While cleaning up your yard during late summer, consider building a simple butterfly log to help hibernating visitors.
The top layer protects hibernating butterflies from rain and snow. The thinner the logs the more cavities there are to attract wintering butterflies.
Put the log pile in the shade. Plant nectar shrubs close to it this fall. If you already have the nectar producing plants, place the winter pile close to them.
All butterflies have to have shelter from rain, snow, wind and other weather elements. Also, they require a safe place to roost at night.
By constructing a butterfly log pile, you are giving butterflies a helping hand in your own back-yard.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Interesting butterfly facts
*** Butterflies visit sunny areas more often than shaded gardens. Create a sunny, butterfly corner in your garden.
*** Butterflies warm the muscles in their wings in sun before they fly every morning.
*** Two of the most serious threats to butterflies is wind and man. Create a windbreak in your garden for your butterflies.
*** Butterflies use mud-puddles like birds use bird baths. Keep a mud-puddle in your backyard for butterflies. Robins will visit it also to get mud for their nets.
*** Leave a weed border in an inconspicuous spot so butterflies will have natural weeds to feed and raise their young on. A perfectly groomed lawn is a "turn off" to butterflies.
*** Butterfly predators include: man, lizards, birds, snakes, spiders, and other insects.
*** Caterpillars are susceptible to viral, bacterial and fungal diseases.
*** The cabbage butterfly is an introduced species from Europe, 1860. Some people consider it a nuisance because it feeds on leafy, garden vegetables. It is difficult to not appreciate its delicate, almost transparent beauty!
*** As a caterpillar, the native Eastern black swallowtail is considered by many to be a pest.
*** Some butterfly larvae absorb toxins from the plants they feed on and become very distasteful to predators.
*** If not interrupted by winter dormancy, the entire butterfly metamorphic process spanning the time period of from egg to adult, requires some four to five weeks to totally complete.
*** Each completed life cycle is called a brood. Many butterflies complete three or more broods every year from spring through fall.
*** On the average, butterflies live only a few weeks. Monarchs live some six or more months. The migratory butterflies like the Monarch have longer life spans.
*** The mourning cloak, spring's earliest butterfly, is non-migratory, but lives some six or so months.
*** Migrating brood monarchs fly some 2,000 miles from Canada to winter ground in Mexico. They ride northeasterly winds and move great distances without expending very much energy. They can literally float on the winds.
*** Monarchs wintering in Mexico do not make the return trip in the Spring. Successive broods move northward until they once again re-populate ancestral ranges.
*** Don't cut down that stand of Queen Anne's Lace. Butterflies use it to lay eggs on, and larvae feed on it.
*** Some butterflies are very fond of verbena, vetch and lantana. Plant some, you'll enjoy it also. It is very colorful.
*** Habit destruction especially in the Florida Keys and Everglades and in many parts of California is the main destructive forces costing butterflies their lives.
Helping butterflies in our back yards, helps bring out the best in us while helping a beautiful insect survive in a often hostile world.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
*** Butterflies warm the muscles in their wings in sun before they fly every morning.
*** Two of the most serious threats to butterflies is wind and man. Create a windbreak in your garden for your butterflies.
*** Butterflies use mud-puddles like birds use bird baths. Keep a mud-puddle in your backyard for butterflies. Robins will visit it also to get mud for their nets.
*** Leave a weed border in an inconspicuous spot so butterflies will have natural weeds to feed and raise their young on. A perfectly groomed lawn is a "turn off" to butterflies.
*** Butterfly predators include: man, lizards, birds, snakes, spiders, and other insects.
*** Caterpillars are susceptible to viral, bacterial and fungal diseases.
*** The cabbage butterfly is an introduced species from Europe, 1860. Some people consider it a nuisance because it feeds on leafy, garden vegetables. It is difficult to not appreciate its delicate, almost transparent beauty!
*** As a caterpillar, the native Eastern black swallowtail is considered by many to be a pest.
*** Some butterfly larvae absorb toxins from the plants they feed on and become very distasteful to predators.
*** If not interrupted by winter dormancy, the entire butterfly metamorphic process spanning the time period of from egg to adult, requires some four to five weeks to totally complete.
*** Each completed life cycle is called a brood. Many butterflies complete three or more broods every year from spring through fall.
*** On the average, butterflies live only a few weeks. Monarchs live some six or more months. The migratory butterflies like the Monarch have longer life spans.
*** The mourning cloak, spring's earliest butterfly, is non-migratory, but lives some six or so months.
*** Migrating brood monarchs fly some 2,000 miles from Canada to winter ground in Mexico. They ride northeasterly winds and move great distances without expending very much energy. They can literally float on the winds.
