[DPLEX-L:48147] Wave after wave of butterflies from Texas

gganweiler at shaw.ca gganweiler at shaw.ca
Thu Apr 26 15:16:25 EDT 2012


No tar sands to speak of in Saskatchewan; but we got lots and lots here in Alberta!  Saskatchewan would LOVE to have some, I am sure!

Gary (an Alberta resident, formerly a Saskatchewan resident)

(This has been a small but free geography lesson.)



From: Dana, Robert (DNR) 
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2012 10:45 AM
To: cking at YorkU.CA ; leps-l at lists.yale.edu 
Subject: RE: [DPLEX-L:48147] Wave after wave of butterflies from Texas

Must say I find Ms King’s post a little unsettling. All the species Chip Taylor lists are common “weedy” species across the southern US. All can be expected to prosper with climate warming. Mining Saskatchewan’s tar sands will be just fine with them. Meanwhile, our northern specialists are going to find hard going at best. Some will be able to retreat farther north, but some are likely to be squeezed off the planet. Even if all the northern species here in MN find adequate habitat up in Canada, I won’t be able to think of the southern vagrants  as commensurate replacements.

 

Robert

 

From: owner-leps-l at lists.yale.edu [mailto:owner-leps-l at lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Carolyn King
Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 6:39 PM
To: leps-l at lists.yale.edu
Subject: Fw: [DPLEX-L:48147] Wave after wave of butterflies from Texas

 


Here in Southern Ontario we were delighted by the "invasion" of thousands of red admirals, beginning April 16.  I'm curious about the waves of other species that Chip Taylor mentions here.  Are any of you  in the Midwest seeing unusual numbers? 

I would love to see more of the southern species.  Variegated fritillaries are occasionally seen here, but dainty sulphurs would be wonderful! 

Cheers, 
Carolyn King 

Toronto Entomologists' Association 
http://www.ontarioinsects.org 

----- Forwarded by Carolyn King/fs/YorkU on 04/25/12 07:24 PM ----- 

      Chip Taylor <chip at ku.edu> 
      Sent by: owner-dplex-l at listproc.cc.ku.edu 

      04/24/12 07:27 PM 

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           [DPLEX-L:48147] Wave after wave of butterflies from Texas
           

       

            
     


Over the last three weeks we have experienced wave after wave of 
butterflies migrating north from Texas. First it was red admirals, 
then painted ladies, then American painted ladies, followed by 
variegated fritillaries, dainty sulphurs, two other sulphur species, 
grey hairstreaks, buckeyes, and now orange sulphurs (Colias 
eurytheme) - with hundreds of them in the garden at any one time. 
This short video (to be posted to our Facebook page soon) will give 
you an idea of the number of sulphurs present today. I can truthfully 
say that never have I seen so many butterflies in our garden in 
April. The numbers and diversity actually rival anything we've seen 
in the fall when butterflies are usually abundant here.

Everything is early and remains so even though the temperatures have 
been nearly normal for the last three weeks. On Saturday (21 April) 
while mowing my lawn I spotted and Asclepias viridis (green antelope 
milkweed) in bloom. The usual dates for first bloom of this species 
in this area are 8-12 May.

This is a spring like no other - at least in the last 20+ years that 
I have been following monarchs closely. Conditions have been 
consistently excellent for monarch reproduction of 6 weeks. 
Everything to this point indicates that monarchs will rebound this 
year. A big bounce back is possible. I will summarize the situation 
as I see it as time becomes available in 10 days or so.
-- 
Chip Taylor
chip at ku.edu
Monarch Watch
http://www.MonarchWatch.org/
Dplex-L:  send message "info Dplex-L" to Listproc at ku.edu
1-888-TAGGING -or- 1-785-864-4441
University of Kansas
1200 Sunnyside Avenue
Lawrence, KS 66045-7534
Create, Conserve, and Protect Monarch Habitats
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