January 2004 Issue:
In This Edition:
1) Coming Events - including Holiday Party information! NABA's MISSION STATEMENT: 1. COMING EVENTS: Sunday, January 25, 2:00 p.m. NABA-St. Louis's holiday party will be held at the home of Torrey and Lee Berger. This event will be a potluck. Also, Jim Ziebol will show a butterfly video. Depending on time, a Quiz on "Missouri Spring Wildflowers" may also happen. Please RSVP to Lee Berger so that numbers of attendees and food can be arranged. Please call the above number for directions to the Berger's home. Thursday, February 12, 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Native Landscaping Workshop, Maritz Inc. in Fenton. This one-day workshop is brought to you by Grow Native, Missouri Dept. of Conservation, Shaw Nature Reserve, the Horticultural Co-op of St. Louis, Alberici Construction, Ameren U.E., the American Society of Landscape Architects, Maritz Inc., and Patty Banks & Associates. The fee is $35.00. For more information, please contact Scott Woodbury at 636-451-3512 ext. 6078. There may be some good information about butterflies and native plants presented at this workshop. 2. BUTTERFLY SIGHTINGS - NOVEMBER 2003 & GARDEN INFORMATION by Yvonne Homeyer Below is an expanded report of all butterflies reported in November. Sightings reported in last month’s November report are repeated here. Jeannie Moe saw a Buckeye in St. Charles County and a Cabbage White and Cloudless Sulphur in St. Louis County on 11/2, a warm, sunny day with a high around 80 degrees. Also on 11/2, Yvonne Homeyer and Jim Ziebol found 13 species at Busch C.A.: 1 Cabbage White, 3 Clouded Sulphurs, 12 Orange Sulphurs, 1 Dainty Sulphur, 3 Pearl Crescents, 1 Gray Hairstreak, 2 Buckeyes, 2 Painted Ladies, 1 Red Admiral, 1 Viceroy, 1 Goatweed and 1 Fiery Skipper. On 11/3, Jim Ziebol saw a Cabbage White and a Cloudless Sulphur at his home, Jeannie Moe saw a Cloudless Sulphur in St. Charles, and Torrey Berger had 2 Cloudless Sulphurs visiting his home garden. At Horseshoe Lake the next day, 11/4, Torrey saw 5 species - Orange Sulphur, Cabbage White, Painted Lady, Monarchs, and Common Checkered-Skipper. Also on 11/4, Jim Ziebol found 7 species at Busch C.A.: 1 Cabbage White, 10 Orange Sulphurs, 2 Cloudless Sulphurs, 1 Painted Lady, 3 Buckeyes, 2 Gray Commas and a Monarch. An Orange Sulphur was seen at Route 66 S.P. on 11/12 (JZ) and a Comma, Gray Comma, and Buckeye were flying on the Katy Trail (J Moe). Torrey Berger saw 3 Orange Sulphurs at Creve Coeur Lake on 11/12, 1 Orange Sulphur at Horseshoe Lake on 11/13, 1 Orange Sulphur nectaring on dandelion at Carlyle Lake on 11/16, and 11 Orange Sulphurs on 11/20 at Horseshoe Lake. On 11/16 at Horseshoe Lake, Jim Z. observed 3 Orange Sulphurs and 1 Buckeye. At McNair Park Woods in St. Charles, Jeannie Moe observed 4 Orange Sulphurs and a Painted Lady on 11/19. On 11/20, Dianne Benjamin saw 3 Orange Sulphurs at the Green Center prairie garden. Orange Sulphur, Clouded Sulphur, Painted Lady, Buckeye and Common Checkered-Skipper were flying at the Katy Trail on 11/20 (J Moe). An E. Comma and 1 Orange Sulphur were seen in Brentwood on 11/20 (JZ). Three species were seen on the Katy Trail in St. Charles County on 11/20 by Jack Harris and the WGNSS Botany Group: 10 Orange Sulphurs, 1 Eastern Tailed-Blue and a Buckeye. On 11/21, Dianne Benjamin saw a Pearl Crescent at the Litzsinger Road Ecology Center, Anne McCormack had a Painted Lady visiting the Mexican Sage in her Kirkwood garden, at Missouri Botanical Garden Anne saw another Painted Lady and a Little Yellow, and Torrey Berger visited Busch C.A. and found 28 Orange Sulphurs, 2 Monarchs, 3 Buckeyes, and 4 E. Commas. Nov. 20 is the latest date reported for E. Tailed-Blue and Nov. 21 is the latest date reported for Pearl Crescent, E. Comma, Buckeye, Painted Lady and Monarch sightings. Sulphurs continued to fly into December. Dandelion is a nectar plant. It blooms into the winter and is one of the first flowers to appear in the spring. Butterflies are often found nectaring on Dandelion, especially when there are no other flowers available. Four resident species overwinter in their adult form: Gray Comma, E. Comma, Question Mark and Mourning Cloak. On any warm day in the winter, you might see individuals of these species emerge from their winter homes