Category Archives: Lepidoptera ~ Butterflies, Skippers, and Moths

Will This Monarch Survive?

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Today, November 13th, a Monarch will emerge from its chrysalis in a garden 2,800 miles north of its winter sanctuary. The thing is, Monarchs typically arrive in Mexico at harvest time and around Day of the Dead celebrations, or when Americans celebrate Halloween. In the language of the indigenous Purépecha peoples, the name for the Monarch is “Harvester” butterfly. Under the most ideal conditions, this Monarch won’t arrive until Christmastime.

Along the northern leg of his journey, he will find little or no nectar plants as we have had several nights of freezing temperatures. All the wildflowers and garden plants have finished blooming for the season. With little fortification, is it possible for Monarchs to fly great distances? Biologists look for this type of climate change mismatch to track how global warming is affecting wildlife. Butterflies can survive rain. The water beads up and drips off its wings, but snow and below freezing temperatures are fatal to Monarchs.

With a hope and a prayer, fair winds and good weather, perhaps our little intrepid Monarch will make it to sunny Mexico, or possibly, shorten his journey, and at least make Florida his home for the winter. Here’s hoping.

 *   *   *

WITH THE GREATEST APPRECIATION FOR OUR COMMUNITY OF FRIENDS AND SPONSORS, I AM OVERJOYED TO SHARE THAT TO DATE WE HAVE RAISED $23,960.00 FOR THE DOCUMENTARY FILM “BEAUTY ON THE WING” ONLINE FUNDRAISER! 

Friends of the Monarch Butterfly: If you would like to help towards the completion of the documentary filmBeauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly, please consider making a tax deductible donation here:

DONATE HERE

Donors contributing over $5,000. will be listed in the credits as a film producer.

For more information, visit the film’s website here: Monarch Butterfly Film

For an overview of the film’s budget, please go here: Budget

Thank you so very much for your help.

With gratitude,

Kim

$22,265.00 RAISED FOR  BEAUTY ON THE WING!!!

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$22,265.00!!! RAISED FOR BEAUTY ON THE WING DOCUMENTARY! THANK YOU KIND DONORS!!!!!!!!!!!

WITH THE GREATEST APPRECIATION FOR OUR COMMUNITY OF FRIENDS AND SPONSORS, I AM OVERJOYED TO SHARE THAT TO DATE WE HAVE RAISED $22,265.00 FOR THE DOCUMENTARY FILM “BEAUTY ON THE WING” ONLINE FUNDRAISER!!!

Friends of the Monarch Butterfly: If you would like to help towards the completion of the documentary film Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly, please consider making a tax deductible donation here:

DONATE HERE

Donors contributing over $5,000. will be listed in the credits as a film producer.

For more information, visit the film’s website here: Monarch Butterfly Film

For an overview of the film’s budget, please go here: Budget

Thank you so very much for your help.

With gratitude,

Kim

MY DEEPEST THANKS AND GRATITUDE TO LAUREN MERCADANTE (PRODUCER), SUSAN FREY (PRODUCER), NEW ENGLAND BIOLABS FOUNDATION, BOB AND JAN CRANDALL, MARY WEISSBLUM, SHERMAN MORSS, JAY FEATHERSTONE, MARION F., ELAINE M., KIMBERLY MCGOVERN, DONNA STOMAN, PEGGY O’MALLEY, JOEY C., CATHERINE RYAN, JOEANN HART, JANE PAZNIK BONDARIN (NEW YORK), ROBERT REDIS (NEW YORK), NUBAR ALEXANIAN, PETER VAN DEMARK, PATRICIA VAN DERPOOL, FRED FREDERICKS (CHELMSFORD), LESLIE HEFFRON, JIM MASCIARELLI, DAVE MOORE (KOREA), LILIAN AND CRAIG OLMSTEAD, JOHN STEIGER, PAT DALPIAZ, AMY KERR, BARBARA T. (JEWETT, NY), ROBERTA C. ((NY), MARIANNE G. (WINDHAM, NY), PAULA RYAN O’BRIEN (WALTON, NY), MARTHA SWANSON, KIM TEIGER, JUDITH FOLEY (WOBURN), PATTI SULLIVAN, RONN FARREN, SUSAN NADWORNY (MELROSE), HEIDI SHRIVER (PENNSYLVANIA), JENNIFER CULLEN, TOM HAUCK, AND ANONYMOUS PERSONS FOR THEIR GENEROUS HELP.

 

SPECIAL FILM SCREENING OFFER!

Donors contributing $20.00 or more will be invited to a very special screening preview party of the documentary Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly.

Consider the cost of a movie ticket, beverage, and popcorn is $20.00. By contributing to the film’s online fundraising campaign, you will help bring it to theaters and classrooms. Contributors will be invited to the film’s preview screening party and be amongst the first to see this stunning film!

One of the many ways that you will find Beauty on the Wing to be unique is that it was filmed entirely on location, outdoors, and in nature. There are absolutely no computer generated graphics. The life cycle scenes were filmed on Cape Ann, in meadows, dunes, and gardens (not laboratories). Flight scenes are not simulated, but filmed on location, predominantly on Cape Ann, some in Angangueo, and also Santa Barbara, Westport, Cape May, and Stone Harbor Point. Mostly though, through story telling and cinematography, the film shines a beautiful light on the Monarch migration as it unfolds on the shores of Cape Ann, portraying our community and the natural world of Cape Ann as we would hope to be revealed to the world at large.Cape Ann Monarch Butterfly Habitat

CHASING MONARCHS ~ WHIRLWIND TRIP TO STONE HARBOR AND CAPE MAY PART ONE

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A SERIES OF EVENTS OF THE MOST FORTUNATE SORT!

Monarchs flying into the tree to roost for the night.

