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The Poweshiek Skipper Project |
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Lake Hawthorne ©Rayford
Ratcliff
Introduction Information about the butterfly
O.
poweshiek, Legacy butterfly Legacy
of Chief Poweshiek
H.W. Parker's writings Von Blixum's Heroic Experiment
Iowa's
biological diversity
The Poweshiek Skipper Project Goals
of the project
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Butterfly Forecast for Central Iowa October 1, 2010 to Next Spring
If the days are rainy and cool the butterflies might not die off but we will not be able to see them. We may get a streak of cool cloudy days with no butterflies and then be rewarded with a sunny day day and high numbers. The butterflies that migrate are mostly gone now, but we may see some stragglers. Those include the monarch, Danaus plexippus, painted lady, Vanessa cardui, red admiral, V. atalanta, and the common buckeye, Juninia coenia. We should still see pearl crescents, Phyciodes tharos, (above and to the right) for a while, as well as black swallowtails, Papilio polyxenes, cabbage whites, Pieris rapae, fiery skippers, Hylephila phyleus, peck's skippers, Polites peckius, tawny edged skipper, Polites themistocles, and sachems, Atalopedes campestris. Orange sulfurs, Colias eurytheme, (below and to the left) and especially clouded sulfurs, C. philodice, can hang around even after a pretty good frost.
Overall, 2010 has been a very good year for butterflies. I got record numbers in the surveys I did, although I was not able to conduct as many surveys as I would have liked. The summer of 2010 did have a downside, however. This was the second summer in a row in which no Poweshiek skippers were seen in Iowa. They seem to have disappeared from a lot of their recent range. I have information that they were not seen in Minnesota or South Dakota this summer either. With this we have suffered a great loss. Other prairie obligate butterflies have disappeared as well, but Oarisma poweshiek is special. I think it should be designated as Iowa's Legacy butterfly. If any of you has information that is different from mine please feel free to let me know. I would sure like the story to have a better ending. I have enjoyed doing this forecast this year. I make no predictions for next year. I will keep a blog at http://www.therousedbear.wordpress.com. I would invite you to check in on that occasionally. When butterflies dream, do they dream of their youth? Like when they were caterpillars? Until next year. Harlan Ratcliff |
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September 16-30, 2010 This summer was very good for butterflies. If I was
to put a name on it I might just call it the year of the buckeye. Colias
sulfurs--orange and clouded sulfurs had unusually high numbers, but their
numbers are always high. In late September we will continue to see the black swallowtails, Papilio polyxenes, and the occasional eastern tiger swallowtail, P. glaucus or giant swallowtail, P. cresphontes. These beautiful butterflies can be quite ragged by this time of year. I also expect to continue to see viceroys, Limenitis archippus, and red-spotted purples (now called red-spotted admirals), L. arethemis until we get a frost. Cabbage whites, Pieris rapae and clouded and orange sulfurs, Colias philodice and C. eurytheme will be quite common. Question mark butterflies, Polygonia interrogationis and eastern commas, P. comma will hang around the wooded areas. I was quite surprised to see a very high number of grass skippers the other day. I track the butterflies I see when I take a walk during my lunch break and that day was the first I can remember when there were high numbers of butterflies and the skippers outnumbered the "true butterflies." Peck's skippers, Polites peckius as shown below to the right, were particularly numerous with about half a dozen zipping around two or three heads of red clover.
You should look for silver-spotted skippers, Epargyreus clarus, for a few more weeks. A southern import which becomes common in the last part of the summer and early fall is the Sachem, Atalopedes campestris. I have seen tawney-edged skippers, Polites themistocles, least skippers, Ancyloxpha numitor, and Delaware skippers, Anatrytone logan all in pretty good numbers in the last few days. Pearl crescents, Phyciodes tharos, and silvery checkerspots, Chlosyne nycteis should still be around in certain areas. Also watch for gorgone checkerspots, C. gorgone--they are a lot less common, but may still be around. Little yellows, Pyrisitia lisa, will be numerous for a little while longer, then will disappear. Watch for the similar-looking but slightly larger sleepy orange, Abaeis nicippe. A number of people have reported seeing and photographing them in Iowa this year, but I have not been among that fortunate number. This is a great time of year in Iowa. The butterflies will still be around in pretty good numbers but the days fly by fast. Before you know it the summer-like days will be gone. Enjoy them while you can. Wishing the best to all of you... Harlan Ratcliff |
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September 1-15, 2010 September can be a very good month for butterflies, or it can be kind of poor. It really depends on the weather.
Late summer/early fall rains have a tendency to last longer--often all day. The sun does not come out soon enough to warm things up. If we get fall rains that last all day we will not get a lot of butterflies. If we don't have rain, or have thunderstorms rather than all day rains we will have lots of butterflies. Watch flowers for the small grass skippers this month. Some pretty good ones can show up. Grass skippers are a group of butterflies which included the fiery skipper, Hylephila phyleus, shown at right. Grass skippers can be identified by the tendency to rest with their hind wings and forewings at different angles, in a pose that might remind you of a jet fighter aircraft. In normal years we will get peak populations of orange and clouded sulfurs, Colias eurytheme and C. philodice, in September. This year we had huge populations outbreaks in July and the numbers have tapered off. I would expect that we will continue to see them, but probably in lower numbers than we had earlier. Some of the migratory butterflies may start to show up in high numbers suddenly. Common buckeyes, Junio coenia, have been very numerous all summer. Monarchs, Danaus plexippus, seem to have high populations right now, as do red admirals, Vanessa atalanta. I have seen a number of painted ladies, V. cardui. They may show up in high numbers soon as well.
