Wondering Wings

Posted on December 3, 2016 by Tina

I often use Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) as a resource when identifying butterflies in my garden or learning about what particular butterflies might require by way of food sources, but I’ve never utilized the site’s submission process to ID an unknown butterfly or moth. Instead, I comb through lists of photos from various sites, comparing whatever photo I took with shots from these sites. While not efficient, there’s something gratifying about this process. For me, it’s much like strolling through a bookstore or library, perhaps with one book in mind, but gloriously distracted by volumes just begging to be read. Or, visiting a nursery for a specific plant and lusting after the many I might choose for that one special spot in the garden.

While Butterflies and Moths of North America is a go-to site for me in learning about these insects, I’ve never submitted a photo for identification. Recently though, my enterprising husband did, and we learned about a new (to us) insect in our midst. Ambling around our street to give our sweet, old dog some exercise, we spied a black and fast-flitting insect working a neighbor’s Wooly Butterfly Bush, Buddleja marrubiifolia, (which is a plant I would LOVE to grow, but, alas, don’t quite have the full sun required). The winged thing was swift and jittery in its flight pattern, moving rapidly from bloom to leaf and back to bloom again. It was tough to get a clear photo with The Hub’s cell phone.

This is not a great shot, but is enough to decipher markings and color.

Once home, The Husband was single-minded in his pursuit of butterfly truth, perusing photos from various sites, eventually landing on the BAMONA site for identifying this mystery critter. He noticed that BAMONA allows for submission of photos for butterfly/moth identification, so he got right to that task. To submit a photo for identification, the site requires a free account, but that’s super easy–Hub signed up for an account and you can too! In the ‘Get Involved’ section of the menu bar, the drop down menu lists ‘Submit a Photo’ and in that section are general instructions for creating a sighting record, with further information about photo downloads to the BAMONA staff. Almost immediately after his submission, The Husband received a confirmation email that his submission was accepted, with assurances that he would get a follow-up email. The next morning, he received that email confirmation of what we observed: our mystery critter was a moth, a White-tipped Black, Melanchroia chephise. The regional coordinator offered a link to BAMONA’s information on this moth, as well as a link to The Hub’s submission, Sighting Record 1108573. Woot! It’s cool to be part of the scientific process!

Not long afterward during an early morning walk with my furry, four-legged friend, I picked up from the street a (probably) dying White-tipped Black.

Beautiful!

I brought it home and placed it on a Wild ruellia leaf. It remained there for much of that day, but eventually disappeared to unknown parts.

When we first saw this species on the neighbor’s plant, I congratulated myself because I thought that it might be a moth. I’m reasonably familiar with butterflies in this area and didn’t recognize it, but I’m not so familiar with moths, as they’re more elusive and not necessarily out when I’m out.

One moth characteristic is of fuzzy, feathery antennae, rather than the slender antennae typical of butterflies, and you can clearly see that here:

I was pleased that The Hub’s initiative provided a correct identification of this lovely moth. Many scientific organizations encourage and rely on so-called “citizen scientists” as scientific eyes on the ground, helping these organizations ascertain wildlife migration patterns and changing demographics. After all, wildlife biologists and related professionals can’t be everywhere! They welcome avid gardeners and regular folk to assist in research, education and conservation of wildlife and native habitats through controlled observations and recordings. My own volunteer work with Cornell Lab of Ornithology is another example of a scientific educational and research organization which enjoys plenty of citizen input.

Another butterfly resource is the National Butterfly Center, located in Mission, Texas. Part of the North American Butterfly Association, the organization’s mission is research and conservation of butterflies and their required habitats. Along with the other great work this organization does, they sponsor an annual photo contest, the North American Butterfly Photo Contest. (I’ll bet they also include moths, too!) This past week, Julie Shaw of Austin was announced as the winner with her ‘Juniper Hairstreak on Milkweed’ photo. Congratulations, Julie, and wow–what a photo!

Fact-based, non-profit organizations like the three mentioned in this post are always in need of support and volunteers; please consider monetary donations (end of tax year!) to the myriad scientific (and social) organizations whose dedicated professional staff and volunteers work tirelessly to achieve education and/or conservation goals. In post-truth America, where cynical, dangerous assaults on science, nature, and personal freedoms abound, it is increasingly important to counter falsehoods and misrepresentations with facts, reason, funds, and boots-on-the-ground activity.

A Sycamore Year

Posted on November 7, 2016 by Tina

It’s a year since I began the monthly profile of my American sycamore, Platanus occidentalis. A year ago, blue sky prevailed in the first photos of the sycamore and the sycamore sparkled in sunshine. Today, like much of this past week, is gray, with the addition of wet.

The sycamore drips.