As I wrote briefly last, this past week I traveled to Cape May and Stone Harbor. The coastline of New Jersey, as is Westport, Massachusetts, yet another region where the Monarchs are known to gather in large numbers on their southward migration. I was hoping to investigate and possibly capture some footage for my documentary film Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly. I was inspired to take the trip by sightings of Monarchs reported by my daughter Liv. Over the weekend she had seen quite a few on Coney Island, Brooklyn, as well as at Battery Park, located at the southern tip of Manhattan. Checking the weather report, I know that after a day or two of bad weather during the butterfly’s migration, the Monarchs are often seen in good numbers the following day. So Saturday and Sunday were great conditions for migrating Monarchs in NYC, Monday and Tuesday bad weather was predicted–in all likelihood no Monarchs on the wing–so perhaps, I thought by Wednesday the Atlantic coast Monarchs would possibly be moving through New Jersey.

After the long drive Wednesday I arrived at Cape May at 3:00, with little time to spare. The skies had become overcast and the afternoon was turning chilly. Very fortunately, I arrived just in the nick of time to film a batch passing by the Cape May Lighthouse, located at Cape May Point. If I got nothing else, those first few minutes of the visit would have been well worth the time spent driving!

I next headed over to Saint Peter’s by-the-Sea, a tiny charming church tucked on a side street where the Monarchs are sometimes seen, roosting in the trees on the grounds of the church. Only a few could be located. Fortuitously, a man pulled up and got out of his car near to where I was walking. He was quite clearly a birder, dressed in camouflage, a sun hat, sensible shoes, and toting binoculars around his neck. “Hello, sir, have you seen any Monarchs today?” I inquired. “No, he replied, yesterday yes, but none today.” A few minutes later he was joined by a whole slew of birder lovers and, with unbelievably good luck, a few moments after that, one birder came running up, excitedly showing me a photo on her phone, exclaiming that numerous numbers were spotted further north, at Stone Harbor Point. “Find the parking lot, hit the dunes, locate the dirt road, and there you will find them, at the end of the road,” she said. Oh my, I said to myself, I’ll be looking for yet another needle in a haystack, this time in completely foreign territory, and, more driving. Happily, Google maps got me there in half an hour but by now it was getting very close to sunset.

Miraculously, I found the butterflies! Ten thousand, at least. They were swirling around the dunes searching for tree limbs and shrubs on which to take shelter for the night. One tree in particular, an old Japanese Black Pine that was tucked at the base of the dunes, and out of the wind, was hosting thousands. Watching the movement of masses of Monarchs flying for me never ceases to be a magical experience and I filmed the butterflies well into the lingering twilight. The afternoon had been cloudy gray and overcast, except for the last twenty minutes of the day, when the sun lit up the dunes and butterflies in tones of yellow and gold. I wondered as I was filming if these were the very same Monarchs that I had seen in a large roost at Eastern Point in Gloucester ten days earlier, or that Liv had seen in New York several days earlier.

Located on the adjacent beach was a noisily chattering flock of American Oystercatchers, and I shot some photos and footage of these fascinating shorebirds as well, because migrating birds are an integral part of Beauty on the Wing. American Oystercatchers breed along the Jersey shore and the south coast is at the northern end of their winter range.

Yak, yak, yak!

As I was completely unfamiliar with the area, I had planned to be tucked into my cozy hotel room on the beach by sundown, under the covers with a warm dinner, recharging camera batteries and myself. But now it was pitch black, I hadn’t yet checked in, had missed lunch and was super starving, but worse, was out of gas and didn’t know where to find a gas station that was open this late in the season.

Part Two tomorrow.

Stone Harbor Point

The dunes are covered in Seaside Goldenrod

Recycling and trash barrels!

 

Read More about Stone Harbor Point wildlife sanctuary here.

Read more about Stone Harbor Wetlands Institute here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbAHSoslXqp/

American OystercatcherRange Map

Friends of the Monarch Butterfly: If you would like to help towards the completion of the documentary film Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly, please consider making a tax deductible donation here:

DONATE HERE

Donors contributing over $5,000. will be listed in the credits as a film producer.

For more information, visit the film’s website here: Monarch Butterfly Film

For an overview of the film’s budget, please go here: Budget

Thank you so very much for your help.

With gratitude,

KimSome limbs of the Japanese Black Pine were covered in Monarchs and some limbs the butterflies were more sparsely spaced.

Ofrenda de Muertos Gloucester

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Whether on the wings of a butterfly or the seat of a ferris wheel, the souls of loved ones return to earth to be remembered by their families and friends.

In late October millions of Monarchs begin to arrive to the magnificent oyamel fir and pine tree forests of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, located in the heart of Mexico in the eastern regions of Michoacán. Their return coincides with the annual celebration of Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead fiesta. Native peoples and their descendants today believe butterflies are the souls of departed loved ones, returning to Earth to be remembered by their ancestors. An even older tradition connects the Monarchs with the corn harvest, as their return signified that the corn was ripe. In the language of the native Purpécha Indians, the name for the Monarch is “harvester.” Ofrenda de Muertos Gloucester

MONARCH BUTTERFLY FILM SCREENING OFFER!

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ANNOUNCING A SPECIAL FILM SCREENING OFFER!

Donors contributing $20.00 or more will be invited to a very special screening preview party of the documentary Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly.

Consider the cost of a movie ticket, beverage, and popcorn is $20.00. By contributing to the film’s online fundraising campaign, you will help bring it to theaters and classrooms. Contributors will be invited to the film’s preview screening party and be amongst the first to see this stunning film!

One of the many ways that you will find Beauty on the Wing to be unique is that it was filmed entirely on location, outdoors, and in nature. There are absolutely no computer generated graphics. The life cycle scenes were filmed on Cape Ann, in meadows, dunes, and gardens (not laboratories). Flight scenes are not simulated, but filmed on location, predominately on Cape Ann, some in Angangueo, and also Santa Barbara, Westport, Cape May, and Stone Harbor Point.

Mostly though, through story telling and cinematography, the film shines a beautiful light on the Monarch migration as it unfolds on the shores of Cape Ann, portraying our community and the natural world of Cape Ann as we would hope to be revealed to the world at large.