One recently reported sighting is a white M hairstreak, Parrhasius m-album. This butterfly is rarely seen in Iowa. It looks like the gray hairstreak below, but with a small white spot near the center of the leading edge of the hind wing. Above, it is a brilliant blue color while the gray hairstreak is, as its name suggests, gray. We should continue to see question mark butterflies, Polygonia interrogationis, eastern commas, P. comma, and mourning cloaks, Nymphalis antiopa, as they prepare to over-winter in Iowa as adults. Little yellows, Pyrisitia lisa, will continue to be quite common in areas where partridge pea is found. Also look for the rarer sleepy orange, Abaeis nicippe, in the same habitats. Dainty sulfur, Nathalis iole, is found in some habitats in Iowa--especially in sandy areas. Where it is found it can be quite common. We should continue to see some of the larger butterflies--eastern tiger swallowtails, black swallowtails, giant swallowtails, Papilio glaucus, P. polyxenes, and P. cresphontes, great spangled fritillaries, Speyeria cybele, red spotted purples, Limenitis arthemis, and viceroys, L. archippus, on into the fall, at least until the first frost. The days are getting shorter. People are getting busier. With school starting, sometimes other priorities get placed upon us. But if you can, get outside and enjoy the butterflies. Do it now because it might be a while before you get the chance again. Harlan Ratcliff |
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Butterfly Forecast for Central Iowa August 16-31, 2010 We did have huge numbers of butterflies,
then we got some nights with rainfalls of several inches each night.
Now the numbers have gone down noticeably.We
don't need to worry, though. There are still plenty of butterflies. Extreme heat events and extreme rainfalls seem to knock down the butterflies. I think these events affect mostly the adult populations, however, and they recover quickly. We should continue to see good numbers of butterflies until the season is over. I did a butterfly survey on August 8th, and saw 74 monarchs (Danaus plexippus) in the 45 minutes of survey. Actually, there were more than that--I walked in an area with small black walnut and mulberry trees where there were more individuals than I could count. My favorite flowers this time of year are thistles. I realize that most people do not like thistles, but they are great butterfly flowers. They seem to attract most species of skippers and many of the largest butterflies, such as this eastern tiger swallowtail, Papilio glaucus, shown to the right. Look for black swallowtails, P. polyxenes, giant swallowtails, P. cresphontes, great spangled fritillaries, Speyeria cybele, clouded sulfurs, Colias philodice, orange sulfurs, C. eurytheme, and other true butterflies on thistle flowers. Skippers like the Delaware skipper, Anatrytone logan, Peck's skipper, Polites pecius, sachem, Atalopedes campestris, and fiery skipper, Hylephila phyles, will also visit thistles. Most perch on top of the flower and obtain nectar from around their feet. A silver-spotted skipper, Epargyreus clarus, will perch on the side of the flower, then will extend its proboscis up over the top to get at the nectar. Small
brown pearl crescents, Phyciodes tharos, will be extremely common, but you should look for
the slightly larger silvery checkerspot, Chlosyne nycteis and the intermediate-sized gorgone
checkerspot, C. gorgone, (shown below and to the left.) Common buckeyes, Junio coenia, continue to be quite numerous this year, as are red admirals, Vanessa atalanta. Keep an eye on the painted ladies, V. cardui. They can have very noticeable population spikes. In 2003, there was population burst of painted ladies starting in late August and reaching a peak in late September. The peak was so high that about 1/3 of all the butterflies I counted for that year were painted ladies (they normally are about 1% of the butterflies). In 2007 I did not count any painted ladies at all. Look for little yellow, Pyrisitia lisa and sleepy orange, Abaeis nicippe, anywhere there is a patch of partridge pea. The dainty sulfur, Nathalis iole, is not common in most habitats, but may be found in large numbers on sandy areas. There should still be a couple of months left in the butterfly season. However, I am starting to see the signs of fall. We have a couple of buckeye trees in our yard--they always lose their leaves first, and they are bare of leaves right now. Some of the other trees are starting to lose leaves or to turn color a little bit. We live in an area where there are distinct seasons. Each has its own attraction. But I really hate to see the butterflies go. Enjoy them now because they will soon be gone. Harlan Ratcliff |
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August 1-15, 2010 This is a great time to be watching butterflies. Butterfly numbers are approaching their peak and the diversity is still very high. This year is turning out to be one of the better years for butterflies in recent memory. The butterflies that migrate into the state from areas to the south have particularly high numbers this year.
