Thurs. Sep. 8. Yvonne Homeyer will present a video of "The Butterflies and Birds of the Rio Grande Valley" for the Webster Groves Nature Study Society at 7:00 p.m. at the St. Louis County Library Headquarters on S. Lindbergh across from Plaza Frontenac. NABA members are welcome. Butterflies from the NABA Butterfly Park will be included.

Sun. Sep. 18. The fourth and last MDC Count at Busch Wildlife in St. Charles County. Meet at 10:00 a.m. at the Butterfly Garden (bottom of parking lot at Visitor’s Center). Leader: Jim Ziebol.

Sat. Sep. 24. BioBlitz at Little Creek Nature Area, part of the Ferguson-Florissant School District. NABA-St. Louis will have a table at this event and we will also conduct a census of butterfly species on the site. Call Yvonne if you want to participate in the butterfly survey. See article and more information below.

Sun. Oct. 9. Butterfly Walk at Hilda Young C.A. near Eureka. Meet at 10:00 at the parking lot. There are no facilities. This will be our last outing of the season! Bring lunch. Leaders: Dennis Bozzay & Yvonne Homeyer. [Note: this was originally scheduled for Sat. Oct. 8. There will be no walk on Oct. 8.]

Wed. Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. Jim Ziebol will present a video featuring butterflies of the Rio Grande Valley, followed by a slide show of local butterflies from Dennis Bozzay. Machacek Library, 6424 Scanlan, St. Louis. See story and more information below.

Fri. Oct. 14. 7:00 p.m. NABA Dinner at Sweet Tomatoes Restaurant, a salad buffet. Our dinners here in June and again in August were so much fun that we want to do it again. Sweet Tomatoes is located on Watson Road about 1/2 mile west of Sappington/Crestwood Plaza, across from Lindburg Cadillac. You don't have to RSVP, just come and have a good time. Sweet Tomatoes also has a delicious pasta and dessert bar.

DIRECTIONS:

Busch Wildlife Conservation Area: From St. Louis County, take I-64 (Hwy 40) across the Missouri River bridge and exit at Hwy. 94. Go left (south) on Hwy 94 approximately 1 mile to Hwy D. Turn right onto Hwy D and go about 1.5 miles to the entrance on your right. Turn right and at the T intersection, turn right again and proceed to the parking lot at the Visitor's Center. Meet at the Jim Ziebol Butterfly Garden at the bottom of the parking lot.

Hilda Young Conservation Area: Take I-44 west to Hwy 109 & W exit. Turn left onto W. Go south on Hwy W for 2 miles. At the T intersection, turn right onto Hwy FF and go for 2.7 miles to a well-marked parking lot on the left. There is Mo. Dept. of Conservation sign at the parking lot. There are gasoline stations on Hwy W to stop for restrooms; these are the last public facilities.

2. BUTTERFLY SIGHTINGS IN JULY 2005 by Yvonne Homeyer

Introduction: Butterflies were scarce in June and the first part of July, even common species such as Cabbage White, Orange Sulphur, Eastern Tailed-Blue, Gray Hairstreak, Painted Lady, and Silver-spotted Skipper. And the species that were being seen were very low in numbers. In late June and early July, a typical field trip to Young C.A. or Busch Wildlife was yielding 10 to 15 species, instead of the expected 18 to 30+. Activity did pick up toward the end of the month.

July Sightings:

On 7/2, Mary-Eileen Rufkahr and Yvonne Homeyer observed a mere 9 species and 49 individuals over a period of 3-1/2 hours at Cuivre River S.P., despite ideal weather conditions. No Cabbage Whites or Orange Sulphurs were seen. That same day, they found a Clouded Skipper (video) at Logan C.A. in Lincoln County. The Fourth of July Count at Busch Wildlife, held on 7/3, yielded just 19 species (nothing unusual) and 85 individuals – the lowest results since Jim Ziebol started the 4^th of July Count at Busch in 1998. By contrast, last year we counted 32 species and 288 individuals, and in some years we have seen over 400 individuals! Jim, Kraig Paradise, Jeannie Moe, Mary-Eileen Rufkahr and Yvonne Homeyer participated in the Count. A trip to Horseshoe Lake on 7/4 (MER, JZ, YH) produced similar results: 18 species, but single sightings of 6 species and 2 sightings each of 3 species. The only butterfly that was well-represented was Eastern-Tailed Blue, with 100+ found in a "weedy" field full of red clover. Highlights included Dogface, Sleepy Orange, and Southern Cloudywing,