Friends of the Monarch Butterfly: If you would like to help towards the completion of the documentary film Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly, please consider making a tax deductible donation here:

DONATE HERE

Donors contributing over $5,000. will be listed in the credits as a film producer.

For more information, visit the film’s website here: Monarch Butterfly Film

For an overview of the film’s budget, please go here: Budget

Thank you so very much for your help.

With gratitude,

Kim

Many folks assume when viewing the trailer that the scene of the single Monarch floating towards the Eastern Point Lighthouse was computer generated. It was not. The scene is the result of the filmmaker standing on the Lighthouse lawn, waiting for just the perfect fleeting moment. Every aspect of the film is genuine and true to the nature of Cape Ann, and to all the locations where filmed. Another example is the film’s ambient soundtrack–of songbirds, crickets, foghorns, train whistles, boat engines, roosters crowing, et. al.,– every sound was captured live on location.

*  * *


Monarchs in New Jersey and a migration update will be posted tomorrow! The above photos shows a roost of Monarchs at Stone Harbor Point in the golden light of late day.

Hello From Cape May and Stone Harbor!

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Whirlwind trip to Cape May to check on the late, great Monarch migration of 2017. Leaving at 5am, from Gloucester, it is an eight to nine hour drive. I spent the afternoon and evening there and then left the following day at noon. Although brief, I found all that I was looking for and much, much more. There are vast areas of wildlife habitat along the southern New Jersey coastline and so many beautiful connections between Cape Ann and Cape May; I would love to return again soon!

The Monarchs are in trouble. I am hoping with all my heart that the tens of thousands that are currently held back by winds blowing from the wrong direction, along with intermittent inclement weather, will be able to cross the Delaware Bay as soon as possible. Will write much more this weekend after catching up with work and after I am able to sort through photos. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BauEf2TFL5WBYG7-fazJODwkpfv1WKkZHQYV0k0/

Cape May Lighthouse

WHERE DO ALL THE MONARCHS GO?

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Monarch Butterfly and Seaside Goldenrod at Gooseberry Island, Westport

After departing the shores of Cape Ann in autumn, where is the Monarch’s next destination on their several thousand mile journey to Mexico? Our Cape Ann Monarchs join the stream of Monarchs that are migrating southward along the Atlantic Coast. They hug the coastline, crossing bays and ponds, and pausing at beaches to nectar and rest when caught in a headwind or during a storm. When weather and habitat variables combine to create a favorable year for the Monarchs, there may be tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of butterflies traveling along the Atlantic Coast beaches.

The Gooseberry Island old lookout tower is surrounded by a sea of Seaside Goldenrod.

The next major stopover is Westport in Massachusetts, at Gooseberry Island and Allen’s Pond Wildlife Sancturary. Here they find dunes and fields of nectar-rich wildflowers such as Frost Asters, Purple-stemmed Asters, Seaside Goldenrod, Knapweed, Red Clover, and more.

Monarchs drinking nectar from Red Clover at Allen’s Pond Middle Meadow

The sanctuary at Allen’s Pond is host to many species of butterflies during the Monarch’s fall migration, including Clouded Sulphurs, Orange Sulphurs, and Painted Ladies.  They, too, drink nectar from the Knapweed, Red Clover, asters, goldenrod, and Black Mustard in the sanctuary fields.

The Atlantic Monarchs next head to New York, traveling along the coast of Long Island, from the eastern tip of Montauk, southwest to Fire Island, and continuing to Coney Island. On the day of October 9th, because of a storm passing through, a batch of migrating Monarchs was “stuck” on Plumb Island in Brooklyn.  After the storm passed the following morning, tens of thousand of Monarchs were observed flying over the dunes and along the beach, resuming their journey south.

Monarchs in the gardens at Battery Park with ferry to the Statue of Liberty in the background. Liv photo and video (below).

Our daughter Liv reports that over the weekend of October 21-22, New York City was teeming with Monarchs. She observed hundreds at Coney Island on Saturday, and even more at the gardens at Battery Park on Sunday. Liv has even seen them in the NYC underground subway stations!

After departing the shores of Long Island and NYC, the next great stopover and roosting area is Cape May, New Jersey. The Monarchs pause along the way, stopping to drink nectar and rest on the barrier beaches of the Jersey Shore. Latest field reports suggest that the dunes and fields of Cape May are rife with Seaside Goldenrod that is still in bloom. I am on my way there today and will report all that I see.

From Cape May Point the Monarchs travel ten miles across the Delaware Bay, then journey along the eastern shores of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. Some years the Monarchs converge by the millions at the Virginia National Wildlife Refuge waiting for the right winds to carry them across the Chesapeake Bay.

Some Monarch Butterflies travel to Florida, but most are funneled in through the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains, on into Texas and central Mexico.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BaIN9gcFtxOrWP27M6OactjFI6UB_VYRPCaaU00/

If you would like to help towards the completion of my documentary film Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly, filmed in the wilds of Cape Ann and Angangueo, Mexico, please consider making a tax deductible donation here:

DONATE HERE

Donors contributing over $5,000. will be listed in the credits as a film producer.

For more information, visit the film’s website here: Monarch Butterfly Film

For an overview of the film’s budget, please go here: Budget

Thank you so very much for your help.

With gratitude,

Kim Smith

 

$20,450.00 RAISED FOR “BEAUTY ON THE WING” DOCUMENTARY! THANK YOU KIND DONORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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WITH THE GREATEST JOY AND APPRECIATION FOR OUR COMMUNITY OF FRIENDS AND SPONSORS, I AM OVERJOYED TO SHARE THAT TO DATE WE HAVE RAISED $20,450.00 FOR THE DOCUMENTARY FILM “BEAUTY ON THE WING” ONLINE FUNDRAISER!!!