A new butterfly, the funereal duskywing, Erynnis funeralis, has recently been documented for Iowa. I would tell you the story, but Aaron Brees tells it so much better than I can right here: http://exploringiowa.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/southern-invasion Because of the numbers of immigrant butterfly species this year, now is the time to look for some of the butterflies which have not been documented for Iowa, but which have been found in adjacent states, and sometimes in adjacent counties. Some time ago, I saves screen shots of the distribution maps for a number of butterfly species that could be found in Iowa, but had not yet. The source for these was the precursor to the web site now known as: http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ Here are some of the top prospects--not currently documented for Iowa, but quite possible. Swallowtails: old world and two-tailed swallowtails, Papillio machaon and P. multicaudata are found in the western United States and their ranges include western Nebraska. I think they are possible but not highly likely. Whites and sulfurs: The air above Iowa is full of yellow and white butterflies right now. There are a few that have not been documented here that could be possible, including lyside sulfur, Kricogonia lyside, orange-barred sulfur, Phoebis philea, mimosa yellow, Pyrisitia nise, Florida white, Appias drusilla, and Mexican yellow, Eurema mexicana. Gossamer wings: I think that western pygmy blue, Brephidium exile, and red-banded hairstreak, Calycopis cercops are the most likely to show up here. Brushfoot butterflies: Butterflies that are found in the south and west that might show up here include the Texan crescent, Anthanassa texana, bordered patch, Chlosine lacina, phaon crescent, Phyciodes phaon, and the zebra heliconian, Heliconius charithonia. You should consider yourself particularly lucky if you see or can document any of those butterflies, but this might be the best year to find them for a while. I have looked for the phaon crescent unsuccessfully for some years now--it uses fogfruit (below left with the checkered sulfur) as a caterpillar host plant.
Skippers we should see include the silver-spotted skipper, Epargyreus clarus, common checkered skipper, Pyrgus communis, least skipper, Ancyloxpha numitor, peck's skipper, Polites peckius and the dun skipper, Euphyes vestris. Seasonal immigrants among the skippers include the fiery skipper, Hylephila phyleus, sachem, Atalopedes campestris, and zabulon skippers, Poanes zabolon. Seasonal immigrants among the "true butterflies" have been especially abundant this year. Red admirals, Vanessa atalanta, common buckeyes, Junonio coenia, monarchs, Danaus plexippus, and painted ladies, V. cardui have all been common. If you have any patches of partridge pea you should see the little yellow, Pyrisitia lisa, in high numbers. Also be on the lookout for a slightly larger and similar-looking butterfly, the sleepy orange, Abaeis nicippe. Checkered whites, Pontia protodice, like the butterfly in the photograph on the left are likely to show up. It seems that summer passes by too fast. People get awfully busy this time of year and may not take the time to get outside. The heat does get oppressive at times. However, it is well worth the time and effort it takes to watch the butterflies. So get outside and get it done. Harlan Ratcliff P.S: I have recently started a blog that you might like: http://therousedbear.wordpress.com/ Enjoy! |
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July 16-31, 2010 Butterfly numbers continue to be high. Two of the most common butterflies of Iowa, the clouded sulfur, Colias philodice and the orange sulfur, C. eurytheme, have reached very high populations and most other species are quite common as well.
Red admirals, Vanessa atalanta, are putting on quite a show right now. Especially late in the evening, shortly before sunset they chase each other in tight circles of two or three individuals. Then one will perch in a sunny location on a tree trunk or on the side of a building. Question mark butterflies, Polygonia interrogationis are making their presence known right now. Question marks show a strong seasonal dimorphism--that is, their colors and patterns change quite a bit based upon when they emerge as adults. The individuals you see now have very dark, almost black upper hindwings, and there is a strong pattern to their lower wings (see the photo below and to the left). Forms which hatch out later will have a light orange color to their upper hind wings and will be a fairly uniform light brown below. The lower wings will have a pattern, but it is not so strongly marked and it makes the butterfly look like a dead leaf. I predicted early in the year that most of the migratory butterflies would be missing from the landscape this year. I am happy to report that I was wrong. I have seen painted ladies, Vanessa cardui, monarchs, Dannus plexippus, little yellows, Pyrisitia lisa, red admirals, Vanessa atalanta, and checkered whites, Pontia protodice, in numbers that are way above what I expected given the unusually cold winter we had.
The silver-spotted skipper, Epargyreus clarus, should start showing up about now. It will feed on the large thistle blooms by landing on the side of the flower and sticking its proboscis on top of the flower. Delaware, Anatrytone logan, dun, Euphyes vestris, and Peck's, Polites peckius skippers should be present although I have not seen many of them yet this year. Normally, we would be seeing large numbers of eastern-tailed blues, Cupido amyntula right now. I have seen some, but not in the numbers I would expect. Most of the blue butterflies around now are summer azures, Celastrina neglecta. We should continue to see gray hairstreaks, Strymon melinus, from now to the end of the summer. Bronze coppers, Lycaena hyllus, and American coppers, L. phlaeas are generally difficult to find but are quite colorful once they are located. Of course, keep your eyes open for the rare stuff, too. Now is a good time to find it. Enjoy the summer while you can. It flies by too quickly. Harlan Ratcliff
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July 1-15, 2010 This is turning out to be a pretty good year for butterflies. The numbers I am getting from surveys are well ahead of most past years results, and the total numbers have already surpassed the entire total for last year.
