History, Natural History & the Arts
Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) began their annual fall migration around late-August. These butterflies are the great-great-grandchildren of the monarchs that migrated to Mexico last fall.
You can help monarchs by providing food (nectar) and keeping those areas protected: [Read more…] about Help Monarchs on their Long Migration South
A caterpillar eats and eats, becomes a chrysalis, and after a period of metamorphosis emerges as a beautiful butterfly! Except, sometimes… it doesn’t quite work that way.
Occasionally, while sitting on my deck, I spot smallish, orange butterflies landing on our hop plants. Their upper wings, about two inches across, are bright orange with dark blotches and eyespots, but camouflage brown on their underside. These are eastern comma butterflies (Polygonia comma), named for a silvery marking on the hind wing. If I look closely after one has flapped away, I can find one or two tiny, peridot eggs that it left behind on a hop leaf. [Read more…] about Chrysalis Surprise: A Parasitoid Wasp
New Yorkers will enjoy beautiful purple against red-and-yellow leaves this fall season with New York Asters (Symphyotrichum novi-belgii), a native wildflower found across the state. [Read more…] about Native Plant Spotlight: New York Asters
At first, I suspected it was the deer that had almost completely defoliated the northern spicebush sapling I had planted just weeks earlier. Only days prior, it had been brimming with new growth, and now all that remained were two leaves wrapped into cigarlike cylinders. Curious, I inspected this pair of surviving leaves. At the opening of each, snug between the leaf edges, was a bulbous green head adorned with a set of black, cartoonish eye spots. I had found my perpetrator, and it wasn’t the deer; it was the caterpillars of the spicebush swallowtail. [Read more…] about Spicebush Swallowtails: Beauty and Defense
In some places across New York State, this year’s unpredictable weather has affected Karner blue butterflies (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) food, the wild blue lupine. [Read more…] about The Karner Blue Butterfly
When our lilacs bloom in late May, pale yellow butterflies with black stripes arrive to feed on their nectar. These are tiger swallowtails. These exquisite butterflies have a broad black band along the edge of their forewings bordered with yellow dots. They also have small red spots and“tails” at the base of their hindwings. Both the Canadian tiger swallowtail and the eastern tiger swallowtail inhabit our region, and are easy to spot – although the two species can be difficult to distinguish from one another. [Read more…] about Flying Tigers: Eastern Swallowtails
Forest clearings are especially attractive settings for many forms of wildlife. The warmth of the ground when the sun is shining is particularly inviting to cold-blooded creatures, and the stands of trees that surround these openings in the canopy serve as a source of food and shelter. [Read more…] about The White Admiral Butterfly
During a late summer walk, I noticed that the common milkweed in our back field is becoming not-so-common. Once vigorous patches of the milky green plants have dwindled, engulfed in a sea of Canada goldenrod. [Read more…] about Establishing Milkweed for Monarchs
This spring, we went the no-mow route on about a quarter-acre of our lawn, the last remaining groomed piece we hadn’t turned into vegetable garden or permanent meadow. What a relief! During the hottest, driest spells over the summer, the grass wasn’t growing anyway. The lawn we did mow during the drought – mostly pathways – turned unhappily brown. [Read more…] about Rethinking the Lawn: Cutting the Grass
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced plans to reclassify certain neonicotinoid (neonic) pesticide products as “Restricted Use” effective January 1st, 2023. [Read more…] about DEC’s Intent to Restrict Certain Neonicotinoid Pesticide Products