*** Monarchs wintering in Mexico do not make the return trip in the Spring. Successive broods move northward until they once again re-populate ancestral ranges.
*** Don't cut down that stand of Queen Anne's Lace. Butterflies use it to lay eggs on, and larvae feed on it.
*** Some butterflies are very fond of verbena, vetch and lantana. Plant some, you'll enjoy it also. It is very colorful.
*** Habit destruction especially in the Florida Keys and Everglades and in many parts of California is the main destructive forces costing butterflies their lives.
Helping butterflies in our back yards, helps bring out the best in us while helping a beautiful insect survive in a often hostile world.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Summer Butterflies
Butterflies occupy a unique place in the chain of insect life. They also add a lot of beauty and pleasure to the wildlife lover's life.
Appreciating a creature's beauty is no longer enough to help it maintain its place in nature. Knowing how it lives helps man realize how important it is to make sure each species survives the ultra modern world.
There are four stages in the life cycle of a butterfly. There are the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis (pupa), and adult. When you observe these changes up close, you will see they are fascinating. Metamorphosis is the scientific name for a butterfly's complete seasonal change.
Female butterflies lay eggs only on plants that provide nourishment to her offspring. A butterfly's feet are unique and are the chief tool used to locate the right host plants on which eggs will be laid. A butterfly's feet scratch a plant's leaves and receptors located on the bottom of the feet taste the plant to identify it as a correct host.
Butterflies lay single eggs and clusters of eggs. Many do not survive hungry predators. A caterpillar emerges from the egg. It feeds almost constantly and sheds its skin several times before forming a chrysalis. Butterfly silk is spun to form a supportive protection for the chrysalis.
During the chrysalis stage of butterfly development rest is the order of the period. The chrysalis is usually camouflaged and may resemble leaves, stems or wood.
When a butterfly reaches an adult stage, the chrysalis splits open and a beautiful fully formed butterfly emerges. It rests on a leaf as blood is pumped into its fragile wings. Before taking off on its maiden flight, the wings must be completely dry and have hardened.
A caterpillar munches its way through leaf after leaf. This is not true of the adult butterfly. It drinks nectar and other nutrients. The straw-like proboscis is the tool used to intake nectar.
Butterflies must maintain a body temperature of about 80 degrees Fahrenheit to fly. You will often find them sunning lazily moving their wings. They are soaking up sun to increase their body temperature.
Many butterflies live only a few short weeks. However, some species live several months. The Monarch survives to migrate north and south. However, a Monarch does not survive to make both the north and south migration in one year. After flying south, it breeds on the way back and the offspring
complete the migration.
The Monarch usually chooses the milkweed plant as its egg host. Meadows with milkweed growing are favorite breeding grounds. Eating the milkweed plant makes the Monarch poisonous food for predators. The Cloudless Sulfur butterfly likes partridge peas, clovers, and other legumes as host plants for egg laying. This butterfly is found in the southern states close to open spaces, gardens and along seashores.
The most help that you can give all species of butterflies is to plant flowers that they enjoy for egg laying and for nutrition. Do not use deadly chemicals that prove fatal to these fragile flying flowers. Remember, adult butterflies enjoy nectar producing plants where caterpillars enjoy leaves, leaves and more leaves.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Appreciating a creature's beauty is no longer enough to help it maintain its place in nature. Knowing how it lives helps man realize how important it is to make sure each species survives the ultra modern world.
There are four stages in the life cycle of a butterfly. There are the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis (pupa), and adult. When you observe these changes up close, you will see they are fascinating. Metamorphosis is the scientific name for a butterfly's complete seasonal change.
Female butterflies lay eggs only on plants that provide nourishment to her offspring. A butterfly's feet are unique and are the chief tool used to locate the right host plants on which eggs will be laid. A butterfly's feet scratch a plant's leaves and receptors located on the bottom of the feet taste the plant to identify it as a correct host.
Butterflies lay single eggs and clusters of eggs. Many do not survive hungry predators. A caterpillar emerges from the egg. It feeds almost constantly and sheds its skin several times before forming a chrysalis. Butterfly silk is spun to form a supportive protection for the chrysalis.
During the chrysalis stage of butterfly development rest is the order of the period. The chrysalis is usually camouflaged and may resemble leaves, stems or wood.
When a butterfly reaches an adult stage, the chrysalis splits open and a beautiful fully formed butterfly emerges. It rests on a leaf as blood is pumped into its fragile wings. Before taking off on its maiden flight, the wings must be completely dry and have hardened.