MY DEEPEST THANKS AND GRATITUDE TO LAUREN MERCADANTE (PRODUCER), SUSAN FREY (PRODUCER), NEW ENGLAND BIOLABS FOUNDATION, LAUREN M., MARION F., ELAINE M., DONNA STOMAN, PEGGY O’MALLEY, JOEY C., CATHERINE RYAN, JOEANN HART, JANE PAZNIK BONDARIN AND ROBERT REDIS (BOTH FROM NEW YORK), NUBAR ALEXANIAN, PETER VAN DEMARK, PATRICIA VAN DERPOOL, FRED FREDERICKS (CHELMSFORD), LESLIE HEFFRON, JIM MASCIARELLI, DAVE MOORE (KOREA), LILIAN AND CRAIG OLMSTEAD, JOHN STEIGER, PAT DALPIAZ, AMY KERR, BARBARA T. (JEWETT, NY), ROBERTA C. ((NY), MARIANNE G. (WINDHAM, NY), PAULA O’BRIEN (WALTON, NY), TOM HAUCK, AND ANONYMOUS PERSONS FOR THEIR GENEROUS HELP.

If you would like to help towards the completion of my documentary film Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly, filmed in the wilds of Cape Ann and Angangueo, Mexico, please consider making a tax deductible donation here:

DONATE HERE

Donors contributing over $5,000. will be listed in the credits as a film producer.

For more information, visit the film’s website here: Monarch Butterfly Film

For an overview of the film’s budget, please go here: Budget

Thank you so very much for your help.

With gratitude,

Kim SmithMonarch Silhouettes at Twilight 

THE LATE GREAT MONARCH MIGRATION CONTINUES AND THANK YOU KIND DONORS FOR CONTRIBUTING TO “BEAUTY ON THE WING” $5,300.00 RAISED TO DATE!!!

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WITH THANKS AND GRATITUDE FOR THE KIND GENEROSITY OF OUR COMMUNITY, TO DATE WE HAVE RAISED OVER $5,300.00 FOR MY DOCUMENTARY FILM “BEAUTY ON THE WING: LIFE STORY OF THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY” ONLINE FUNDRAISER!!! MY DEEPEST APPRECIATION TO NEW ENGLAND BIOLABS FOUNDATION, LAUREN M., MARION F., ELAINE M., DONNA STOMAN, PEGGY O’MALLEY, JOEY C., CATHERINE RYAN, JOEANN HART, JANE PAZNIK BONDARIN AND ROBERT REDIS (BOTH FROM NEW YORK), NUBAR ALEXANIAN, PETER VAN DEMARK, PATRICIA VAN DERPOOL, FRED FREDERICKS (CHELMSFORD), LESLIE HEFFRON, JIM MASCIARELLI, DAVE MOORE (KOREA), LILIAN AND CRAIG OLMSTEAD, JOHN STEIGER, PAT DALPIAZ, AMY KERR, BARBARA T. (JEWETT, NY), ROBERTA C. ((NY), MARIANNE G. (WINDHAM, NY), TOM HAUCK, AND ANONYMOUS PERSONS FOR THEIR GENEROUS HELP.

If you would like to help towards the completion of my documentary film Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly, filmed in the wilds of Cape Ann and Angangueo, Mexico, please consider making a tax deductible donation here:

DONATE HERE

Donors contributing over $5,000. will be listed in the credits as a film producer.

For more information, visit the film’s website here: Monarch Butterfly Film

For an overview of the film’s budget, please go here: Budget

Thank you so very much for your help.

With gratitude,

Kim Smith

 *   *   *

The Monarchs migrating through our region, although higher in number than in recent years, are also later than usual. The greater numbers are attributed to the tremendous amount of eggs and caterpillars reported this summer and, too, the beautiful warm weather we are enjoying has allowed eggs, caterpillars, and chrysalides to mature. In a typical year, the onset of colder autumn temperatures would have halted the larvae’s development. Hopefully, the Monarchs will arrive to the sanctuaries in Mexico before the cold puts the kibosh on this late migration.

Another problem facing the Monarchs is that most flowers have cycled through their bloom power. The butterflies will be challenged to find nectar producing flora to fortify them on the journey south. This type of ecological mismatch is increasing and very negatively affects wildlife species worldwide.

Today, October 19, there were about two dozen Monarchs at Eastern Point. The only wild plants in bloom at the Point are Purple-stemmed Asters and dandelions. As the effects of global climate change pose increasing threat to wildlife, we can help the migrating butterflies, and all pollinators, by planting nectar-rich flora that blooms in succession from April through November. These actions will help mitigate some of the mismatching happening right now.

Monarchs and Purple-stemmed Asters

One sleepy little Monarch in the trees this morning at daybreak. Monarch Flakes -2  Eastern Point Lighthouse  

MONARCH MIGRATION UPDATE AND THANK YOU KIND DONORS FOR CONTRIBUTING TO MY DOCUMENTARY “BEAUTY ON THE WING!”

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I AM OVERJOYED TO SHARE THAT WE HAVE RAISED OVER $2,500.00 IN THE FIRST WEEK OF “BEAUTY ON THE WING” ONLINE FUNDRAISER!!! MY DEEPEST THANKS AND GRATITUDE  TO NEW ENGLAND BIOLABS, LAUREN M., MARION F., ELAINE M., DONNA STOMAN, PEGGY O’MALLEY, JOEY C., CATHERINE RYAN, JOEANN HART, JANE PAZNIK BONDARIN AND ROBERT REDIS (BOTH FROM NEW YORK), NUBAR ALEXANIAN, PETER VAN DEMARK, PATRICIA VAN DERPOOL, FRED FREDERICKS, LESLIE HEFFRON, JIM MASCIARELLI, DAVE MOORE (KOREA), LILIAN AND CRAIG OLMSTEAD, TOM HAUCK, AND ANONYMOUS PERSONS FOR THEIR GENEROUS HELP.  
If you would like to help towards the completion of my documentary film Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly, filmed in the wilds of Cape Ann and Angangueo, Mexico, please consider making a tax deductible donation here:

DONATE HERE

Donors contributing over $5,000. will be listed in the credits as a film producer.