On the other hand, butterflies are doing better in the Ozarks, where Dave Berry frequently visits his property in Dent County. On the weekend of 7/2 and 7/3, Dave checked out a new place, Indian Trail Conservation Area in Dent County. He observed 19 species in fairly good numbers: 4 Spicebush, 15 Pipevine, 1 Dogface, 1 Orange Sulphur, 1 Sleepy Orange, 4 Little Yellow, 1 Coral Hairstreak, 1 Summer Azure, 6 Eastern Tailed-Blue, 10 Pearl Crescent, 25 Great Spangled Fritillary, 1 Variegated Fritillary, 1 American Lady, 2 Painted Lady, 1 Goatweed, 1 Red-spotted Purple, 2 Little Wood Satyr, 7 Silver-spotted Skipper, and 7 Horace’s Duskywing. Dave was also in search of Swamp Thistle and hence Swamp Metalmarks but didn’t observe the target butterfly.

Torrey Berger observed Peck’s Skippers and Sachems in his garden on 7/4 and Dennis Bozzay saw Peck’s, Sachem and Silver-spotted Skipper in his garden on 7/5. Also on 7/5, Dennis reported 10 species of butterflies at Young C.A.: 2 Pipevine, 1 Spicebush, 10+ Cabbage White, 2 Summer Azure, 1 ETB, 10+ Great Spangled Fritillary, 6 Pearl Crescent (one captured and eaten by a dragonfly), 1 Wood-Nymph, 40+ Little Wood Satyr, and 3 Monarchs. In their gardens, Tom Krauska reported a Byssus Skipper on 7/7 and Sachems on 7/8, while Mary Eileen Rufkahr saw 2 Byssus, 3 Cabbage White, 2 Pipevine and 1 Giant Swallowtail on 7/9. A Spicebush was laying eggs in Tom Krauska’s garden on 7/10. On 7/11, Dave Berry saw the first Black Swallowtail caterpillars of the season (on carrots). A female Monarch, several Tiger Swallowtails and four species of skippers visited his yard that day. On 7/11, Jeannie Moe spent the day botanizing at Nels Holmberg’s sheep farm in Franklin County and saw Pipevine Swallowtail, Peck’s Skipper and Least Skipper.

A trip to Cuivre River State Park on 7/15 did not yield any Swamp Metalmarks but Dave Berry did see 4 Pipevines, 1 Tiger, 3 Giant, 8 Spicebush, 13 ETBs, 40+ Pearl Crescents, 9 Great Spangled Fritillaries, 1 American Lady, 2 Summer Azures, 1 Monarch, 3 Little Wood Satyrs, 4 Silver-spotted Skippers, 1 Least Skipper and 2 Hoary Edges (always a good find). On 7/15 in his garden, Tom Krauska observed a Gray Hairstreak, a Tiger Swallowtail and a Monarch, and on 7/20, Painted Lady, Black Swallowtail, and a Monarch visited his yard. Jeannie Moe saw Black and Spicebush Swallowtails, Eastern-tailed Blue, Pearl Crescent and Silver-spotted Skipper at our Butterfly Garden at Busch Wildlife on 7/16.

Torrey Berger led our first butterfly walk to Riverlands on 7/16. Riverlands is managed by the Corps of Engineers and is located along the Mississippi River near the Clark bridge to Alton. Torrey and Mary-Eileen Rufkahr saw 22 species that day, with high counts for Cabbage White (75+), Cloudless Sulphur (25), Orange Sulphur (100+), Little Yellow (30), Eastern tailed-Blue (100+) and Pearl Crescent (50). Other species seen included 5 Painted Ladies, 7 Monarchs, 2 Snouts, 1 Wild Indigo Duskywing, 3 Bronze Coppers, 5 Common Sootywings and 1 Common Checkered-Skipper.

Jeannie Moe’s trip to Marais Temps Clairs (a Dept. of Conservation property in St. Charles County) on 7/17 yielded 4 Cabbage Whites, 56 Cloudless Sulphurs, 33 Little Yellows, 10 Sleepy Oranges, 1 Clouded Sulphur, 6 Orange Sulphurs, 1 Snout, and a Buckeye. On 7/19 on private property in Foristel, Jeannie observed Giant Swallowtail, Little Wood Satyr, and Great Spangled Fritillary. That same day, Mark Peters found a Funereal Duskywing at his prairie in Jefferson County.

Ron Goetz found a surprise visitor in his garden on 7/23: a Reakirt’s Blue. This species is rarely seen in St. Louis so it is a noteworthy find, and especially in a suburban garden. The Reakirt’s Blue was #54 on Ron’s yard list. On 7/28, Tom saw 4 Monarchs, Tiger Swallowtail, 2 Fiery Skippers and a Painted Lady in his garden. Dave Larson visited Shaw Nature Reserve on 7/30 and reported Tiger, Pipevine, Spicebush, Giant and Zebra Swallowtails, Gray Hairstreak, Monarch and Southern Cloudywing. Jane Schaefer saw Black and Tiger Swallowtails in her University City garden in July.

