by Harry Zirlin and Jeff Ingraham From the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, Manhattan looks like a cubist composition
of glass, steel, concrete and asphalt. You would think it the next to last place on earth to look
for butterflies -- right behind Antarctica. Well,
you might very well think that, but you would be wrong. Manhattan and the other four
boroughs that make up New York City -- the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island -- are rich
in butterflies. Indeed, a single park like the
Bronx's Van Cortlandt has more species inhabiting it
than are found in all of Great Britain.
New York City offers some surprising beauty.
A male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail nectars on
orange milkweed. July 1990. Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge (photo by Don Riepe) For the past thirteen years, members of
the New York City Butterfly Club, including the authors, have been mapping the distribution of the City's butterflies in time and space. We
have found approximately 120 species within a 50 - mile radius of Manhattan and most of them
can be found in at least one of the five boroughs.
Some of these butterflies are hard-core
urbanites, actually thriving in parks, vacant lots,
railroad right of ways, roadsides and similar habitats.
Among these are Red Admiral, Question Mark, American Lady, Painted Lady, Mourning
Cloak, Pearl Crescent, Cabbage White, Orange
Sulphur, Eastern Tailed-Blue, Silver-Spotted Skipper
and Common Sootywing. One of us, (Zirlin) once saw a Red Admiral perching outside his
boss's window on the 24th floor of a building on 52nd
Street and Third Avenue in mid-town Manhattan.
Surprising Snow Geese awake as the
World Trade Towers glow in the rising sun.July 1990. Jamaica
Bay Wildlife Refuge (photo by Don Riepe) Most New York City butterfliers have
favorite stories of their most incongruous
butterfly encounters: a Red-banded Hairstreak feeding at
a dumpster in an alley in downtown Manhattan; a Common
Checkered-Skipper (which is not common in the New
York City area) perching in Bryant Park on 42nd
Street and 5th Avenue; a chrome yellow Cloudless
Sulphur dashing south above the crowds and buses on
Third Avenue. These occasional glimpses of urban
butterflies, while they cheer us for a
moment, are not the nitty-gritty of Gotham butterfly spotting. For that, you need to
abandon the glass and steel canyons and head for the
parks and other remaining open areas. Each
borough has its own butterfly hot spots. The Bronx
has Van Cortlandt Park and Pelham Bay Park; Manhattan -- Inwood Hill Park; Queens --
Alley Pond, Cunningham, and Forest Parks as well
as Jamaica Bay National Recreational Area. Brooklyn -- Prospect Park, the
Brooklyn Botanical Garden and Floyd Bennett Field.
Staten Island is loaded with goodies: Sailor's Snug Harbor Park, Wolf Pond Park,
the Greenbelt and Tottenville are among them.
What is especially significant about these places is that they are not only the best places
to find butterflies in New York City, they are among the best places to find certain
species anywhere in the Northeast. Van Cortlandt
Park has one of the largest populations of Silvery Checkerspots that we know of and is a
fairly reliable place to see the rare "Northern"
Southern Hairstreak. Jamaica Bay and Floyd
Bennett Field are some of the only places we knew of
in the East to find Checkered Whites on a
consistent basis. Tottenville and Inwood Hill Park
are bastions for the hackberry-feeding American Snout, Hackberry Emperor and
Tawny Emperor.
While veteran eastern butterfliers may be jaded by
the riches in their own backyard, many of the species found
in New York City will be "lifers" or rare treats for the tourists
or business visitors from the western United Sates or
other parts of the world. There is nothing anywhere west of
the Rocky Mountains like a male Spicebush Swallowtail with
its glorious clouds of green scaling against a rich velvet black.
Yet this butterfly is easy to find in many areas of the City
from May through August. Red-spotted Purple, Little
Wood Satyr, Hoary Edge and Least Skipper are just
a few more of the species that could be new to visitors from far away but are
nevertheless common in many City parks.
An odd couple Tawny Emperor (left) and Compton Tortoiseshell enjoy
some of the best "mung" that the City has
to offer.
Sept. 1995. Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge (photo by Don Riepe) A few butterflies can be seen in City
parks even on exceptionally warm winter days, but
if you can plan your trip to New York to maximize the species on the wing, mid-June through
mid-July is probably the peak period. Most of the interesting Spring species in the East are not
easy to find without leaving the City proper and heading for the Pine Barrens east on Long
Island or to the south in New Jersey. But many of
the butterflies that begin emerging in late May can
be found in the upland parks like Van Cortlandt, Inwood Hill, Alley Pond and Staten
Island's Greenbelt.