For more information, visit the film’s website here: Monarch Butterfly Film

For an overview of the film’s budget, please go here: Budget

Thank you so very much for your help.

With gratitude,

Kim Smith

Cape Ann Monarch Migration Update October 16, 2017

Monarchs roosting overnight in the old chokecherry tree.

We have had four beautiful waves of Monarchs pouring into Cape Ann. The first arrived on September 23rd and the fourth departed last Wednesday morning, on the eleventh of October. As there are reports of Monarchs still further north, we should be expecting at least one more wave, quite possibly this week. And, too, my friend Patti found several Monarch caterpillars in her garden only several days ago. These caterpillars won’t be ready to fly to Mexico for another week to ten days at least. If this warm weather continues, we may still yet have more batches coming through in the coming weeks.

What can you do to help the Monarchs, Painted Ladies, bees, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, and all pollinators at this time of year? Don’t tidy up the garden just yet!  When you cut back remaining flowering stalks and sprigs, you are depriving winged creatures of much needed, and less readily available, nourishment. Bees, and migrating butterflies on the wing, especially Monarchs, need nectar throughout their journey to Mexico. Songbirds eat the seeds of expiring flowering stalks.

I keep my client’s gardens neat and tidy at this time of year by pulling out the occasional dead plant and trimming away dried out foliage. In deference to the pollinators, the very best time of year to plant bulbs and organize the garden for the following year, is after November 1st, at the very earliest. And even then, if for example my Korean Daisies are still blooming, I work around the plant. Usually in November and up until the first frost, it is covered in bees. I’ve had many a Monarch pass through my garden in November and the Korean Daisies were there at the ready to provide nectar for weary travelers.

I keep my client’s gardens neat and tidy at this time of year by pulling out the occasional dead plant and trimming away dried out foliage. In deference to the pollinators, the very best time of year to plant bulbs and organize the garden for the following year, is after November 1st, at the very earliest. And even then, if for example my Korean Daisies are still blooming, I work around the plant. Usually in November and up until the first frost, it is covered in bees. I’ve had many a Monarch pass through my garden in November and the Korean Daisies were there at the ready to provide nectar for weary travelers.

Patti’s Caterpillar, found in her garden on October 14th. He’s now at our home in a terrarium, happily munching away on Common Milkweed leaves. I leave him outdoors in a sunny location during the day but bring him indoors late in the afternoon because the air temperature is dropping considerably at night. Patti Papow Photo

LOOK WHAT PATTI PAPOWS MADE FOR SUNDAY’S MILKWEED SEED DISTRIBUTION EVENT!!

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Thank you to Patti Papows for putting together these utterly charming pouches of milkweed seeds for our event tomorrow. We also have loads of milkweed pods and Joe-Pye seeds to distribute so come on down to Captain Joe’s dock Sunday morning from 10:30 to noon. We hope to see you there!

Captain Joes is located at 95 East Main Street, Gloucester.

To donate toward the completion of my documentary film Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly, please visit the film’s website at www.monarchbutterflyfilm.com

WHEN A WEED IS NOT A WEED and Why Joe-Pye is So Darn Lovable!

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A bodacious beauty possessing the toughest of traits, Joe-Pye Weed (Eutrochium) is the stalwart star of the eastern native plants garden. Large, airy dome-shaped flowerheads blooming in a range of shades from pink to lavender to purple provide food, by way of nectar, foliage, and seed heads to myriad species of bees, butterflies, and songbirds. Beginning in mid-July and continuing through mid-October, pollinators on the wing can find sustenance in a garden planted with Little Joes and Big Joes.

Joe Pye, the person, is thought to have been a North Carolina Native American medicine man who used these wildflowers to cure many ailments, including typhoid fever. The plants became know as Joe Pye’s weed.

A name changer from weed to wildflower would be a game changer for numerous species of native plants. Why do so many native wildflowers have the suffix weed? Because when the colonists arrived from Europe, they wanted their crops, as well as European cultivated flowers, to grow in their new gardens. Anything native that interfered with their plans was deemed a “weed.” Examples of beautiful and invaluable North American native pollinator plants with the name given weed are milkweed (Asclepias), sneezeweed (Helenium), ironweed (Veronia), and jewelweed (Impatiens capensis).

Three favorite and fabulous species for the New England landscape are Eutrochium purpureum, E. maculatum, and E. dubium. Joe-pye grows beautifully in average to moist soil, in full sun to light shade. Plant Joe-pye in the back of the border. E.purpurem grows five to seven feet tall, while Little Joe grows three to five feet. With their beautiful blossoms, robust habit, winter hardiness, and disease resistance, these long blooming members of the sunflower family are treasured for their ability to attract an array of butterflies, bees, and songbirds to the garden during the mid- to late-summer season.

Just look at this sampling of the different species of Lepidoptera finding noursihment from the blossoms of Joe-Pye!


Tiger Swallowtail

Painted Lady
Black Swallowtail

 

Monarch

Joe-Pye does especially well in a coastal native plants garden.

If you enjoyed reading this post, I hope you will consider donating to the completion of my documentary film Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly. Every contribution is tremendously appreciated. For more information on how you can help, please visit the film’s website at http://www.monarchbutterflyfilm.com

COMMUNITY MILKWEED SEED POD PROJECT FOR THE POLLINATORS!

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MILKWEED SEED COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION PROJECT SUNDAY OCTOBER 15TH

Collect ripe milkweed seed pods (only Common Milkweed and Marsh Milkweed please). Place in a paper bag, not plastic, as plastic can cause the seed pods to become damp and moldy.

Bring seedpods to Captain Joe and Sons on Sunday morning between 10:30 and noon. Captain Joes is located at 95 East Main Street, East Gloucester.

If you’d like to distribute seeds, meet at the dock between 10:30 and noon and I will show you what to do.

NOTE: It is easy to tell when milkweed seedpods are ripe. The seeds inside turn brown. Do not collect the pods when the seeds are white or green. If you pick them too soon, they will never be viable. You can check the seed pods by slitting the pod a tiny bit and peeking inside.