A caterpillar munches its way through leaf after leaf. This is not true of the adult butterfly. It drinks nectar and other nutrients. The straw-like proboscis is the tool used to intake nectar.
Butterflies must maintain a body temperature of about 80 degrees Fahrenheit to fly. You will often find them sunning lazily moving their wings. They are soaking up sun to increase their body temperature.
Many butterflies live only a few short weeks. However, some species live several months. The Monarch survives to migrate north and south. However, a Monarch does not survive to make both the north and south migration in one year. After flying south, it breeds on the way back and the offspring
complete the migration.
The Monarch usually chooses the milkweed plant as its egg host. Meadows with milkweed growing are favorite breeding grounds. Eating the milkweed plant makes the Monarch poisonous food for predators. The Cloudless Sulfur butterfly likes partridge peas, clovers, and other legumes as host plants for egg laying. This butterfly is found in the southern states close to open spaces, gardens and along seashores.
The most help that you can give all species of butterflies is to plant flowers that they enjoy for egg laying and for nutrition. Do not use deadly chemicals that prove fatal to these fragile flying flowers. Remember, adult butterflies enjoy nectar producing plants where caterpillars enjoy leaves, leaves and more leaves.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Butterfly hibernating box
With the loss of so much natural habitat, non-migrating butterflies like the mourning cloak can be helped with man-made shelters.
This is an excellent summer time project to have ready for fall positioning.
Some butterflies hibernate in the winter in all parts of North America. The mourning cloak spends the winter in many regions, the question mark and comma in the east, and the satyr anglewing in the west.
You can provide thes e and others with a suitable hibernating spot in your back yard. All you need is rectangular wooden box - probably cedar is the best - with narrow vertical holes cut into it. These are for the butterflies to enter and leave.
Place long strips of bark inside the house. The bark gives butterflies something to hang onto while hibernating.
Many home improvement places and garden centers sell butterfly hibernating boxes.
Always place a butterfly hibernation box in the shade as the occupants will not overheat. Also, place it close to nectar producing shrubs and flowers.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
This is an excellent summer time project to have ready for fall positioning.
Some butterflies hibernate in the winter in all parts of North America. The mourning cloak spends the winter in many regions, the question mark and comma in the east, and the satyr anglewing in the west.
You can provide thes e and others with a suitable hibernating spot in your back yard. All you need is rectangular wooden box - probably cedar is the best - with narrow vertical holes cut into it. These are for the butterflies to enter and leave.
Place long strips of bark inside the house. The bark gives butterflies something to hang onto while hibernating.
Many home improvement places and garden centers sell butterfly hibernating boxes.
Always place a butterfly hibernation box in the shade as the occupants will not overheat. Also, place it close to nectar producing shrubs and flowers.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Replacing a dove nest
It isn't unusual for a dove nest with babies to be blown out of a tree during a wind storm. Most doves cross a few sticks loosely held together and call it finished.
Place the baby doves in a box with a heating pad under the box cushioned with a folded towel. Set the heating pad on low. If a heating pad isn't available, secure the baby doves in a container and place it where it will be shielded from the elements.
Materials:
***12-inch square of 1/4 or 1/2-inch wire screen.
Cut a 12 inch circle.
Then cut a 2 1/2-inch pie-shaped wedge from the circle, and discard it. Pull the circle into the shape of a cone. Over lap the edges and wire them together.
Secure the nest basket close to the crotch of a tree limb from eight to 16 feet above the ground.
Replace the baby doves and watch from a safe distance. The parents should return quickly to feed and shelter them.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Place the baby doves in a box with a heating pad under the box cushioned with a folded towel. Set the heating pad on low. If a heating pad isn't available, secure the baby doves in a container and place it where it will be shielded from the elements.
Materials:
***12-inch square of 1/4 or 1/2-inch wire screen.
Cut a 12 inch circle.
Then cut a 2 1/2-inch pie-shaped wedge from the circle, and discard it. Pull the circle into the shape of a cone. Over lap the edges and wire them together.
Secure the nest basket close to the crotch of a tree limb from eight to 16 feet above the ground.
Replace the baby doves and watch from a safe distance. The parents should return quickly to feed and shelter them.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
May Brings Abundance in Nature
Whatever Mother Nature does, she does it with all her heart. She
dishes out recovery with blooms and new leaves, songbirds, butterflies,
and bees.