The other parks also begin to reveal their butterfly populations in earnest in May. From
the Bronx in the north to Staten Island in the
south, the following are among the City's best butterflying spots.
Van Cortlandt Park: (last stop on the number
1 or 9 trains at 242nd Street). This and Pelham
Bay Park are the two largest City parks. Good
areas
in Van Cortlandt are Vault Hill and the marshy areas near the golf course and the railroad tracks.
From 242nd Street, walk north along the playing fields and head for the paths that wind through
the wooded prominence which is Vault Hill. This area contains remnant grasslands with
good stands of dogbane and other wildflowers.
In June and early July look for Spicebush Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail,
American Copper, Coral Hairstreak, Banded
Hairstreak, Hickory Hairstreak, Striped Hairstreak and
Great Spangled Fritillary here. These will be sharing
the blossoms with a good variety of skippers including Zabulon Skipper, Hobomok
Skipper, Hoary Edge, Silver-spotted Skipper and Delaware Skipper. Silvery Checkerspots are
also at Vault Hill but most individuals are found
along paths farther back near the riding stables.
A White M Hairstreak, with its brilliant
iridescent blue topside (not visible in this
photo) is one of the many tropical immigrants to New York City.
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge (photo by Don Riepe) For detailed information on finding these
and other spots mentioned in this article call the
Urban Park Rangers at 212-360-2776. The wet areas
in Van Cortlandt harbor Mulberry Wings and Baltimore Checkerspots but they are
exceedingly difficult to find. Still, it is nice to know that
they are there and they occasionally wander out to
the nearest flower clumps alongside the railroad tracks.
Pelham Bay Park: (Last stop on the Number
6 train). Pelham Bay is an extensive mix of wetlands, second growth forest and grassy areas.
We have found a colony of Baltimore Checkerspots at the northwest corner of
the wetlands adjacent to Orchard Beach near City Island. The colony may be transient. One of
us (Ingraham) once found Meadow Fritillaries in an open area among the oaks at the edge of
the Bruckner Expressway while huge trucks whizzed by. Beside these specialities, most of
the commoner species can be found here as well.
Inwood Hill Park: (Last stop on the A train).
Inwood Hill is at the very northern tip of Manhattan and contains the last remnants of
the forest that once covered Manhattan. This is a good place to get Pipevine Swallowtails and
the dark form of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. It
is also good for the hackberry-feeding American Snout and Hackberry Emperor. On
the milkweeds in June, scores of Banded
Hairstreaks cover the blossoms, jostling each other and
the less common Hickory, Striped and 'Northern' Hairstreaks. What are probably the only
Silvery Checkerspots in Manhattan are occasionally found here in small numbers. Look on the
upland paths for mulberry trees dropping their berries and see what the squished berries
attract: Hackberry Emperors, Eastern Commas,
Question Marks, Mourning Cloaks and Red Admirals.
A European Small Tortoiseshell in Central Park visits
a butterfly bush, another non-native species.
Oct. 12, 1995 (photo by Peter Post) Central Park: Manhattan's Central Park
is somewhat disappointing as far as its butterfly composition is concerned. This is probably
due to the fact that Central Park was created from cleared land in the 1800's, as opposed to
other parks that contain land that was never cleared.
Nevertheless, a local enthusiast, Nick Wagerik, has acquired an impressive list of
fifty-three species over the years for Central Park.
Moreover, the absence of certain species from Central
Park even after the lapse of so many years
provides important insights into the difficulty many
species experience recolonizing areas from which
they were extirpated. Still, the Conservatory Gardens
at 105th Street and 5th Avenue will reward you with some nice
species and in good years is a fine place for southern strays.
Sachems, Fiery Skipper, Ocola Skipper and even Long-tailed Skippers and Clouded Skippers
have been seen here. American Snouts will come to the sweet pepperbush when it is in bloom.
Strawberry Fields is a good place for both.
Another Small Tortoiseshell was one of two found at
Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.
