Vanessa at night - no 3

[Paul Cherubini]

Martin Bailey wrote:

> The majority of observors rarely have the opportunity to be a quarter of
> mile away from artificial lights at night.  And it is the rare few that
> venture out into the night on darken roads and see vehicles without their
> lights on passing them by.

I disagree.  Except in our largest urban centers, one can drive about 5 miles
( 8 kilometers) out of town in the middle of the night, take a few side
roads (especially dirt roads) and easily find places 1/4 mile away from the
nearest building or street lights.     

> It has already been stated on this listserv that butterflies will manage to
> continue to fly in wind conditions that they would never venture out into
> when they are on migration.  They probably navigate without the benefit  of
> humanly visual light. 

I don't understand what you are saying.  Vanessa butterflies
in migration continue to fly during the daytime whether or not there are 
headwinds, tailwinds or cross winds. They begin migrating shortly 
before sunrise and continue migrating shortly after sunset
But I am unaware of any reports of them flying one hour or more
after sunset or one hour or more before sunrise (except in cases
where the observer is near artificial lights). 

Paul Cherubini

 
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