The mountaintop reeled under the devastation of the Easter weekend freeze. The Quantum Cherry tree is still struggling to put on new leaves as if the star magnolia. There aren't enough leaves to provide a canopy for the tender pot plants from the greenhouse. I fear the Clendendron trees, one of all time favorites, are dead. There is no sign of life after six weeks since the freeze. They were not only my favorites, but butterflies covered them from the time they bloomed until fall. The oldest stood 30 feet tall, and provided shade for the Pilgrim geese during the heat of summer. Their demise is much like losing an old friend on the mountaintop.
A few of the Iris are showing buds, and the late blooming peonies are opening. What a luxury to have flowers in bloom again. Spring without blooms is hard to imagine, after waiting months through winter for them to arrive. Some of the lilies are nodding in the warm spring breezes with heads full of buds. Others did not show buds this year.
The laurel is in bloom, and it is a welcome escort down the mountain each morning. Bees are back out and humming, and at evening the whippoorwills call. Although it is past mid-May, it seems that is was March only yesterday. Every year we worry about if spring is early or late, and we fear for plants, blooms and buds. But the plants don ' t
forget, because their memory is not like ours. Plants have a fundamental memory, a response to the rhythms of time. It is part of the order that keeps days and nights, season and years in their immutable sequence.
The scarlet tanager has found the mountaintop again. Some call it a black-winged redbird or firebird. Nobody ever forgets the scarlet tanager, once one visits. Beside the tanager, the cardinal' s deep red seems a bit dull. Only the males are clothed in the vivid red, and then only in the spring and summer. The females have yellowish
olive-green feathers. Her wings are a brownish-gray. When winter approaches the male tanager will look much like the female.
May' s air holds the golden dust that sends many humans hurrying for the tissue box. The air itself is dusted with the substance of life, the pollen crop of the trees. The hickories, oaks, walnuts, and all the conifers spread clouds of sulphur-yellow pollen. It is one of the
oldest fertility rites on earth. Some of the pollen reaches the female flowers and produce the seeds that keep the planet green. It will be over soon, and red noses and eyes will be able to return to normal.
The day begins early now. At first light, the birds begin to celebrate the dawn. The dawn chorus swells into a full cathedral choir by 7 a.m. No one complains that May is a noisy month.
Wisps of silver mist still hug the hollows with memories of midnight coolness at daybreak. The busyness of the day hasn' t intruded yet.
You can hear the breeze whispering through the treetops. The sunrise is the day's beginnings. Perhaps that is what the birds are celebrating. Those who know another dimension of time can, for a little while, participate in genesis itself.
June bugs are already on the back walk. They are blundering beetles
that appear at dusk and linger well into the dark.
Fawns are beginning to appear in the woods. Leave them where you find them. A fawn lacks scent and with their dappled coloring, they are well camouflaged, and usually remain safe from predators. The doe returns to the fawn several times a day to nurse it and clean it. Staying only a few minutes each time, she leaves again to seek food. Most
fawns do not do well in captivity. Leave nature where you find it.
Bees are in serious trouble in the Valley. They are suffering "bee hive collapse." The bees leave the hive in search of nectar and pollen, and never return. This is drastic, because man depends on bees to pollinate crops to produce food. Man cannot replicate what the bees do. There is no substitute for trillions and trillions of honeybees
worldwide, pollinating hundreds of thousands of square miles. If
honeybees become extinct, man may not be far behind. Mites and pollution, including pesticides, had already compromised bees and now a new plague has struck.
"We don't know what is causing the hives to collapse," Edd Buchanan, master beekeeper says," We are meeting and we are studying, but we simply don't know yet."
Researchers have decided to call the latest bee plague "colony collapse disorder." A Cornell University study estimated that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United States, which includes fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
"Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee
to pollinate that food," Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation, said.
Some beekeepers on the east coast report losses of more than 70 percent of their hives. Beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20 percent in the off-season normal. Colony Collapse Disorder is not just a United States problem. It is occurring in Spain and Poland as well.
With global warming threatening many species, and now bees seriously endangered, it may be later than we think.
May you always hear the whisper of wings.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
dishes out recovery with blooms and new leaves, songbirds, butterflies,
and bees.
The mountaintop reeled under the devastation of the Easter weekend freeze. The Quantum Cherry tree is still struggling to put on new leaves as if the star magnolia. There aren't enough leaves to provide a canopy for the tender pot plants from the greenhouse. I fear the Clendendron trees, one of all time favorites, are dead. There is no sign of life after six weeks since the freeze. They were not only my favorites, but butterflies covered them from the time they bloomed until fall. The oldest stood 30 feet tall, and provided shade for the Pilgrim geese during the heat of summer. Their demise is much like losing an old friend on the mountaintop.