I was lucky enough to attend the citizen science workshop that was sponsored by Grinnell College at the Conard Environmental Research Area (CERA) last week. CERA has a number of prairie and savannah areas which are managed by a wide variety of techniques, and the butterflies were thick there. Gray coppers and American Ladies, Vanessa virginiensis, were especially common. The citizen scientist insect workshop was a wonderful event introducing the study of insects to a wide variety of people. I know I enjoyed it and I got the impression that most if not all of the other people there enjoyed it as well. Watch any of the milkweed species for some of the rarer butterflies that show up in July. Butterfly milkweed is especially good, but so are common and swamp milkweeds. There you may find a number of hairstreaks: coral, Satyrium titus, Acadian, S. acadica, Edwards, S. edwardsii, banded, S. calanus, and gray, Strymon melinus. There is a second generation of juniper hairstreaks, Callophrys gryneus, that shows up in July (although I have personally never seen them in July). Many of the skippers will also visit milkweed species. These include the least, Ancyloxpha numitor, Delaware, Anatrytone logan, Peck's, Polites peckius, crossline, P. origenes, and dun skippers, Euphyes vestris. You will also see the larger butterflies--great spangled fritillary, Speryia cybele, monarch, Danaes plexippus, regal fritillary, S. idalia, (if you find a good prairie where they can be found) and swallowtails--black, Papilio polyxenes, tiger, P. glaucus, and giant, P. cresphontes.
I am happy to report that I saw a number of little yellow butterflies, Pyristia lisa, at CERA. The little yellow is a butterfly which migrates into Iowa and is normally found in fairly good numbers. However, this butterfly has been almost non-existent in Iowa's landscape in the last two years. It is good to see it back. Sometimes when considering the butterflies that are here now or should show up soon it is easy to ignore the most common. I have seen huge numbers of the clouded and orange sulfurs, Colias philodice and C. eurytheme, lately. Red admirals, Vanessa atalanta, continue to be quite common as well. I have seen question mark and eastern comma butterflies, Polygonia interrogationis and P. comma recently in some numbers (although they are never as common as the sulfurs). Monarchs continue to be seen fairly frequently and I think their numbers will continue to increase. One butterfly that is normally extremely common is the eastern tailed-blue, Cupido comyntas. While this butterfly goes through several generations and may still become common this year, it seems to me that the numbers of this species are lower than I would normally expect. Keep watching the butterflies. The show continues to change but will still get better for a few more weeks. Harlan Ratcliff |
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June 16-30, 2010 The days will be longest during this time period. A
number of butterflies will make their first or second appearances of the
year, including the Poweshiek skipper, Oarisma poweshiek, which
inspired this web site. O. poweshiek was described by Henry W. Parker from thirty-three specimens, all but two of them male, which were found near Grinnell, Iowa on June 21, 1870. Henry Parker was a remarkable man--a published poet and author, a very competent professor, and a popular preacher. However, I think the butterfly was actually discovered by his wife, Helen Fitch Parker. I have a number of reasons for thinking this and intend to develop a few pages on her equally remarkable life some time in the future. But you folks will have to wait a while for that. To the right is a banded hairstreak, Satyrium calanus. This butterfly has one generation per year and can be found in small numbers from about the middle of June until about the middle of July. The numbers are usually small, but we did have one show up on the shirt of a participant at the Loess Hills Prairie Seminar that was held in the first week of June. I also saw a number of them last year by observing the flowers of common milkweed. Common milkweed flowers form sort of a ball from a distance, and if you look at them closely you can often see something that breaks up that spherical outline. That is often a butterfly, and it can be a hairstreak. Coral hairstreaks, Satyrium titus, Acadian hairstreaks, S. acadica, hickory hairstreaks, S. caryaevorum, Edward's hairstreaks, S. edwardsii, and striped hairstreaks, S. liparops all have their peak flight times during this period. All are quite rare--in fact I haven't seen them all and I have seen most only a few times. But when you find them, particularly if they are drinking nectar on one of the milkweed species they can be present in small numbers. Often you will see several on the same flower.