Dave Berry enjoyed the following butterflies at his home on 7/30: Tiger Swallowtail (yellow and black forms), Spicebush Swallowtail, Southern Dogface (locally rare in St. Louis and always a good find in your own garden), Orange and Cloudless Sulphurs, several Monarchs, Variegated Fritillary, Painted Lady, and Horace’s Duskywing. The Dogface was a new addition to Dave’s yard list. On 7/31, Scott Marshall and Mary-Eileen Rufkahr trekked Victoria Glade in search of Swamp Metalmarks (none seen) and noted 1 Monarch, 1 Great-Spangled Fritillary, and 2 Horace’s Duskywings. Finally, a Harvester was seen by Dennis Bozzay on 7/31 at Two Rivers National Wildlife Refuge in Calhoun County, IL as he was scouting the area for the butterfly walk on 8/7 (see August report). Dennis saw 25 species, including Checkered White, Southern Dogface, Gray Hairstreak, Viceroy and Monarch. Cabbage Whites, Orange Sulphurs and Cloudless Sulphurs were numerous.

Contributors: Torrey Berger, Dave Berry, Dennis Bozzay, Ron Goetz, Jack Harris, Yvonne Homeyer, Tom "Terrific" Krauska, Dave Larson, Scott Marshall, Jeannie Moe, Mark Peters, Mary-Eileen Rufkahr, Jane Schaefer, Belle Warden, Jim Ziebol. Bold indicates first reported sighting of the year.

3. LEARN MORE ABOUT BUTTERFLIES NEAR AND FAR! by Ann Earley

Want to learn more about butterflies near and farther south? Mark your calendar for Wednesday, October 12 at 7 p.m. because Jim Ziebol has arranged a special evening of butterfly information and images to enjoy as our schedule of outdoor adventures draws to a close. A video featuring butterflies and other wildlife of the Rio Grande Valley will be presented, followed by a slide show of our local butterflies presented by Dennis Bozzay. Location for this special event is the Machacek Library, 6424 Scanlan in the southwest part of the city of St. Louis. This event is free and open to the public, and guests of NABA members are welcome to attend. To get there, take I-44 east to the Jamieson exit, where there is a stop light. Go straight through the intersection (crossing Jamieson) which puts you on Bradley. Follow Bradley to Ivanhoe and turn left on Ivanhoe, then turn right on Scanlan. The phone number for the library is (314) 781-2948.

4. "KID'S CORNER" by Mary-Eileen Rufkahr

Attention NABA/St. Louis members . . . Continue to check out the newest section of our web site . . . The kids’ corner! In an effort to attract young people to butterflying and provide them with the necessary resources to pursue the avocation, we are offering an area just for them (and all kids at heart).

This month, a new feature has been added. . . butterfly jokes and riddles! At your next get-together, be the "life of the party" with such "gems" as these. . .

 

Also check out the two newest websites added to the kids’ links. . . one from the world famous San Diego Zoo and two that offer complete lesson plans for preschoolers and kindergarteners on caterpillars and butterflies.

The San Diego Zoo’s website offers a short, informational video and slide show on butterflies plus all kinds of cool facts about our favorite creature!

The lesson plan sites offer thematic units including science, math, language arts and even cooking for young children and their families.

If you have any good quality children’s butterfly web sites, books or other ideas to add to the kids’ corner, please contact Mary-Eileen Rufkahr at: MerufkahrATaol.com.

The Kid's Corner web address is:  http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabasl/kids.htm

5. LITTLE CREEK BIOBLITZ by Mary-Eileen Rufkahr

Mark your calendars for Saturday, September 24^th. NABA will be hosting an educational table at the first Little Creek Nature Area Bioblitz! The NABA table will feature informational literature and offer kids a chance to create their own "walk away" butterfly garden. Volunteers are needed to help staff the table anytime from 10 AM to 3 PM. Even an hour would be helpful! To volunteer, contact Mary-Eileen Rufkahr at: MerufkahrATaol.com

6. ST. LOUIS NABA PARTICIPATES IN BABLER PARK BUG DAY by Ann Earley

Bug Day was held on August 13 at Babler State Park west of St. Louis, and NABA St. Louis had a display table at this family-oriented educational event. Over 40 adults and children visited our display to learn more about NABA and butterflies in general. Attendees were very interested in talking about various local butterflies, host plants and nectar sources. Many thanks to the staff at Babler for inviting our chapter to participate in this event.

7. MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION…

YOUR OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS, AS OF APRIL 2005: (AT = @ in Email address)