This year was a (relatively) wet one here in Central Texas and also more moderate in temperatures than the previous year or so. As a result, most of the leaves remain on my sycamore, (in contrast to many seasons, by no means all), where the tree loses upwards to one-third of its leaves due to summer’s heat and seasonal drought.

Sycamore leaves have fallen to the ground,

…but blanketing of the garden,

…of pathways,

…and of work spaces,

…has barely begun. For now, the smattering of discarded foliage is a mere suggestion of the colossal coverage that is in the gardens’, and therefore, the gardener’s, near future. Multitudes of the sturdy, and if I might suggest, awkward, leaves will drop in the next two months.That means plenty of raking in December and early January.

My back aches just thinking about it.

I’ll add some leaves directly my compost bin and shred some others for the garden and compost bin, but most will end up in my yard-waste bins, picked up weekly by the diligent sanitation workers of the City of Austin.

Will the rejected leaves end up in the municipal landfill? No, they won’t–and that’s a good thing. The leaves, along with tons of other “yard waste” will be composted with biosolids from city sewage treatment, cooked and cured into an excellent garden amendment called Dillo Dirt. Since I compost, I haven’t purchased Dillo Dirt as a soil amendment in many years, but it’s great for gardeners to use for enriching poor soil and it’s safe for all gardens, including vegetable gardens.

Currently, sycamore leaf color varies–green, yellow, brown.

Once massive foliage color transformation occurs, the tree will change its leafy coverage from growing-season green, to sleepy-time yellow, with some warm toast thrown in for good measure.

I like my American sycamore.

I didn’t for a long time, simply viewing it as a high-maintenance mess, with its thick leaves and a cast of deep shade. In recent years and especially in this last year of following the monthly evolution of my American sycamore, observing arboreal nuance in ways that I hadn’t previously, I’ve grown to appreciate the handsome bark,

…and the valuable cover this large tree provides for wildlife–and for me–in the long, hot Texas summers. Rather than a tree that I think of as simply a producer of leaf-clutter, I now regard my American sycamore as an important partner in the wildlife habitat that I choose to nurture.

Thanks to Pat for hosting Tree Following, the meme for trees. Check out The Squirrelbasket to learn about trees from all over the world.

Pollinators Galore: Wildlife Wednesday, November 2016

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Tina

Having traveled for half of October and with a general lack of time for critter photo-ops when I was home, there isn’t a portfolio of day-to-day proof of the masses of buzzers and flutterers who’ve been in my gardens this past month. You’ll just have to take my word for it–this past month was epic on the pollinator front in the garden! Not only in sheer numbers, but the variety of butterflies and native bees has been a delight. Today is Wildlife Wednesday and I hope you’re set to celebrate the wild things in our gardens. Whether winged, scaled, feathered, or furred, wildlife is what makes a garden a truly living space–wildlife is what makes a garden.

It’s been quite a few years since my garden has enjoyed and benefited from the numbers of butterflies who visited in these past couple of months. The wet year, coupled with relatively mild summer temperatures, allowed for the right breeding conditions to occur and for blooming plants to thrive. Plenty of host and nectar plants are available for feeding this year and pollinators are taking advantage of the bounty. There are always more butterflies in late summer and fall, but this year I notice some that I’d never seen before.

I saw many of these pretties,

…mostly hanging out around the Blue mistflower, Conoclinium coelestinum. I knew that I’d seen a photo of this kind of butterfly–somewhere–but couldn’t recall where. After some sleuthing, I identified this species as a Common mestra, Mestra amymone. Eventually, I remembered that I’d seen photos of the mestra on the FB page of The National Butterfly Center, which is located in Mission, Texas. Primarily a butterfly of South Texas, Mexico and South America, they will stray northward–and so they did, right into my little garden! They favored the Blue mistflower, but I also saw them nectaring at the Plateau goldeneye and Turk’s cap, too.

White-Striped Longtail butterflies, Chioides albofasciatus, are a new butterfly in my garden.

They proved difficult to get clear photos of because they nectared at Yellow bell blooms which are located high on the tall shrubs and subject to every puff or blast of breeze–not conducive to great photography, Also, this critter doesn’t sit still for long.

Lucky for this gardener though, one spent casual time at a lower-to-the ground West Texas native, the Shrubby blue sage, Salvia ballotiflora and I opportunistically snagged some shots.

Yet another butterfly more common in South Texas and regions further a-field, it’s interesting that there were “tropical” butterflies in my Central Texas garden this past month.

Along with the southern visitors, the usual garden suspects were active. For example, Fiery Skippers, Hylephila phyleus, decked out in autumn colors, have been all over the Gregg’s mistflower, Conoclinium greggii, sharing nicely that pollinator favorite with many other winged things. .