The very charming hackberry emperor, Asterocampa celtis is making an appearance now. This butterfly is charming because of its tendency to land on people. At the Loess Hills Prairie seminar, there were a number of hackberry emperors which landed on the participants. The before mentioned banded hairstreak and a magnificent newly-emerged great spangled fritillary, Speyeria cybele made quite a trifecta of butterflies landing on people. If you get to a prairie area which has prairie or birdsfoot violet, look for the magnificent regal fritillary, Speyeria idalia. It is a large dark brown and orange butterfly with silvery white triangular markings on its outer hindwing. This is usually considered a prairie obligate butterfly and it seems to be making a comeback after a setback in its numbers a few years ago. In prairies of northern Iowa look for the aphrodite fritillary, S. aphrodite which is smaller but still magnificantly colored. Management issues:
The major portion of the Sylvan Runkle Preserve was burned about a week before the seminar. The burn is what is called a "prescribed burn", which means they did it on purpose for specific management goals. There is a long history of managing prairies with fire and prairies did historically encounter fire--in fact fire created the prairie in a large part. In a "prescribed burn", the upper parts of plants are burned and must re-grow from the roots. This one was timed to favor warm-season grasses over cold-season grasses--the idea being to remove some of the invasive species and leave the native prairie species. Some invertebrates live underground and can survive the prairie burns. A large number, including most butterfly caterpillars, live above ground and are killed by the fire. They must repopulate from the areas where the fire did not reach. When we had landscape scale prairies even a large fire would leave refuges for the butterflies to survive and the butterflies would survive. We no longer have landscape scale prairies--we have postage stamp prairies in the middle of parking lots for corn and soybeans. If all of a particular butterfly are eliminated from an isolated prairie area there may be none left within a reasonable area to repopulate the prairie. Burning also eliminates the dead grasses that are an important structural part of the habitat. For some prairie specialist species, a burned prairie is not a suitable habitat until a number of years after the burn. I think that there are three lessons that should be learned from this burn. First, the people who are managing the preserve should take into account the social value of the Loess Hills Prairie Seminar. It has been going on for well over thirty years and if you look at any tourism brochure for Iowa you will see iconic photos of the event. The participants at this year's event seemed to adapt well to the burn, but past activities have focused on the plants and animals of the hills, which were pretty much gone or recovering this year. Secondly, while the loess hills is a large landscape and may therefore have the ability to survive prescribed fire with the invertebrates intact, it should be acknowledged that the prairie obligate butterflies have disappeared from many fire managed prairies, including some of the largest in Iowa. Prescribed fire is a lead suspect in the disappearance. Mistakes must be acknowledged and not repeated. Finally, the prairies should be managed with a plan that does not have as a default assumption that the prairie will be burned. Prescribed burning should be part of the tool kit, but should not be the only tool (or even the favorite tool) in the tool kit. I hope my observations are not taken as criticism of the IDNR employees. They are hard-working, professional, dedicated employees and many go above and beyond what is expected of them. I am just hoping for better communication between the invertebrate folks and the land managers, and within the organizations. Enjoy the butterflies. Harlan Ratcliff |
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June 1-15, 2010
Butterfly numbers usually peak in September, and there is sort of a dip in the numbers in late May and early June. Early June can have high diversity but usually has fairly low total numbers. This is just for comparison--results vary by year and by habitat. While butterfly numbers are usually low this time of year, we are having a pretty good outbreak of red admirals, Vanessa cardui, this year. I predicted that the numbers of migratory species such as the red admiral would be low this year because of the cold weather that hit most of the U.S., including the southern states. Looks like I missed that one. While I would not consider it an outbreak, I have seen a few individuals of the meadow fritillary, Boloria bellona (see below left) this year. This butterfly was fairly common a few years ago, then seemed to disappear recently. It may be making a comeback.
Look in wetland areas for bronze coppers, Lycaena hyllus. A brood of summer azure, Celastrina neglecta, has recently hatched. Within a few days the eastern tailed-blues, Cupido comyntas will show up in significant numbers. I have seen a very small number of monarchs, Danaus plexippus. Their numbers may be low right now but they can recover quickly, and hopefully we will be seeing large numbers by the end of the summer. Painted ladies, Vanessa cardi, and buckeyes, Junonia coenia, have similar habits to the red admiral--so far their numbers seem to be very low, however. So get outside and enjoy the wildlife. A pretty good selection of butterflies can be found now, and their numbers will soon increase. You don't have a good excuse for missing them. Harlan Ratcliff
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May 16-31, 2010
The male eastern tailed-blue, shown to the right, is a brilliant, somewhat dark blue from above. The female is usually a brownish gray. Common butterflies during this time period include clouded sulfurs, Colias philodice, black swallowtails, Papilio polyxenes, summer azures, Celastrina neglecta, painted ladies, Vanessa cardui, and red admirals, V. atalanta. Eastern tiger swallowtails, Papilia glaucus, and giant swallowtails, P. cresphontes, are usually not common but they are large and make quite an impression when seen. You might see bronze coppers, Lycaena hyllus, in areas near wetlands in Iowa. While they are not large and they are not common, they are colorful enough that you are likely to notice them. Some of the smaller grass skippers
can become pretty common now, and they are quite entertaining to
watch. The hobomok skipper, Poanes hobomok, makes its only appearance of the year for
about two weeks in late May and early June. Watch for it in beds of
wild or domestic flowers. I commonly see it in a patch of the alien
dame's rocket that became established from a department store mix of
wildflower seeds. (I will save the lecture about the value of native
plants over non-natives for another time and place). Peck's skipper,
Polites peckius, is, like the hobomok skipper, a small brown butterfly with bright yellow
patches. Watch for them both in similar places now. Peck's
skipper will also make an appearance later in the summer. A large and colorful butterfly shown to the left is called the red-spotted purple in some books and the red-spotted admiral in others. It has the scientific name Limenitis arthemis. Another butterfly called the white admiral is also this species, and it looks very different. While the white admiral is found in Iowa, it is quite rare in this part of the state and we will mostly see the red-spotted purple form. Where the two meet they will mate and form intermediates. There are other insects out there that can be observed now, most notably the dragonflies and damselflies. There is an excellent web site that lists and describes Iowa's species, and it can be found at: http://www.iowaodes.com/ Ann Johnson put this web site together a few years ago, and it still sort of sets the standard of what a good website should look like. Lots of high-quality information. Also, I would recommend the Insects of Iowa web site at: http://www.insectsofiowa.com/ There is a comprehensive list of Iowa's lepidoptera, and a huge number of photos. Jim Durbin has put a huge amount of work into this, in collaboration with others. The butterfly section has some spectacular photographs and there are photos of other insect groups as well. The butterflies are out now. Numbers aren't as high as they will be later, but the diversity is excellent. Get out and enjoy them. Harlan Ratcliff |
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May 1-15, 2010
The butterfly you can see to the right has to be one of my favorites. This is the common sootywing, Pholisora catullus. This really can't be called a rare butterfly, but it is not too common either. It can be found in a variety of settings, including on urban lawns. It is small, but it presents quite a picture when seen in the bright sunlight. The wings are very dark black, as is its body, contrasting with the very white markings under its belly and the white spots on its wings. The word that best describes this butterfly is "vivid". A number of butterflies should be flying now, including the eastern tiger swallowtail, Papilio glaucus, and black swallowtail, P. polyxenes, cabbage whites, Pieris rapae, clouded and orange sulfurs, Colias philodice and C. eurytheme spring and summer azures, Celastrina ladon and C. neglecta, bronze coppers, Lycaena hyllus, painted ladies, American ladies, and red admirals, Vanessa cardui, V. virginiensis, and V. atalanta. Dr. Royce Bitzer of the red admiral migration project http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mariposa/homepage.html made the observation that this year seems to have the makings of a very good year for red admirals--my observations agree with his. Skippers that show up now (in addition to the common sootywing) include the silver-spotted skipper, Epargyreus clarus, peck's skipper, Polites peckius,and hobomok skipper, Poanes hobomok.
