Pollinator Meadows
This morning RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser and I attended the annual meeting of the Aspetuck Land Trust at the always magnificent Trout Brook Valley Conservation Area in Weston and Easton, Connecticut with many great friends, naturalists, conservationists and caring neighbors. Thankfully incoming rain showers held off until the afternoon, but the cool and cloudy conditions kept it quiet for most insects. We joined our fellow members of the Land Management Committee to hike the property after the meeting, examining our pollinator meadows and the sizable growth of uncut grasslands that are now...
Read MoreMonarch caterpillar
Monarch butterfly caterpillars like this one have been seen in higher than typical numbers, compared to recent years, in some areas. However, others in the region have told me they have seen a total of zero. It seems to be a year of dissenting data. Even last week at a meeting of naturalists from across the Chautauqua-Allegheny region we had some people excitedly reporting improved Monarch numbers while others dolefully spoke of few or none. The butterflies continue to be seen here and there and you should keep an eye out for them during this migratory period. I will be surveying the shores...
Read MoreMonarch proposed to U.S. Endangered Species Act
Kudos to our friends at The Xerces Society for joining forces with other experts in filing a legal request with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to add the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) to the Endangered Species Act. This process takes several years normally so prepare to wait! I was pleased to see they added a “request that the USFWS pass a special rule, called a 4(d) rule, that will allow scientific research, citizen tagging and monitoring, milkweed production, and non-commercial rearing in classrooms and households to continue and not to be considered as “take” or...
Read MoreMonarch butterflies
Here it is, one Meet Your Neighbours display that needs no introduction – the Monarch (Danaus plexippus), with a female on the left and a male on the right. We must all continue to work to make certain that future generations can enjoy them in real life and not simply via beautiful photos like these. Only through a collective effort to combat deadly chemical pollutants from intentionally entering our ecosystem, protecting vital habitat during all seasons and educating our children can we turn the tide on the decline of once abundant and now fading species like these. They may not be in...
Read MoreMonarchs in Mexico
The following is a guest post from our friend Jack Voelker – our thanks to him for the tremendous contribution! Much has been written in recent months about the steep decline in the population of the Monarch butterfly and the potential end of their remarkable annual migration to the mountains of Mexico. We had seen an IMAX movie, Flight of the Butterflies, at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh this past summer. The documentary not only detailed the migration itself in stunning photography, but also the life of zoologist Fred Urquhart who devoted nearly 40 years to researching...
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