Walking with butterflies
By Margaret Toussaint; The Darien News
Like strains of beautiful music in the air, they fluttered by, each whisper of their tiny, gossamer wings a silent affirmation of productivity in our coastal environment. Gliding and dancing to nature’s own sweet tune, butterflies may seem like beautiful extras on the package of life. With their fanciful coloration, they make the world prettier, bring smiles to the faces of small children and delight local gardeners.
For butterflies are more important than fancy ribbons or bows; they are essential to our survival. They are important plant pollinators, second only to bees. In addition, butterflies serve as a good indicator of our environmental health.
So when Coastal Wildscapes, a nonprofit whose mission revolves around restoring and preserving coastal ecosystems, and Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, a diverse ecosystem managed for wildlife, recently teamed up to host a Butterfly Walk-About, the response from the community was enthusiastic. It was standing room only for the pre-walk orientation.
Kimberly Hayes, Refuge Manager, explained that Harris Neck is one of 550 national wildlife refuges in the U.S., operating under Fish and Wildlife Service. “We manage for trust species,” she said, explaining that the term means endangered species such as migratory birds and anadromous fish (they live in the ocean but breed in fresh water).
Christa Hayes of Coastal Wildscapes explained that many butterflies must have wetland habitat for a portion of their life cycle. However, she continued, by 1991, one-quarter of the wetlands in the southeast were gone.
She stressed the importance of native plants for butterfly diversity, since caterpillars prefer different host plants. For instance, the Southern Hairstreak lives in live oaks and its larvae feed on Sparkleberry in the mid-canopy. Eastern Tiger Swallowtail larvae prefer Sweetbay, wild, plums and black cherry. Gulf Fritillary larvae prefer passionflowers.
After a slideshow preview of butterflies, the tour set off to explore the refuge, seeking out wetlands, grassy fields and more. The sight of a startling striped butterfly among so many orange, yellow and black butterflies produced a hum of excitement for this solitary zebra swallowtail! More delights were around every bend of the trail.
Take a sunny morning or late afternoon stroll in your neighborhood and you too may walk among the butterflies.