So get outside and enjoy the nice weather. Find some flowers to smell. Find a place where the frogs are calling. Listen to the birds. Get muddy. Get off the path. Act like a kid again. Watch the butterflies, dragonflies and tiger beetles. Look for fireflies at night. Find a place in the country where you can see the stars. Enjoy life all you can. It's too short not to. Harlan Ratcliff |
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April 16-30, 2010
I saw my first wild butterfly of 2010 on April 5th. It was a cabbage white. It was a great thrill after such a long winter to see any butterflies at all. The butterfly to the right is probably a summer azure, Celestrina neglecta, based on when I took the photo. However, the spring azure, C. ladon looks pretty much identical and may even be the same species. We should be seeing C. ladon now. Normally you won't get this view because they have a tendency to fly high up into the trees. This one is a male--females have more of a black border. We should also be seeing cabbage whites, Pieris rapae, black swallowtails, Papilio polyxenes,and clouded sulfurs, Colias philodice, which are some of the common butterflies that over-winter in non-adult stages in Iowa. A number of butterflies do not spend the winter in Iowa, but migrate south in the winter, and then their offspring migrate back north in the summer. These include the well-known monarch, Danaus plexippus, but also include the painted lady, Vanessa cardui, red admiral (below left), V. atalanta American lady, V. virginiensis, and common buckeye, Junonia coenia. Monarch populations have reportedly been greatly reduced this year by colder than normal weather in Mexico and populations of the other migrating butterflies could have been hurt as well. April is a little early for monarchs in Iowa but we should be seeing the others by the end of April.
The butterflies that over-wintered as adults, which include mourning cloak, Nymphalis antiopa, eastern comma, Polygonia comma, question mark, P. interrogationis, and the tortoiseshells, Nymphalis milberti and N. vaualbum will still be around in small numbers. Of course, the woodlands of Iowa have a whole show of spring ephemeral wildflowers going on now, and you should not miss that either. So get outside and enjoy the weather. Look for the butterflies. Listen to the birds and frogs. Notice the smells. Watch the other insects too--they put on a pretty good show as well. Don't miss out on nature's spring show. Harlan Ratcliff |
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April 1-15, 2010
Butterflies are starting to make an appearance in Iowa. The first sightings that I am aware of were from Aaron Brees who saw a comma, Polygonia comma or questionmark, P. interrogationis on March 17. Chris Edwards reported seeing one of those species on March 22. Jimmie Thompson saw a mourning cloak, Nymphalis antiopa, on the 24th. The Wisconsin Butterflies web site had a number of sightings before we had any in Iowa. They were into the mid-twenties in the total number seen before we had one report from Iowa. I think they had less snow cover and warmer temperatures in early to mid March than we had. The presence or absence of butterflies this time if year is very dependant on the weather. If we have warm, sunny days we will see the butterflies that have over-wintered as adults, such as the mourning cloak (below and to the left), eastern comma, question mark, and the tortoise shells. If we have warm days coupled with a few nights that have above freezing temperatures, we will also see some of the butterflies that spend the winter in the pupa stage. Earliest among those include the cabbage white, Pieres rapae, black swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes, and spring azure, Celestrina ladon. Wind and rain will also affect greatly what is
seen. High winds will keep butterflies from flying. Large
amounts of rain will wipe the adult population out for a few days as
well. Generally speaking, butterfly numbers in April are low. This year I expect our numbers to be somewhat higher than typical years because of the great deal of snow cover and smooth transition from freezing to above freezing temperatures. After a month of days with highs above freezing there still are some piles of snow out there. This year we may also see some skippers earlier than we would normally expect them. Get outside and enjoy the wildflowers and the butterflies. I intend to.
