Synchronicity, was killing butterflies for fun???

[Anne Kilmer]

Well, of course death is part of the pattern. Oak trees, every few 
years, have a no-acorns year, during which the squirrels would starve if 
all went as "planned". The following year, there would be a fine crop of 
little oak seedlings, most of them to be pruned to the ground a dozen 
times by deer; after which pruning a few might live.
Bats have a backup plan; they can go back to bed.
Swallows, as you point out, are less fortunate.
Nature is hideously unsentimental. Consider the bot.
But in life's great lottery, it only takes a few winners to continue the 
species. And the dead swallows will not be wasted, after all.
Now, when we get involved, feeding the squirrels, for instance, and 
balancing it out by planting oak trees, we do need to take an interest 
in the whole picture. If we only save the parts we like (preserve the 
butterflies and squash the moths) we will wind up with a 
Paint-By-Numbers version of the Mona Lisa.
Mall World.
And, speaking of Bambi (let's not go there; this is, after all, a leps 
list).
I'm sorry we all leapt on Joseph with such vigor; he seemed to be 
putting us on, and now, oh dear, he's quite genuine, and entitled to 
respect.
Joseph, collectors are like duck hunters. They don't pay for duck 
stamps, per se, but they exert themselves to create and restore habitat 
for butterflies and moths, study what the bugs need, and warn us if 
there is a problem we need to attend to.
The collectors and breeders, in fact, are banding together with 
butterfly watchers to save rare butterflies, for instance the Miami Blue.
They are good guys, even if they do kill a few butterflies.
Forgive us; we have just been fooled by a troll and we're a bit jumpy 
still. We thought you were joshing.
Anne Kilmer
Mayo, Ireland



Martin Bailey wrote:

>>We were talking about synchronicity a while ago ... the notion that the
>>caterpillars and the plants they feed on show up at about the same time,
>>bless the Lord. I notice that the swallows, the bats and the cuckoos all
>>showed up this week, and the air is full of six-legged birds of every
>>description.
>>Anne Kilmer
>>Mayo, Ireland
>>
> 
> 
> In my neck of the flats the Tree Swallows and a Purple Martin or two showed
> on a warm day which then was followed by days of below freezing cold and
> then snow.
> 
> Not unlike a number of years back when Paul James (PhD, Oxford: Ornithology)
> pulled two hundred dead swallows out of a tree hollow for the T.V. cameras.
> They had gathered together to stay warm and wait out bugless days.
> 
> Now if I was rich, I could construct an emergency insectarium that I would
> keep filled all winter long.  On those days in the spring (they do not
> always happen) when the temperature drop I could release my winter fare ( no
> butterflies mind you) for the birds.
> 
> Alas, a totally unscientific daydream.  Those cold-blooded bugs would not
> fly out of their winter home into the cold air to become food for warm
> blooded birds.
> 
> It's not that I do not like the idea of synchronicity, but it has its
> limitations.  Has anyone done any work on the interrelationships of cold
> blooded and warm blooded creatures per se?
> 
> Martin Bailey,
> 
> greetings from:  Weyburn, SK., Canada.
>                          49.39N  103.51W
> 
> 
> 




 
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