Aug. 31, 1988 (photo by Don Riepe) Jamaica Bay: (Take the IND A train to
Broad Channel Station. Proceed by walking on Noel Road to Cross Bay Boulevard, turn right
and walk about three quarters of a mile to the
Refuge Visitor Center.) Jamaica Bay in Queens is part
of the Gateway National Recreation Area that also includes Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn,
Great Kills in Staten Island and Sandy Hook in neighboring New Jersey. Almost 70 species
have been recorded at Jamaica Bay. When the buddleia is in bloom, the Visitor's Center is a
good place to start. Park rangers manage the area
for butterflies and often slather a mixture of fermenting fruit and beer ("mung") on the trees
to attract anglewings and emperors who are partial to such delights. Another good spot is the
open field to the left of the parking area at the
Visitor's Center when the milkweeds and bouncing bet
are in bloom. Some fairly common species here are Black Swallowtail, Question Mark,
Eastern Tailed-Blue, Pearl Crescent, Swarthy Skipper and the
two common sulphurs of the Northeast, Clouded and Orange.
Special species that local aficionados come here to
see include American Snout and Tawny Emperor, both
of which breed on the hackberry trees, Salt Marsh Skipper
which breeds on the Spartina grass but nectars at
camphor-weed and Checkered White, which can be found at the
tern nesting area in September or along the railroad tracks.
A very unusual, partially melanistic female Eastern
Tiger Swallowtail nectars at a day lily at the New York
Botanical Garden.
July 18, 1993. Bronx New York (photo by Jeffrey Glassberg) Jamaica Bay is also one of the best places
to consistently find southern strays such as Cloudless Sulphur, Fiery Skipper,
Variegated Fritillary and Common Buckeye. These
species share the coastal flyway with flocks of
migratory birds and the flocks of migratory humans
arriving and departing at nearby JFK Airport. The beautiful and large Broad-winged Skipper
has undergone a tremendous population explosion due to its ability to use the common
reed (Phragmites) as a foodplant. It is abundant
at Spring Creek in late July and early August.
Spring Creek is just north of the refuge. Ask for directions at the Visitor's Center.
Floyd Bennett Field: [Take the IRT #2 (also
#5 at rush hours) to Flatbush Avenue. Take the
Q35 bus to the park. Ask the driver to let you off at
the main entrance and walk past the barracks to
the open areas] An abandoned airfield rich in
history (Lindbergh took off from here on his
famous flight) it also contains some of the last vestiges
of the Hempstead Plains grassland. There are buddleia bushes and other cultivated
flowers around the greenhouse. In the overgrown runway strips adjacent to Flatbush Avenue
there exist relict populations of Cobweb Skipper
and Dusted Skipper, but you need to be a real
zealot to search them out in April and May. Common Checkered-Skippers, Checkered Whites
and Pipevine Swallowtails are sometimes here in August and September. Black Swallowtails
can be common along with Common Buckeyes and Red-banded Hairstreaks on the sumac blossoms.
Look for swallowtails around the mimosa trees.
Hackberry Emperors are best found at Tottenville, at the
southern end of Staten Island (as of this writing, still a part of New York City). (photo by Don Riepe) Prospect Park/ Brooklyn Botanical Gardens: (Number 2 or 3 train to
Grand Army Plaza). There is a little magic in ascending Prospect Park's Lookout
Hill, the highest point in Brooklyn, in late May to find male Black Swallowtails,
Red Admirals and American Ladies hilltopping just as they do in California or Arizona.
Well, a hill is a hill and it must be topped. The Botanical Garden right next
to Prospect Park is lovely for the plants, of course, but harbors interesting
butterflies as well. We have found Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars on the
Pipevine and White M Hairstreaks on the buddleia and ice-plants. Common butterflies
in uncommon settings: A Mourning Cloak drifting through the cherry blossoms in the
Japanese Garden.
Tottenville: (Southernmost tip of Staten Island).
Wooded and open areas near the Conference House. This is an area of great
historical significance and was once a good place to
find Indian arrowheads. The woods and adjacent open fields near the Conference House are one
of the best places to see Hackberry and Tawny Emperors as well as American Snout. This is
also a good place in the Fall to see southern strays
such as Sachem and Fiery Skipper. Look for them
on the goldenrod and tickseed sunflowers.
The authors point out that Checkered Whites are easier to find
in New York City than in almost any other location in the northeast United States.