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March, 2010 We have had four days now where temperatures reached above freezing. A few more weeks like this and some of those six-foot piles of snow will almost be gone. I saw a forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) dated October of 2009 that predicted the winter of 2009-2010 to average about 40% warmer than a typical year, due to the effects of an El Nino. Fortunately for the highly educated and trained scientists who created the report no one signed it. (The report may still be found here). So it is with a little reluctance that I put a forecast out there for butterflies.
It has been a hard winter on warm-blooded mammals like ourselves, but I suspect that it has not been so hard on the cold-blooded butterflies (and their caterpillar, pupae, and egg stages) that spend the winter in Iowa. There was an early deep snow cover, and while temperatures have been pretty cold there have not been a lot of freeze-thaw cycles that bring the insects out of dormancy early. In fact, I think we will see pretty large populations of the group of insects that spends winter as adults and will be the first we see. Those include the mourning cloak, Nymphalis antiopa, eastern comma, Polygonia comma, question mark, P. interrogationis, Milbert's tortoiseshell, Aglais milberti. These butterflies are very possible for March. I think the photo above is a question mark, but it is almost intermediate between that and the eastern comma. Butterflies that over winter in the earlier stages will show up in pretty good numbers in April. There are a number of butterflies, including the monarch, which spend the winter in the areas to the south of us where it never (almost) gets cold and it never (almost) snows. Those butterflies do not tolerate cold well. This year has been exceptionally cold in those areas--it has snowed as far south as Mexico this winter. I would expect unusually low numbers of these butterflies in the summer of 2010. They include the monarch, Danaus plexippus, painted lady, Vanessa cardui, American lady, V. virginiensis, red admiral, V. atalanta, buckeye, Junonia coenia, and little yellow, Eurema lisa. But then forecasters have been wrong before. Let me know if you see any butterflies within the next few weeks. Harlan Ratcliff References: Schlicht, Dennis, John C. Downey, and Jeffrey C. Nekola. 2007. The Butterflies of Iowa. The University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, IA. Scott, James A. 1986. The Butterflies of North America. A Natural History and Field Guide. Stanford University Press, Stanford CA. IA-BTRFLY: The Iowa Butterfly and Dragonfly list serve. www.wisconsinbutterflies.org sightings page. www.NABA.org sightings page. Ratcliff, Harlan: 2003-2008 Unpublished butterfly survey results.
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This
has been a great year for butterflies. All too soon the butterfly season will be
over. I don't know for sure when it will be. It could be as
soon as mid-October or it could last almost to the end of November. One
sunny day there are butterflies and then the weather turns cold and
suddenly the butterflies are gone. Sometimes there is a little bit
of warning. The nights get cooler and cooler. Then one
night we get a frost, and most butterflies die off.
Butterflies
which over-winter as adults, such as the mourning cloak, Nymphalis
antiopa, question mark, Polygonia interogationis, and eastern commas,
P. comma will continue to be around and may show up on a sunny
day.
While
the common buckeye, Junonia coenia, can usually be found in small numbers toward the end of
the summer, this year it was very common all summer long. As these
butterflies are migratory, they may suddenly show up in unexpectedly high
numbers. The same is true for painted ladies, Vanessa cardui,
and red admirals, V. atalanta.
We are certainly seeing high numbers of monarchs, at least here in central
Iowa. I have seen higher concentrations of monarchs, Danaus
plexippus, in the last week
or two than I have seen in quite a long time.
If
you can get to an old field or a prairie where the asters are blooming you
can get lots of practice photographing butterflies. The asters will
be thick with butterflies and make a pretty photogenic background. I
especially like New England aster when I try to photograph
butterflies. Every picture will be colorful if
nothing else.
Summer
rains are usually thunderstorms. It rains for a few hours (O.K.,
this year it was all night every night) then it clears off. When the sun comes
out so do the butterflies, and in pretty good numbers.
One
butterfly that I have been seeing in small numbers is the gray hairstreak,
Strymon melinus, (shown to the right). Usually there are a huge number of eastern-tailed
blues, Cupido comyntas, flying, and gray hairstreaks look quite a but like them. You
might see twenty or more eastern tailed-blues for every gray
hairstreak. This year the eastern tailed-blues are very uncommon for
some reason. The ratio has been closer to one to one.
It can be pretty frustrating to attempt to identify the living individuals
because they look so similar from the upper surface. The
markings on the lower surface of the wings are far less subtle, but the
crescents and checkerspots have a tendency to rest with their wings
spread, so that it is not easy to see the underside.
One
of those immigrants may also qualify as the oddest butterfly in
Iowa. That is the American snout, Libytheana carineta. If you look at the
photograph to the right you can see the reason for the name. No
other butterfly in Iowa or the rest of the United States for that matter
can be confused for this butterfly. It feeds on hackberry trees and
is capable of forming huge swarms--not so much here, where only
individuals are encountered, but especially in Texas.
For
the next few weeks we will see large numbers of both resident and southern
seasonal immigrant species. The resident species include clouded and
orange sulfurs, Colias philodice and C. eurytheme, cabbage whites,
Pieris rapae, eastern tiger, black, and giant
swallowtails, Papilio glaucus, P. polyxenes, and P. cresphontes,
bronze coppers, Lycaena hyllus, eastern tailed blues, Cupido
comyntas, question mark
butterfly, Polygonia interrogationis, and eastern comma, P.
comma.
