Butterflies Count - And So Did We!

One of our Monarch Committee's projects includes is to participate in the North American Butterfly Association's (NABA) Annual "4th of July" Butterfly Count. 

 

On June 2, Mickey, Linda, Beverly, Nancy and I met at our Freedom Butterfly Garden to hold our first count.  An article on the count appears in the July 2015 Creekline; click here for a PDF version of the submittal.

What the article did not include was a detailed accounting of the species and numbers we saw in the garden and around the river, the historic farmhouse and the Ruth Bennett Garden. 

·        Giant Swallowtail:  4

·        Palamedes Swallowtail:  1

·        Spicebush Swallowtail:  1

·        Black Swallowtail:  1

·        Tiger Swallowtail:  2

·        Gulf Fritillary:  4

·        Zebra Longwing:  3

·        Phaeon Crescent:  1

Although we did not see any skippers or hairstreaks that day, these butterflies are frequent visitors to our garden, and possibly throughout the park.  Beverly told us about the Spanish Needle growing in the Freedom Garden and its importance as a nectar source over those many months when pollinators have very few blooms available.  We discussed the garden's role as a butterfly sanctuary, and as a result of her talk, I highlighted the Spanish needle in the Butterflies Count Creekline article (thanks for the editorial suggestions, Beverly).

Our team was not "charged" with counting other pollinators, larvae, or birds, but we saw some grand examples of the wildlife that can be enjoyed if we give it the space to survive. 

Nancy contributed to the effort to give our native species a chance by pulling up some invasive coral ardesia.  See the article, "GardenerBeware:  Those Charming Invasives" submitted to the St Augustine Record for publication.

We plan to expand our "counting party" next year.  Hopefully, we'll have enough participants to also survey the Julington-Durbin Preserve, which is also in our NABA Bartram Trail Butterfly Circle.  If you are interested in joining us, send us an email; use this contact info (also shown in the right column of the home page). 

For more information about the North American Butterfly Association (NABA), go to their website www.naba.org  - the links below describe the 4th of July Count and the mission of the NABA:

·        About the NABA 

·        Butterfly Count Resources

·        Frequently Asked Butterfly Count Questions 

·        US/Mexico Map of Butterfly Count Circles  

·        How to Start a New Butterfly Count  

The sources for our butterfly identifications included, "Butterflies through Binoculars,"   available for loan at the Jacksonville public library, "shadowing" trips to GTMNERR to learn about their butterflymonitoring program, and discussions with Janet Koehler, who kindly provided resources from the University of Florida that they used to start their program.  

See our other articles published in our local newspapers.