A tiny native minor bee is blurry just above the Fiery Skipper.

Other fans of the Gregg’s mistflower are the many Clouded Skipper, Lerema accius butterflies which regularly tour the garden. These skippers have been active throughout the warm season this year.

Monarch butterflies, Danaus plexippus, continued their march through Texas.

Male Monarch demonstrates his scent glands (the two black dots on the hind wings).

It was a pleasure hosting them this autumn–I hope they safely arrive in Mexico and winter well there.

Black Swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes, butterflies visited daily.

Black Swallowtail on Turk’s cap.

Honeybees (from my three hives) busily worked at the bloom-heavy Plateau goldeneye, Viguiera dentata, as well as everything else, preparing their honey stores for winter.

There are still scads of the charming S outhern Pink Moth s, Pyrausta inornatalis, like this one resting on a White tropical sage. The Pinks are another species in abundance this year.

Native bees of all kinds are still working in the garden. This leaf-cutter, Megachile, was not the only native bee around, but fun to watch as she worked Plateau goldeneye blooms.

Additionally, this past month saw a boon in the Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, population.

The foliage decimation wrought on my Passion vine by caterpillars eating and eating and eating,

…and then pupating into their adult form wherever they could,

…is all the proof I need to suggest that they’re quite at home in the garden.

I don’t fret about butterfly and moth caterpillars munching on host plants because they generally don’t kill the host, munching away only to some level of plant un-attractiveness. Usually, the plants–like the Passion vine–spring back to full-leafed health quickly and in preparation for the next generation of caterpillars. Biology dictates that for the most part, the symbiotic relationship between a host plant and its insect is a healthy one, and a plant is rarely, if ever, eaten to death. From an evolutionary standpoint, it wouldn’t make sense for a host plant to die every time its insect requires reproduction.

Ain’t nature grand?!

Texan Crescents, Anthanassa texana,

….are eating their native host plants–the Branched foldwing, Dicliptera brachiata,

…as can be seen by the green sticks left from the last crop of caterpillars. No worries about the recover of the plant though, the munched Branched foldwing is already leafing out. For the remainder of autumn, more of the butterflies will nectar in the garden in clouds of fluttering brown and gold. I missed the opportunity to catch a photo of the nondescript caterpillars, though I’m always happy to get photos of a pretty face–and lovely set of wings.

Not only did butterflies and moths grace my garden, but plenty of Syrphid, or Flower flies, appeared too. For the most part, Syrphid flies haven’t been as numerous in the garden this year. But recently I’ve seen many of this particular kind, the Distinctive Syrphid, Ocyptamus fascipennis.

Syrphid on the bloom clusters of the Barbados Cherry (Malpighia glabra)

As for what attracts all of these garden gifts, If there was an award for Pollinator Plant of the Month, it would have to go to Frostweed, Verbesina virginica.

There are four individual pollinators on this particular flower cluster–and it’s not unusual to see that many pollinators simultaneously feeding on Frostweed bloom clusters. Where Frostweed grow, insect–especially pollinator–activity is abundant. Both small and large butterflies, honey and native bees, and eventually, after the blooms are spent, little finches and warblers choose this plant as a favorite food source. It, along with the Plateau goldeneye, are amazing plants for attracting and feeding wildlife. Both plants are easy to grow (Texas natives!) and attractive; both fit especially well in a woodland garden or at the back of a perennial bed.

These beetles enjoyed one particular group of Frostweed. I never quite figured out what kind of beetle they are, but I’m leaning toward an identification as some kind of blister beetle.

The adults were definitely nectaring on the flowers,

…though the nymphs congregated along fruit or foliage, just hanging out it seemed. Typical teenagers, I guess.

At any rate, the beetles didn’t appear to damage the plants, so I left them alone.

A few beetles visited the Mexican honeysuckle, Justicia spicigera.

Like the beetles on the Frostweed, these didn’t appear to harm the honeysuckle foliage or flowers.

This month wasn’t all about pollinators though–this predator Crab spider was clearly waiting to snatch something smaller than herself for a meal.

And this Hydrophilidae, a Water scavenger beetle, was loitering on a spent Garlic chives bloom.

Not quite sure what this one was up to, but I think he’s a little menacing looking. He neither spit nor lunged at me, so I suppose he’s okay and we can be friends, or at the very least, co-workers in the garden.

Did wildlife visit your garden this past month? Please post for November Wildlife Wednesday. Share the rare or mundane, funny or fascinating, beneficial or harmful critters you encounter. When you comment on my post, please remember to leave a link to your Wildlife Wednesday post so readers can enjoy a variety of garden wildlife observations.