Orange
sulfurs (shown to the right) are the larger of the two. Calling them
"orange" might be a bit of a stretch--the butterfly is yellow
with a slight tinge of orange. The slightly smaller clouded sulfur
is a lighter orange. Both species have white forms. To make
things a little bit more confusing, they are separate species which have
recently expanded their ranges and now they readily hybridize. So
there are clearly forms that show all of the characteristics of one or the
other and there are a number of butterflies that seem somehow intermediate
between the two. Right now the orange sulfur seems a little more
common but both have very high numbers.
Many
of the larger butterflies will continue to be present in the last part of
July, although they will become more and more ragged. Included in
this group are the eastern tiger, Papilio glaucus, black, P.
polyxenes, and giant swallowtails, P. cresphontes, and the
great spangled fritillary, Speyeria cybele. Monarch numbers will continue to
increase. Painted ladies are present and I expect their numbers to
greatly increase this year.
The
first half of July is a great time to find butterflies, especially when
considering overall diversity. There are a number of butterflies
which live for only one generation per year. Many emerge as adults
in about the end of June and live only a few weeks. One example is
the gray copper, Lycaena dione, (shown to the left). 
I
was fortunate enough to photograph a pretty good butterfly that one of the
group pointed out at the insect workshop. It was a marine blue, Leptotes
marina--shown to the right on a lead plant. The marine blue is fairly
common on the national level but is very rare in Iowa. It is thought
to be an occasional migrant to the state.
Pretty
much all of the butterflies that can be found in the first half of June
can also be found in the last half, and many more. The
butterfly to the left is a crossline skipper, Polites origenes. Dun,
Euphyes vestris, Delaware, Anatrytone logan, and
least skippers, Ancyloxpha numitor should all be pretty common now as well.
Since
I mentioned the Loess Hills Prairie Seminar earlier I can't really avoid
an issue related to management of butterflies that happened this year at the
seminar.
This
graph (right) shows the number of butterflies (all
species combined) seen per hour of observation, broken down into different
time periods from multi-year observations that were taken at the Camp Dodge
Cantonment Area, a habitat similar to the suburbs of a large city. There is
turf grass and trees, but the flowers are mostly lawn weeds. The numbers of
butterflies in this area are sparse compared to other habitats.
However, I think the relative numbers are similar for most
habitats.
We
should also be seeing some skippers--silver spotted, Epargyreus clarus,
peck's, Polites peckius, hobomok, Poanes hobomok,common
checkered, Pyrgus communis, and least, Ancyloxphy numitor skippers should all be present now. Orange
sulfurs, Colias eurytheme are particularly common now, as are clouded sulfurs,
C. philodice and cabbage whites, Pieris rapae. We should occasionally see swallowtails--black, eastern
tiger, and giant swallowtails, Papilio polyxenes, P.
glaucus, and P. cresphontes should all be possibilities during the first
part of June.
I
have featured the eastern tailed-blue, Cupido comyntas, in a number
of places in this web site, including the photos that separate the entries
in this year's forecasts. It is a small easily overlooked butterfly,
but it does become quite numerous. It will start showing up in some
numbers now and is likely to be one of the most common butterflies by the
end of the summer.
The
butterfly season is well underway and we are starting to see more
butterflies and a greater variety than we have in March and April. I
have seen some butterflies on the walks I take during my lunch break in an
urban setting, and I have been able to get out in the wilds a little bit
too. I spent a lovely morning in The Ledges not long ago and watched
eastern commas and red admirals flying all around. I am reminded
once again how much fun it is to watch these little critters.
One
small butterfly that starts showing up now and will continue to be present
all summer long is the pearly crescent. They are common and fairly
small, and quite entertaining to watch. You can often see them in
courtship displays, which usually involves the female perching with wings
spread almost horizontally (similar to the pose of both individuals in
this photo), and one or more smaller males chasing the female, usually
with his wings held vertically.
The
butterfly season starts slowly but it should start picking up, both in
terms of numbers that can be seen and in diversity.
There
are some rare butterflies that should be looked for at this time of
year. Olympia marbles, Euchloe olympia are extremely rare in central Iowa but have
been reported. They can only be found in the early spring.
Henry's elfin, Callophrys henrici is a type of hairstreak that has been found mostly in
southern Iowa and is pretty rare (I haven't seen it yet). It can
only be found in late April and early May. You are not likely to see
it, but look for it now. (It is usually found near redbud
trees). Juniper hairstreak, Callophrys gryneus, is fairly rare in central Iowa--it is
reported to have two generations, one in late April and early May, and the
other in July. I have seen it on our property in Dallas County, but
I have only seen it in the spring, and then only in two out of ten years.
Here
it is almost the end of March and I haven't seen a butterfly yet.
But I think I will soon.
When
we first start to see butterflies is pretty dependant on the
weather. With colder than normal temperatures and a longer than
normal period with snow on the ground, it might be expected that the
butterflies will be later than normal. I suspect that will be
true. I don't really think we will see butterflies here in Iowa
until the last half of the month of March, and they might not even appear
until early April. If I had to put money on it, I would guess the
last week of March, but of course that depends heavily upon the
weather.