Butterfly Meditation

Watching butterflies is like an exercise of meditation. I could sit all day and watch the little leps fly from one food source to the next. Lately, it seems that butterflies are everywhere and when the birding is slow, they always seem to know and settle down on a nearby flower. Or is it that when the birding is slow I actually pay more attention to these little insects? Regardless, I am glad for the other winged animal to entertain me and create a sense of peace in my space. Don't forget to slow down and enjoy all the little things when you're outside, you'll be delighted by what you may find!

Zebra Longwing Roost

This is the first Zebra Longwing roost I've ever seen and I almost walked right by it.  Luckily Emily noticed the butterflies and I snapped a few photos.  It was seen right off the cypress boardwalk at Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.

Zebra Longwing Close-ups

I snapped these shots outside of Everglades National Park recently.  Zebra Longwing Butterfly or Zebra Heliconian (Heliconius charithonia) is the state butterfly of Florida and one of my favorite to see when out and about. They live up to 3 months as an adult and roost together at night.  Come back tomorrow to see a roost that I found at the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge.

Shark Valley Biking and Birding

Shark Valley is an extension of Everglades National Park.  For some reason I have never had the pleasure of checking it out but on our little farm stay weekend Emily and I brought our bikes for a nice exploration. 

We biked, we birded, we butterflied, we watched the big puffy clouds drift over the blue sky.  It was a nice day and we had a lot of fun on the trail.  I am ready to go back when the weather is even cooler!  The best bird was hearing multiple Marsh Wrens and seeing a huge flock of Tree Swallows.  The butterfly diversity was pretty good too with some nice sulphurs and Zebra Longwings.  We sat on a bench and watched the butterflies for a good time.  The only thing missing was lunch.  Next time we'll make better plans and stay longer.

If you have a bike then you should check out Shark Valley. It's such a nice trail and the ride is easy going. I highly recommend this trip if you want to see an up-close view of the Glades.

Miami Blue Butterfly: Is It Too Late?

It looks like the federal government is going to put an emergency action plan together for the rare Miami Blue butterfly.  Read the article here on the Palm Beach Post blog to get the full scoop.

I'm glad that some much needed protection is finally coming through for this species but I wonder if we waited too long.  From what I know the population is very sparse and restricted to select islands in the Florida Keys.  I hope that this measure isn't coming too late.

Phone photo: Atalas

Most of the Atala butterfly larvae are in chrysalis now. This photo was taken in the parking lot at Green Cay.

Atala Butterflies Emerge

Before our inside Atalas starting hatching the larvae outside started all emerging a week earlier. It was a heyday in the parking lot coonties for Atalas. I loved watching this once rare species thrive at Green Cay.



Each new adult emerged and then dried its wings before fluttering about. Atalas stay relatively close to the host plant and were easily seen in the noon day sun. We found scores of butterflies hiding in the shade as well.

If you want to start liking butterflies, this is a good one to fall in love with. The striking orange abdomen is offset with dark wings and blue glittery spots. I promise you, it was hard to walk away from the emergence event and go back to work.

Lucky for me, I knew that since the outside butterflies were emerging that our inside ones should start as well. They were exactly a week behind schedule but I'm sure that's due to the cold AC temperatures we keep.

If you want to see some Atalas then Green Cay may be your best spot. I've heard this year's crop seems to be slim due to our weather patterns over the winter months. Now I need to just go out there and find some Atala eggs and the cycle will be complete!

Atala Butterflies

Sometimes you get a phone call at the nature center that makes your day and thanks to Carrie I was really happy when she called and said she had a whole mess of Atala Butterfly larvae to give the nature center.

Atala Butterflies, Eumaeu atala, are a colorful hairstreak that is limited in the United States to just Southeastern Florida. Once not long ago their population was almost entirely wiped out due to habitat destruction of the host plant, coonties were sweeped clean when developers came in. Now not only are coonties being replanted across the area but so the butterflies continue to thrive.

The larvae are bright orange with yellow spots and for a caterpillar I found them a little on the gooey side. They eat coontie leaves that are young shoots when they first hatch and as they grown they favor more developed leaves.

We decided to release 4 dozen Atala Butterfly larvae on our parking lot coonties and 5 or 6 larvae we brought into the nature center to ranch. They just started hatching this week so you will have to come back to see the results!

Mariposa Road

Monday night I attended a lecture by Dr. Robert M. Pyle featuring his new book Mariposa Road: The First Butterfly Big Year. Bob gave excellent readings from his new book and highlighted a few of the adventures of his Big Year along the way. I have already started reading and so far, I think it's going to be a great read full of mistaken identities, hunting for larvae, and zig-zagging travels across the U.S.

For those that know Bob, you are familiar with his good sense of humor, his quirky-named butterfly catching instruments, and his friendly demeanor. I hope that at 61 years old I am just as adventuresome and carefree as Bob Pyle. I don't know many people that would convert their old Honda car into a mobile tent and hit the road in search of butterflies so he has my great admiration for this feat. I will let you know how I enjoy Mariposa Road but don't wait on me, the book was officially released on Monday!

You may already be familiar with his other titles but if not here is a sample: Audubon's Field Guide to North American Butterflies, Chasing Monarchs, and Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide. Be sure to add Mariposa Road to your reading list, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Two Butterflies, Two Parks, One Plant

The Common Buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis, is poisonous to humans but it absolutely ushers in the butterflies to sip from it's pin cushion flower head. This plant of the Madder family grows across the United States but in my encounters it's always near some swampy land or river. Recently while in Riverbend Park and Blue Spring State Park, I saw Common Buttonbushes growing on the riverbanks. And both of the plant had butterflies, though of different species.

The butterfly I saw at Riverbend was a Palamedes Swallowtail, Papilio palamedes. This large swallow tail is one of the largest butterflies in the United States. The only swallowtail that rivals it in size it's the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio gaucus. Below is a few shots of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail seen form the headwaters of Blue Springs.

Swallowtails are relatives to the Birdwings, the largest butterflies in the world. Not all swallowtails have "tails" but most of them do have them. Both of these large butterflies were easy to see and I followed them way into the distance. Summer may be slow when it comes to birding but at least I have the butterflies.