Any questions, please comment in the comment section or email me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com. Thank you and I hope to see you Sunday morning!

To learn more about how you can help fund the documentary Beauty on the Wing and the Monarch Butterfly Film Online Fundraising event, please visit the film’s website at monarchbutterflyfilm.com.

HOW YOU CAN HELP FUND MY MONARCH BUTTERFLY FILM!

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I AM OVERJOYED TO SHARE THAT WE HAVE RAISED 1800.00 IN THE FIRST TWO DAYS OF “BEAUTY ON THE WING” ONLINE FUNDRAISER!!! MY DEEPEST THANKS  TO LAUREN M., DONNA STOMAN, PEGGY O’MALLEY, JOEY C, ELAINE M., CATHERINE RYAN, JOEANN HART, JANE PAZNIK BONDARIN AND ROBERT REDIS (BOTH FROM NEW YORK), AND ANONYMOUS PERSONS FOR THEIR GENEROUS HELP.  

Dear Friends,

Today I am excited to launch the online fundraising campaign for my documentary film Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly.

This film—more than five years in the making—chronicles the extraordinary story of the Monarch butterfly. Tiny creatures, each weighing less than a paperclip, journey thousands of miles from their northern breeding grounds, of which Cape Ann is an integral part, to the trans-volcanic mountaintops of central Mexico. The most magical thing is that their story unfolds in our own backyards, marshes, meadows, and fields. Beauty on the Wing reveals the interconnection between the butterfly’s habitat and wildflowers and the importance of conserving their ecosystems. The film is unique in that every stage of the butterfly’s life cycle is recorded in vibrant close-up in the wild, both on Cape Ann and in Mexico.

The current goal is to raise funds to create a 55-minute feature-length final cut to distribute to elementary schools nationwide. My fundraising partner is the nonprofit Filmmakers Collaborative and donations are tax deductible. Please consider donating what you can. No donation is too small ($5, $25, $100) and every dollar helps get us one step closer to completing the film.

DONATE HERE

Donors contributing over $5,000 will be listed in the credits as a film producer.

For more information, visit the film’s website here: Monarch Butterfly Film

For an overview of the film’s budget, please go here: Budget

Thank you so very much for your help.

With gratitude,

Kim Smith

Pure magic in the marsh this morning! For one moment, there were eight Monarchs on this single spray of Seaside Goldenrod.

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A SPECTACULAR PAINTED LADY BUTTERFLY IRRUPTION HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!

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The sheer number of Painted Ladies migrating are stealing some of the Monarchs thunder!

Many readers have written inquiring about the beautiful butterflies with wings in a tapestry of brilliant orange, brown, black, cream, and blue. Painted Ladies (Vanessa cardui) are often confused with Monarch butterflies, especially during the late summer. Both are currently migrating and you will often see the two species drinking nectar side-by-side.

As do Monarchs, Painted Ladies depart from Mexico to begin their northward migration in springtime. Both Monarchs and Painted Ladies belong to the brush-foot family (Nymphalidae) and can only survive in warm climates.

Monarch Butterfly, top, and Painted Lady bottom. Note that the Painted Lady is about half the size of the Monarch.

Sightings from the midwest recorded large numbers early in the season, and 2017 has proven to be an outstanding year for this most successful of butterflies. The Painted Lady is also nicknamed the “Cosmopolitan” butterfly because it is the most widespread butterfly in the world.

Painted Lady drinking nectar from the Seaside Goldenrod at the Gloucester HarborWalk

One reason we may possibly be experiencing a Painted Lady irruption in North America is because a rainy spring in the south was followed by a fabulous bloom of dessert annuals that provided abundant food plants for the caterpillars. Unlike Monarch butterflies, which will only deposit their eggs on members of the milkweed family (Asclepias), Painted Lady caterpillars eat a wide range of plants. More than 300 host plants have been noted; favorites include thistles, yarrow, Pearly Everlasting, Common Sunflower (Asteraceae), Hollyhock and many mallows (Malvaceae), various legumes (Fabaceae) along with members of Boraginaceae, Plantaginaceae, and Urticaceae.

Common Buckeye and Painted Lady Nectaring at the Seaside Goldenrod at the Gloucester HarborWalk  

Much, much more remains to be discovered about the beautiful Painted Lady, its habits and how their behavior and seasonal distribution varies by geographic location.

Read More about Painted Ladies here:

DANCE OF COLOR AND LIGHT

Painted Lady Drinking Nectar from the Purple-stemmed Aster

Torn and Tattered Rare Visiting Swallowtail

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Stopping by for only a few brief moments, a rarely seen and travel weary Spicebush Swallowtail made an appearance in our garden this morning. He drank nectar from the wildflowers, the native Heleniums and Phlox, before departing over the garden gate. We’ve planted a Spicebush just for these beauties, so begged him please come back Mr. Swallowtail, when you have a bit more time, and bring the Mrs. so she may deposit her eggs on the foliage of the Spicebush. They make the cutest caterpillars!

Faded Male Spicebush Swallowtail

The next two photos are courtesy WikiCommons Media and show how different a newly emerged female Spicebush Swallowtail appears, and a Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar.

PICK YOUR OWN SUNFLOWERS AT CEDAR ROCK GARDENS AND ELISE’S TOMATOES ARE CRAZY TALL!!

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Pick your own fabulous fresh sunflowers at Cedar Rock Gardens and a butterfly may follow you home!

Elise and her amazing (and wonderfully delicious) tomatoes. Elise and Tucker supply the produce to Short and Main and The Market Restaurant in Annisquam.

Cedar Rock Gardens is located at 290 Concord Street in West located. For more information, visit their website here.