Sept. 10, 1994. Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge (photo by Rich Cech) Sailor's Snug Harbor Park: This
picturesque locale was originally a retirement home
for destitute seamen. The Parks Department acquired the land and the landmark buildings
and the Staten Island Botanical Society maintains
the extensive gardens. The buddleia attracts whatever is flying up or down the coastal flyway.
But check out all the flowers, because you never know what the bloom du jour is attracting.
This is another good spot for southern strays. One
of the few spots in New York City where the dark female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is
relatively common. They must be migrating up the
coast because no one ever seems to see dark females
in the first brood in the Spring. (And dark
females only come from dark females).
These are just some of the best areas in the City.
Almost any open area with plants will have at least some of the common species from
Spring through Fall.
Map of New York City and Selected Parks Butterfly Species List Pipevine Swallowtail R-U 5-10; Black Swallowtail
C 4-9; Eastern Tiger Swallowtail C 4-9; Spicebush Swallowtail U-C 5-9; Checkered White U-R
7-9; Cabbage White A 3-11; Clouded Sulphur C 4-11; Orange Sulphur C-A 4-11; Cloudless Sulphur S
8-10; Little Yellow R-U 7-10; Harvester R-U 4-9; American Copper C 4-11; Coral Hairstreak C
6-7; Acadian Hairstreak R 6-7; Banded Hairstreak C-A
6-7; Hickory Hairstreak R-U 6-7; Striped Hairstreak
U 6-7; 'Northern' Southern Hairstreak R 6-7;
'Olive' Juniper Hairstreak R 4-5, R 7-8; White M
Hairstreak R 4-9; Red-banded Hairstreak U-C 5-10;
Gray Hairstreak C 4-10; Eastern Tailed-Blue C-A
4-10; Spring Azure C 3-4; Summer Azure C 6-10; American Snout U 6-10; Variegated Fritillary
U-C 6-9; Great Spangled Fritillary U 609;
Aphrodite Fritillary R 6-9; Meadow Fritillary R 5-9;
Silvery Checkerspot U-C 6-7; Pearl Crescent A
4-11; Baltimore Checkerspot R 6-7; Question Mark C
3-10; Eastern Comma U 3-10; Mourning Cloak C 2-11; Compton Tortoiseshell R 3-10; Red Admiral
C 4-10; American Lady C 4-11; Painted Lady U-C 4-10; Common Buckeye U-C 4-10;
Red-spotted Purple R-U 5-9; Viceroy U 5-9; Hackberry
Emperor U 6-9; Tawny Emperor U 6-9; Little Wood-Satyr
C-A 5-8; Common Wood-Nymph U 6-9; Monarch C-A 5-11; Silver-spotted Skipper C-A 5-10;
Long-tailed Skipper R/S 8-10; Hoary Edge C 6-7;
Southern Cloudywing R 6-7; Northern Cloudywing U
6-7; Dreamy Duskywing C 4-6; Juvenal's Duskywing C
4-6; Horace's Duskywing U 5-9; Wild Indigo Duskywing
C 5-10; Common Checkered-Skipper U-R; Common Sootywing C 5-9;
Swarthy Skipper C 6-9; Least Skipper C 6-9; European Skipper A
6-7; Fiery Skipper S 7-10; Leonard's Skipper R
8-9; Cobweb Skipper R 5-6; Clouded Skipper RS
7-10; Indian Skipper R 5-6; Peck's Skipper C 5-10;
Tawny-edged Skipper U 5-10; Crossline Skipper C
6-8; Long Dash R 5-7; Northern Broken-Dash C 6-9;
Little Glassywing C 6-8; Mulberry Wing R 7-8;
Hobomok Skipper C 5-7; Zabulon Skipper C 5-9;
Broad-winged Skipper C 7-9; Dion Skipper R 7; Black Dash R 6-7;
Dun Skipper C 6-9; Dusted Skipper R 5-6; Salt Marsh Skipper
U-R 6-9; Ocola Skipper RS 8-10.
(map by Richard Hildreth)
Abbreviations are: A, abundant, likely to see
more than 20 individuals per visit to the right spot at
the right time; C common likely to see 4-20
individuals; U uncommon, likely to see 0-4 individuals; R,
rare, unlikely to see individuals of these species, even
in the correct habitat; S, stray, not seen every year.
Numbers refer to months. For example, Pipevine Swallowtail is rare to uncommon from May
through October.
29 Dec 1997 / Main Page