under leaves or tree bark to bask in the sunshine. Migrant butterflies such as Cloudless Sulphur, Dainty Sulphur, Buckeye and Common Checkered-Skipper will not survive our winter. The individuals we see next spring will again be migrants traveling north from their breeding grounds south of us. 3. MONARCH BUTTERFLY MAY FACE CLIMATE THREAT WASHINGTON - Monarch butterflies, which journey hundreds of miles to spend the winter in a mountain forest in Mexico, may be endangered within 50 years because a changing climate could make their winter refuge too wet and cool. A study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says climate models show that rainfall will increase significantly in the winter home of the monarchs as the planet warms during the next half-century. This increased rainfall, combined with the persistent cold typical of the refuge area, could cause a massive die-off of the colorful migrating butterflies, said Karen Oberhauser, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota and the first author of the study. An increased wetness in the winter refuge, a mountain fir forest west of Mexico City, will leave the butterflies with no place to spend the cold months, she said. "The conditions that monarchs need to survive the winter are not predicted to exist anywhere near the present overwintering sites," said Oberhauser. Monarchs, which have bright reddish-brown, black-edged wings, are one of the most common North American butterflies. The insects each season reproduce several times in an area stretching from Texas to the Minnesota. As fall approaches, the final generation of the season starts a heroic migration, flying from as far north as the Canadian border to mountain groves of Oyamel firs west of Mexico City. The trees provide shelter from rain and from temperatures that can dip below freezing. In the spring, surviving monarchs fly north, stopping at fields of milkweed to lay eggs. Succeeding generations continue the northward migration until the cycle starts over in the fall. Oberhauser said the monarchs have a narrow range of temperature and wetness tolerance during the winter. A combination of freezing temperatures and rain can be lethal. "If it rains and the temperatures drop and ice crystals form, it will kill them," she said. These conditions occurred in January, 2002, and about 80 percent of the monarch population overwintering in Mexico died. Based on computer modeling of global climate changes under way, Oberhauser said such conditions could begin to become common over the next 50 years in the monarchs' winter home. Under these changing conditions, she said, one of three things could happen: the butterfly could become extinct; the insect could find another winter refuge; or the monarch could adapt somehow to the changing conditions. Oberhauser said no other area exists near the current refuge that could shelter the butterfly. "I think the question is whether they will have the flexibility to survive," she said. Climate experts predict that global temperatures will increase by a few degrees over the next century. This would cause more ocean evaporation, and would be expected to increase rainfall in many places including central Mexico. Oberhauser said the plight of the monarch is an example of how the changing climate will put some animal species at great risk of extinction. ---------------------------- Further resources on the net: 4. AND MORE... LOOKING FOR A POST-HOLIDAY GIFT? NEWSLETTER ARTICLES WELCOME: YOUR OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS: If you have questions or suggestions, e-mail Ann Earley (aee623@prodigy.net). Our webpage is: www.naba.org/chapters/nabasl/stlouis.htm MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION: If you would like to join NABA, please fill out this application. You will become a member of both NABA and the local St. Louis Chapter, if you live within the St. Louis metropolitan area or nearby Illinois area: Name ____________________________________________ Dues are $30 (regular) and $40 (family) per year. Please make check payable to NORTH AMERICAN BUTTERFLY ASSOCIATION. Please mail this form with your check to: Scott Marshall, Membership, 609 West Lockwood, St. Louis, MO 63119. |
Editor: Dave Larson
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