MONARCH FILM FUNDRAISING SCREENING PARTY

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Dear Friends,

This past spring I had a tremendously inspirational experience. Out of the blue, a lovely woman from Concord, Laura Stevens, contacted me about the possibility of viewing my documentary film about the Monarch butterflies, Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterflies. I was reluctant at first, explaining that the film was in a rough cut form. Although the rough cut features the butterflies and Cape Ann in the most beautiful light, the film does need finessing.

Laura comes from a wonderful family and they all love Monarchs! Every year, she and her family gather together for a reunion based around a weekend of learning. Laura explained that it would be an extra special treat for the 27 women and children who attend the reunion to see the film. The more I thought about it the more I thought it would be a super idea, and sent her access to the film.

Several weeks passed when in the mail I received the most heartfelt thank you letters from Laura and her family members who had attended the screening, from the ninety-five year old great auntie to the youngest child there. And soon after that, donations towards the film’s completion arrived from this most generous family. I am so grateful to Laura and her family for the donations, and for their kind encouragement and enthusiasm.

At that time the thought crossed my mind that this would be a wonderful way to continue to raise funds for the documentary. Landscape design work and the story of Little Chick and the Piping Plovers has kept me from doing any recent fundraising, but my work typically slows for a brief period during the end of August and beginning of September.

Female Monarch Butterfly and Marsh Milkweed, 2017

Don’t you think it auspicious for my film project that we are seeing so many butterflies this summer? I began documenting the Monarchs in our region in 2006, which was a tremendous year for the Monarch migration through Cape Ann. The year 2012 was quite strong as well, but in the past four years, as the worldwide population has plummeted, so have the Monarchs migrating through our area. Imagine that in 1977 when the Monarchs were first discovered at their winter sleeping grounds, the butterflies were counted by the billions, while today only by the millions.

My hope for Beauty on the Wing is that it will travel to the various conservation and environmental festivals, and then be made available to classrooms around the nation. Another dream for the film is that it will be translated into Spanish and French. Just as American and Canadian children are curious about the butterflies’ winter home after departing their northern breeding grounds, Mexican children are equally curious as to the butterflies’ destination after they leave the butterfly sanctuaries in central Mexico.

The intent of this letter is to learn if amongst our readers there is interest in hosting a screening of the film in its not quite completed form. The purpose of the screening would be to raise money towards the film’s completion and distribution. And, too, I thought it would be a more fun, educational, and personal way to fundraise. To date I have received over $5,000 in generous donations. I am working with the non-profit filmmaker’s assistance group, the Filmmakers Collaborative. Donations made through FC are tax deductible. An itemized budget is available upon request. Beauty on the Wing is 54 minutes long. I thought we could show twenty minutes of highlights and then discuss the current state of the butterflies. Viewer feedback would also be of tremendous help. Screening parties could be so much fun, especially at this time of year during the butterfly’s migration, and especially in 2017 while we are seeing so many Monarchs on the wing.

Readers, what do you think? Please comment on this post or write me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail. Thank you so very much for your time, thoughts, and interest.

Warmest wishes,

Kim

 

Links:

Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly film website

A Flight of Monarchs

Trailer

Film Interview with Doctor Thomas Emmel at the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve at Sierra

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KIM SMITH POLLINATOR GARDEN PROGRAM FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC THURSDAY EVENING

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Please join me Thursday evening, August 10th, at 7:00pm, at the Peabody Institute Library, South Branch. I will be giving my talk about how to create a garden to benefit a host of pollinators and screening several short films. I hope to see you there! 

The day we planted blueberries, is the day the Catbirds moved in. Many species of songbirds are pollinators, too!

Painted Lady nectaring at wildflower Joe-pye, Good Harbor Beach

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CAMBRIDGE’S MARY PRENTISS INN URBAN POLLINATOR GARDEN!

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All are welcome at The Mary Prentiss Inn, people and pollinators!

Pollen-dusted Honey Bee

We’ve planted the front dooryard garden with an array of eye-catching, fragrant, and nectar rich flora for both guests and neighbors to enjoy, and to sustain the growing number of bees, butterflies, and songbirds frequenting the garden.

Fabulously fragrant Oriental Lilies are planted adjacent to the front door to welcome visitors as they enter the Inn.

The Mary Prentiss Inn, from the pollinators point of view ~

The Mary Prentiss is a stunning twenty-room Greek-Revival style inn located on a quiet street minutes away from Harvard Square. Elegant, comfortable, and charming, with period architectural detail and decor, the Inn is outfitted with all modern amenities. Visit The Mary Prentiss Inn website for more information.

Enjoy a delicious made-to-order breakfast or afternoon tea at the Inn’s secret garden.

The Mary Prentiss Inn is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is the proud recipient of the Massachusetts Historical Commission Preservation Award for 1995.

The Mary Prentiss Inn is located at 6 Prentiss Street, Cambridge. Call 617-661-2929 or visit maryprentissinn.com

The Dance of Color and Light

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Have you noticed the beautiful Painted Lady Butterfly flitting about your garden, in the meadows, along roadways, and even at the beach? I think we are having a Painted Lady irruption. The wave of Painted Ladies began appearing in large numbers this past spring, with reports of a dramatic increase in sightings in the midwest.

Seeing Double

The Painted Lady is the most successful butterfly in the world. It lives some part of the year on every continent except South America, where it is rare or absent. Despite the fact that the Painted Lady is the most widely distributed butterfly, not a great deal is known about its migration. In North America the annual spring migration is thought to originate in the northwestern region of Mexico, where they can be found all year round. Heavy rains in late winter in that region trigger an explosion of northward migrating Painted Ladies that establish the spring brood.

I watched this little torn and tattered Painted Lady fly south over the Essex River, from Crane’s Beach to Wingaersheek Beach. She rested briefly on a rock before heading to the wildflowers in the dunes.

MONARCHS HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE PART TWO AND PLEASE CONTINUE TO REPORT YOUR MONARCH SIGHTINGS

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The title of the post could just as easily have read Monarchs, Eggs, and Caterpillars Here, There, and Everywhere. I haven’t seen this much Monarch activity on Cape Ann in over ten years and hope so much the number of Monarchs seen in gardens, meadows, and dunes indicates a strong migration.

