Butterfly Count
(This 798th Buffalo Sunday News column was first published on July
16, 2006.)
In
early July each year about thirty local professional and amateur entomologists
census butterflies in Niagara County. Their count is part of a national
program, this year its 14th locally.
I
joined Morgan Jones to spend the day counting. I am at best only a helper on
these counts, my butterfly identification severely limited, so I relied heavily
on Morgan's excellent skills.
One
thing I have noted on these counts is how the date determines the butterflies we
see. For example, we saw only three of those big orange and black monarch
butterflies. They will reach peak numbers in late July and again in September
just before they migrate south to Mexico. We also saw only two yellow and black
Eastern tiger swallowtails. Their numbers peaked in May and will peak again in
late July.
These
peaks occur because of the insects' short life span. Between those peaks, the
adults having died off, you find only their eggs, caterpillars or cocoons.
The
three most common butterflies we found were the cabbage white, the common wood
nymph and the European skipper. Interestingly, two of those three, the cabbage
white and the European skipper, are introduced species.
The
cabbage white is, as its name indicates, almost pure white, usually showing
only a few contrasting gray or black spots. We found them everywhere: in
fields, gardens and even lanes though woodlots. Any white butterfly you see
here is almost certainly this species although other whites -- the checkered
white and the West Virginia white -- are occasionally found in western New
York.
Medium-sized
-- 1.7 inch wingspread -- the cabbage white is useful for judging the size of
other butterflies by comparison.
Common Wood Nymph
photo by Bruce Marlin
The
common wood nymph, for example, is just slightly larger. It is as dark as the
white is light. Their colors vary, ranging from dark brown to a deep chocolate
brown that to me appears almost black. A very few individuals here show an
orange area with two black "eyes" at wing ends, a characteristic more
common in the South. The wood nymph is also a butterfly of open fields.
Another
medium-sized butterfly is the mostly yellow clouded sulphur. We found a few of
them with the whites and wood nymphs in meadows.
A
lighter brown medium sized butterfly is the eyed brown. It occurs along the
edges of woodlots where it replaces wood nymphs. It has many small
yellow-ringed black eye-spots near its wing edges.
The
European skipper is one of many difficult to distinguish small - one inch
wingspread - orange and black butterflies. We found almost 150 of them but
always had look closely to distinguish them from the tiny moths that also
inhabit the tall grass.
Most
years we also find many least skippers but this year we recorded only one.
Morgan did, however, point out a silver-spotted skipper, the one skipper even I
can easily identify by its striking white wing spot.
There
is one other rather common small, orange and black butterfly that is easy to
separate from the tiny skippers by its slightly larger size. We found several
dozen of these pearl crescents.
Along
wood edges we also found two dozen very attractive little butterflies called
spring azures. When they rest and spread their wings, they are a lovely blue,
but in flight and with their wings closed as they are seen more often they
appear light gray.
Acadian Hairstreak
photo by Erik Nielsen
There
were other delicate little butterflies. Morgan found a beautiful little gray
Acadian hairstreak. Examined closely we could see the tiny "tails" at
the backs of its wings that are common to most hairstreaks as well as the
orange crescent of dots and single blue spot along its wing edges.
Morgan
also found an orange and gray American copper just where he expected it: in an
isolated field behind an orchard. Like so many other butterflies it looked
different with its wings open and closed.
We also found a Northern
broken dash, a comma, a question mark, a red admiral and several mourning
cloaks giving us a good total of 18 species. Others will add at least as many
more, but still only a fraction of the over 100 species recorded
here.-- Gerry Rising