into wild populations. (There is a link to this subject on NABA's home page at www.naba.org.). One reason is the risk of disease being spread to the wild population. Another reason is that scientists cannot obtain accurate data on wild butterfly populations if farmed butterflies are mixed in with the wild ones. A third reason is that the migratory genes of the farmed butterflies might be different. In the case of a migratory butterfly like the Monarch, this could seriously disrupt the species' ability to migrate and survive. For example, the famous migratory pattern of the Monarchs east of the Rockies is not shared by Monarchs living on the west coast. The Eastern Monarchs go to a mountainous area northwest of Mexico City; the West Coast Monarchs only migrate a short distance south into southern California and northern Mexico. Check out Glassberg's article for further information. *********************************************************** OUR DOCENTS: SCHOOL DOCENT DOINGS by Jean Racowsky Our trained and experienced docents are Audrey and Jim Foley, Bob Noe, Betty Manlin and Jean Racowsky. All are ready to implement our outreach program. If you know an elementary school that would enjoy our program, please call Jean Racowsky. We already have program reservations in the University City school district. There is no charge for the program. Thanks to Yvonne Homeyer and Jim Ziebol for putting together a twelve minute video tape on native butterflies that will be shown with the presentation. *********************************************************** BETTY TANNER ESSAY A WANDERER'S DREAM by Betty W. Tanner January's nights are long and bitter. North winds pile snow outside the frosted window panes. The fireplace logs burn to glowing embers. I am content with soft pillow and woolen blanket to watch the last flickers. Gentle sleep embraces me, and dreams awaken. Majestic Monarchs are gathering. They are sheltering from a chilly night as a golden dawn breaks on the eastern horizon. Their beds of earthy-hued, autumn prairie grasses are adorned with beaded prisms. The sun softly ascends to mid-morning mark. The Monarchs slowly arise gliding as if dancing a familiar greeting to the gloriously warm day. For a brief moment, they are content to linger here with me. They flutter about tasting, feasting and fattening at the sapphire and amethyst asters, topaz sunflowers and amber goldenrod. At its zenith, the sun burns away the last vestiges of dew, and the prairie is ablaze in Monarch orange. Suddenly, an unheard signal, and Destiny wraps happily around them. They converge like quiet streams and join in a mighty torrent of beating hearts and wings. Their exodus continues, and I remain. The reddening western sky foretells Winter's encroachment. Time beckons me to forget my procrastination. Yet, I seek my wanderer still. Deserted is the gravel river bar. Silent is the oak savannah. Empty is the arid glade. Barren is the wind topped knoll. My spirit aches. Patience whispers her assurances and strengthens the resolve within me to wait. A Blue Moon rises above the silhouetted tree line. Pale supple light bathes me and catches me in the web of its tender enchantment. An owl calls out from the forest into the night, pauses and calls out again. The wind stretches its cold fingers through the prairie, rustling the drying, swaying grasses. I sense another stepping slowly past. I turn and see him, my mate. Slipping into the star drenched night, he and I dance along the southwestern horizon. Spiraling, encircling and sweeping close to one another, we ascend breathless, incalescent into the aerial river. Ethereal radiance magically cloaks us, and the warm arms of Destiny joyously cradle us. Side by side at last, we wander away to the high mountains, beloved trees, an ancestral home, and slumber. *********************************************************** MIAMI BLUE: NABA has been successful in getting the Miami Blue, a Florida species, fast-tracked for possible addition to the Endangered Species list. NABA filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to have the Miami Blue listed as Endangered. The Miami Blue was thought to have been extinct until it was re-found 2 years ago in a Florida state park by a NABA member. Without legal protection, the continued existence of the tiny colony (in just one location) is in doubt. The colony is vulnerable to bad weather, pesticide spraying for mosquito control, and collectors. Unfortunately, inadequate funding has left the USFWS unable to process the huge backlog of endangered species applications like NABA's. In response to that backlog, the USFWS unilaterally gave itself a one-year moratorium on considering new petitions. Environmental groups responded with lawsuits, resulting in settlements in which the USFWS agrees to list certain species immediately. As a result of NABA's effective advocacy, the Miami Blue is one of 29 species being fast-tracked to settle one of these lawsuits. NABA has shown itself to be a forceful presence on the national level in conservation efforts. *********************************************************** NEW NABA DATABASE: Have you visited the NABA web site lately (www.naba.org)? NABA has installed a huge database where you can input your sightings from field trips. You can save and retrieve your personal data and even maintain your Butterfly Life List here. At the same time, you are contributing data that will allow NABA to map butterfly species and to monitor butterfly populations and locations over time. Just click on the link called "Butterflies I've Seen" and you can register and log in. The database also has discussion groups. Now that spring is almost here and the butterflies will again be flying, please keep track of the number of individuals of each species you've seen on each outing. Then log on and put that information in the database! You are making an important contribution to butterfly conservation every time you do. VISIT OUR WEB SITE at www.naba.org/chapters/nabasl/stlouis.htm. Dave Larson is our Webmaster. *********************************************************** MEMBERS: MEMBER SPOT LIGHT 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 DAVE BERRY. Dave is from Burlington, Iowa and has had a life-long interest in butterflies. He plants his yard with our winged friends in mind and would like to buy property in southern Missouri to develop a butterfly sanctuary. Like many of us, Dave loves anything in the out-of-doors and is allergic to winter. He lives in St. Peters, MO and works for Southwest Airlines. That friendly face on our butterfly walks is probably Dave's! NEW MEMBERS The following people have become members of the St. Louis Chapter of NABA *********************************************************** AND MORE... DID SANTA GOOF? Want to buy that special someone (including yourself) their own copy of "Butterflies through Binoculars: The East"? Want to treat yourself to the best field guide to the butterflies of eastern North America (written by NABA's founder and president Dr. Jeffrey Glassberg)? Consider shopping at the NEW location of Wild Bird Center, 12792 Olive Blvd, Creve Coeur, MO 63141. The book retails for $18.95. There is plenty of parking in front of the store located between Schnucks and Hallmark on the west side of Bellerieve Plaza. NEW hours are daily 9am-6pm, Wednesday & Friday evenings until 8pm, and Sunday noon-5pm. Tell co-owners Judy Rowe or Dave Pierce that NABA-St. Louis sent you! Visit their website at www.wildbirdcenterstl.com or call them at (314) 439-WILD [9453]. They even have copies of the new Dragonflies through Binoculars field guide by the same publisher, Oxford University Press. YOUR OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS: If you have questions or suggestions, e-mail Yvonne Homeyer NEWSLETTER ITEMS WANTED MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION 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 _____________________________________________ *********************************************************** *********************************************************** |
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