Even though you’re taking your life into your hands just by getting on route 6, July is nevertheless one of my favorite times of year, because it’s the beginning of shorebird migration. Arctic nesting sandpipers and plovers are already heading south and turning up on Cape beaches and mud flats.
But I’m not talking about that this week, because there’s another reason I love July, and that’s butterflies! Yes, I know it’s called the Bird Report, but you’ll get over it. Butterflies have wings and are good looking, so what’s the difference?
When you talk about butterflies, many people think of the Monarch, the flagship species of the group. And with good reason – much has been written about the plight of Monarch populations in recent years, and their life history is staggering: individual Monarchs from the last of their several annual generations must find their way from Canada and the northern tier of US states to cool spruce forests in the mountains of central Mexico, where they spend the winter.
But there is a lot more out there than just Monarchs, and becoming aware of them requires changing your perception of what a butterfly looks like. The Monarch is a relative giant among butterflies; most species are several times smaller. So adjust your search image and soon you’ll be noticing the tiny, bright orange American Copper and Pearl Crescent, or the subtle beauty of the multiple species of tiny hairstreaks and skippers that may be visiting your yard. Getting out butterflying is a great way to become a better observer of nature; to start noticing the intricate relationships between animals and plants. For a great example of this, check the website to see a photo that I captured in Provincetown of an interaction between a rare orchid, a spider, and an unfortunate butterfly.
If you’re like me and you like perennial gardening, there are plenty of garden plants great for attracting butterflies. Milkweeds, verbenas, agastaches, coneflowers, bee balm, asters, coreopsis, goldenrods, and many others will bring the butterflies a-knocking. To learn what’s best, do what I do: spend time hanging around the nurseries at different times of year to watch closely which flowers are attracting bees and butterflies, and buy those. But before you buy those perennials, ask whether they’ve been treated with neonicotinoid pesticides, and avoid those that have. These systemic pesticides are in every part of the plant, including the pollen and nectar that bees and butterflies are ingesting, and they have been blamed, in part, for widespread declines in bees.
More important even than nectar sources are the larval host plants, meaning the plants the caterpillars eat, and you can help butterflies by leaving them in and around your yard. Some of the most important are various oaks, wild black cherry, native grasses like Little Bluestem, and innumerable herbs that most would pass off as “weeds.” Even Stinging Nettle is a host plant for the beautiful Red Admiral butterfly.
To hear more on this topic, which I rarely shut up about this time of year, I am giving a butterfly talk and walk at Wellfleet Bay sanctuary on Friday. We have recorded over 50 species of butterfly at the sanctuary over the years, and many should be flying this week. There are still a few spaces left, so I hope to see you there. I promise I will stop talking, eventually.