A few of the Iris are showing buds, and the late blooming peonies are opening. What a luxury to have flowers in bloom again. Spring without blooms is hard to imagine, after waiting months through winter for them to arrive. Some of the lilies are nodding in the warm spring breezes with heads full of buds. Others did not show buds this year.
The laurel is in bloom, and it is a welcome escort down the mountain each morning. Bees are back out and humming, and at evening the whippoorwills call. Although it is past mid-May, it seems that is was March only yesterday. Every year we worry about if spring is early or late, and we fear for plants, blooms and buds. But the plants don ' t
forget, because their memory is not like ours. Plants have a fundamental memory, a response to the rhythms of time. It is part of the order that keeps days and nights, season and years in their immutable sequence.
The scarlet tanager has found the mountaintop again. Some call it a black-winged redbird or firebird. Nobody ever forgets the scarlet tanager, once one visits. Beside the tanager, the cardinal' s deep red seems a bit dull. Only the males are clothed in the vivid red, and then only in the spring and summer. The females have yellowish
olive-green feathers. Her wings are a brownish-gray. When winter approaches the male tanager will look much like the female.
May' s air holds the golden dust that sends many humans hurrying for the tissue box. The air itself is dusted with the substance of life, the pollen crop of the trees. The hickories, oaks, walnuts, and all the conifers spread clouds of sulphur-yellow pollen. It is one of the
oldest fertility rites on earth. Some of the pollen reaches the female flowers and produce the seeds that keep the planet green. It will be over soon, and red noses and eyes will be able to return to normal.
The day begins early now. At first light, the birds begin to celebrate the dawn. The dawn chorus swells into a full cathedral choir by 7 a.m. No one complains that May is a noisy month.
Wisps of silver mist still hug the hollows with memories of midnight coolness at daybreak. The busyness of the day hasn' t intruded yet.
You can hear the breeze whispering through the treetops. The sunrise is the day's beginnings. Perhaps that is what the birds are celebrating. Those who know another dimension of time can, for a little while, participate in genesis itself.
June bugs are already on the back walk. They are blundering beetles
that appear at dusk and linger well into the dark.
Fawns are beginning to appear in the woods. Leave them where you find them. A fawn lacks scent and with their dappled coloring, they are well camouflaged, and usually remain safe from predators. The doe returns to the fawn several times a day to nurse it and clean it. Staying only a few minutes each time, she leaves again to seek food. Most
fawns do not do well in captivity. Leave nature where you find it.
Bees are in serious trouble in the Valley. They are suffering "bee hive collapse." The bees leave the hive in search of nectar and pollen, and never return. This is drastic, because man depends on bees to pollinate crops to produce food. Man cannot replicate what the bees do. There is no substitute for trillions and trillions of honeybees
worldwide, pollinating hundreds of thousands of square miles. If
honeybees become extinct, man may not be far behind. Mites and pollution, including pesticides, had already compromised bees and now a new plague has struck.
"We don't know what is causing the hives to collapse," Edd Buchanan, master beekeeper says," We are meeting and we are studying, but we simply don't know yet."
Researchers have decided to call the latest bee plague "colony collapse disorder." A Cornell University study estimated that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United States, which includes fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
"Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee
to pollinate that food," Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation, said.
Some beekeepers on the east coast report losses of more than 70 percent of their hives. Beekeepers consider a loss of up to 20 percent in the off-season normal. Colony Collapse Disorder is not just a United States problem. It is occurring in Spain and Poland as well.
With global warming threatening many species, and now bees seriously endangered, it may be later than we think.
May you always hear the whisper of wings.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Some birds enjoy air bathing
Game birds and sparrows enjoy a good wallow in dust to clean their feathers, while other birds enjoy a dip in a puddle or bird bath.
Sometimes you may catch a glimpse of a bird air bathing. The bird is stimulated to go through the motions of bathing while watching other birds in water.
The air-bathing bird goes through all the motions of taking a bath with no water. After taking the imaginary bath, the bird preens its feathers just as it would after a real bath.
Some behavior truly falls in the category of mind over matter.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
Sometimes you may catch a glimpse of a bird air bathing. The bird is stimulated to go through the motions of bathing while watching other birds in water.
The air-bathing bird goes through all the motions of taking a bath with no water. After taking the imaginary bath, the bird preens its feathers just as it would after a real bath.
Some behavior truly falls in the category of mind over matter.
© Copyright North American Wildlife Health Care Center
P.O. Box 155
Black Mountain, North Carolina, USA 28711
A non-profit 501-3-C organization dedicated to wildlife research and education
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