Butterflies while cutting firewood

[Cris Guppy & Aud Fischer]

>From central British Columbia, Canada: I spent a good part of this weekend enjoying the sun, once the temperature got above freezing (around noon), and cutting firewood to keep the house warm this winter. Typically winter temperatures are around -5 to -20 C, with periods of -30 to -40 C. I found 3 Mourning Cloaks hibernating in hollow logs lying on the ground (2 in one, 1 in another). I tucked them into a sheltered pile of boards for the winter, but one flew around for a couple hours and then retired to the woodshed where I will find it again in mid-winter. I also found 4 Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) pupae, apparently alive and hibernating for the winter. I left them in place for the winter, and anticipate that in the spring parasites will emerge.  I also found a nice fat Canadian Swallowtail (Papilio canadensis) pupa on the trunk of a dead birch tree, AFTER I had cut it up for firewood. The chainsaw missed it by about 2 inches, and it avoided being squashed when I threw the wood into a wheel barrow and took it to the woodshed. I photographed it, and tucked it into the back of the woodshed to wait for spring. I have a couple more weeks of cutting firewood and finding various butterflies, and then the first major snowfall around Halloween will end butterflying for the year (it may or may not melt again).

Cris Guppy
4627 Quesnel-Hydraulic Road
Quesnel, B.C. V2J 6P8 
CANADA
(250) 747-1512 (h) 992-4490 (w)
E-mail: cguppy at quesnelbc.com
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