Thank you to everyone who has written in with your Monarch sightings! The reports are tremendously informative and fun to read, so please, do continue to let us know. The rainy cool weather has temporarily put the kibosh on mating and egg laying, but they are here on our shores and just waiting for a few warm hours and the sun to come out to renew breeding activity.

Monarchs not only drink nectar from the florets of milkweed, it is the only species of plant on which they deposit their eggs. In the above photo you can clearly see the Monarch probing for nectar with her proboscis, or drinking straw. 

Look for the butterflies, eggs, and caterpillars wherever milkweed grows. In our region, they are most often found on pink flowering Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) and Marsh Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), as opposed to the orange milkweeds, A. curassavica and A. tuberosa.

Female Monarch depositing an egg on an upper leaf of Common Milkweed.

The eggs are typically laid on the underside of the leaf, near the top of the plant. Tiny golden domes, no larger than a pinhead, Monarch eggs are easily confused with the eggs of other insects.

Once the tiny caterpillar emerges, it will stay towards the top of the plant, venturing further to larger leaves as it grows.

Four Monarchs in One Photo!

I was trying to take a snapshot of two Monarchs flying but not until I returned home did I realize that resting on a leaf were a pair of Monarchs mating. Lara Lepionka had just sent a photo the day before of a pair mating in a tree above her garden. Typically Monarchs will begin mating on the ground, or the foliage of a lower plant plant such as squash or milkweed. They will join together abdomen to abdomen and, once securely attached, the male then carries the female to a safer location. A male and female Monarch will stay coupled together for four to five hours before releasing (see photo below of a pair of Monarchs mating, towards center left.

Lara Lepionka cell phone photo of Monarchs mating in a tree.

Monarch and Common Milkweed Good Harbor Beach

Not everyone has a gorgeous milkweed patch like Patti Papows. Don’t despair. You don’t have to go far! I am finding tons of eggs and caterpillars on the Common Milkweed that grows around the edge of the parking lot at Good Harbor Beach.

Patti Papows Common Milkweed with Monarch and Bee.

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PATTI’S CATTIES AND OTHER TALES FROM THE PAPOWS BEAUTIFUL GARDEN

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My friend Patti Papows very thoughtfully invited me to come film and take photos in her gorgeous garden, especially her milkweed patch. Patti purchased milkweed plants from our Cape Ann Milkweed Project several years ago, both the Common and Marsh Milkweed that we offered.

Patti’s Common Milkweed has really taken off this year. The plants are about five feet tall, lush and healthy, and bursting with sweetly fragrant blossoms. The Monarchs are daily visitors, coming not by the ones and twos, but by the dozen. Not only are her milkweed blossoms beckoning to the Monarchs, but the plants are also attracting every bee species imaginable found in a Cape Ann garden, as well as myriad other pollinating insects.

I showed Patti how to find Monarch caterpillars. She found three in about three minutes; we weren’t even trying that hard! They are safer from spiders in my terrariums, so I brought her tiny caterpillars home where they are developing nicely alongside a dozen Monarch eggs. These eggs were discovered in my garden, and at the Common Milkweed plants growing along the edges of the Good Harbor Beach parking lot.

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Patti’s patch of native high bush blueberries attracts loads of Catbirds, and dozens more species of songbirds and small mammals. This morning the foliage made a perfect perch for a male Monarch butterfly.

In the above photo you can clearly see the Monarch’s two-part tubular drinking straw, called a proboscis. The Monarch is probing deep into the Milkweed floret for a sip of sweet nectar.

Who, me? I’m innocent! Chipmunk snacking at the buffet-of-plenty in Patti’s garden.

Patti placed the purple chair in the midst of the milkweed patch so that visitors can enjoy being surrounded by the beautiful pollinators buzzing all around and the delightful fragrance emitted by the Common Milkweed. I tried it out and her plan worked, it is pure Heaven!

I had an absolutely wonderful morning filming and photographing, despite the limiting overcast skies, and plan to return on a sunnier day, hopefully this week while the Monarchs are here on Cape Ann busy egg-laying and pollinating our gardens!

Patti shares that at the end of the day, her Monarchs are nectaring from the flowering hosta. She sent these photos this morning, taken yesterday afternoon with her cell phone.

MONARCHS HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE! PLEASE REPORT YOUR MONARCH BUTTERFLY SIGHTINGS (EDITED)

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Reports of Monarch Butterfly sightings are coming in from all around Cape Ann, and beyond. I have seen more this this year than in recent summers. I wonder if higher numbers in July indicates a stronger migration in September. We can hope!

At this time of year, the females are depositing the eggs of the next generation.  You can find Monarchs at wildflower meadows, dunes, and gardens, where ever milkweed and nectar-rich flora grow. Typically, the eggs and caterpillars are found on the undersides of the uppermost leaves.

If you would, please report any Monarch activity that you have seen–eggs, flight, caterpillars, nectaring, mating, whatever you discover. Please share the approximate date and place. Even if you have shared previously in a comment, I hope to keep all the sightings in one place, so please re-comment. Thank you! 

*EDIT:

Thank you everyone for writing! How exciting that so many are being spotted, many more than the past several years. One was in my garden this morning, again, and two at Good Harbor Beach dunes earlier this morning.

Adding JoeAnn Hart, Susan Burke and Michele Del, as they commented on Facebook.

Patti, do you have caterpillars?? I’d love to stop by and see.

Please keep your comments coming. Thank you!!!!

When watching, note that the first two minutes of the film were shot in Gloucester. I think you will be dazzled by the numbers of Monarchs that travel through Cape Ann’s backyards and meadows during the peak of migration.

THE SUPER-SIZED POLYPHEMUS MOTH

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The Polyphemus Moth is a silk moth and one of North America’s largest, with a wing span up to six inches. This beauty was found at my friends Lotus and Colleen’s backyard. Thanks to Lotus and Colleen for sharing!

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