Do you recall our “Photo of the Day” from seven months ago…
Here’s something to look forward to in the new year. The good citizens of East Donegal Township in Lancaster County have partnered with Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay to establish an extensive wildflower meadow on what had been a mowed field of turf grass at Riverside Park in the Susquehanna floodplain near Marietta. As the photo shows, the lawn plants have been eliminated in preparation for seeding with a diverse assortment of native grasses and wildflowers to provide habitat for birds and pollinators including butterflies, bees, and other insects. Once established, the meadow’s extensive vegetative growth will help reduce stormwater runoff by better infiltrating rainfall to recharge the aquifer. During flood events, the plantings will provide soil stabilization and increase the ability of the acreage to uptake nutrients, thus reducing the negative impact of major storms on the quality of water in the river and in Chesapeake Bay. Check the project’s progress by stopping by from time to time in 2024!
Well, here’s what that site looks like today…
The wildflowers, thousands of them, are now in bloom!Black-eyed Susan and Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata) dominate the assortment currently in flower.
And there are pollinating insects galore, most notably butterflies…
A Cabbage White collecting nectar on Blue Vervain.A Clouded or Orange Sulphur among the grasses in the meadow.A Silver-spotted Skipper.The Least Skipper is our tiniest butterfly.The Little Glassywing (Vernia verna), this one feeding on vervain nectar, deposits its eggs on Purpletop grass, which then functions as the host plant for this butterfly’s larvae.A Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta) feeding on the nectar of a Black-eyed Susan.A Common Buckeye on a “Gloriosa Daisy”, a showy, large-flowered cultivar of Black-eyed Susan.A Red-winged Blackbird with a caterpillar found among the meadow’s lush growth.An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on Blue Vervain. Nearby Yellow (Tulip) Poplars and other trees serve as host plants for this butterfly’s larvae.The black morph of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail shows subdued shading in the wings that closely resembles the brilliant color patterns of the more familiar yellow form.The Sachem, this one visiting a Black-eyed Susan, is a variable species with a range that normally lies south of the 40th parallel, the line of latitude that intersects the Susquehanna in the area of the Conejohela Flats at Washington Boro.A Sachem visiting the blooms of Oxeye sunflower. During recent weeks, scorching winds from the south and southwest have transported an abundance of these vagrant skippers into the lower Susquehanna valley and beyond.A male Sachem approaching the bloom of a “Gloriosa Daisy”. Miles north of the 40th parallel, wandering Sachems are currently the most numerous of the butterflies at the Riverfront Park wildflower meadow.Here and there among the meadow’s plantings we noticed one of our favorites starting to flower, the Partridge Pea.Partridge Pea happens to be a host plant for another vagrant from the south, the big, lime-yellow Cloudless Sulphur. We saw at least half a dozen patrolling the meadow.The stars of the show are the Zebra Swallowtails, gorgeous butterflies that rely on stands of native Common Paw-paw trees in the river floodplain to host their eggs and larvae.The red-white-and-blue underside of a Zebra Swallowtail.WOW!
Why on earth would anyone waste their time, energy, and money mowing grass when they could have this? Won’t you please consider committing graminicide this fall? That’s right, kill that lawn—at least the majority of it. Then visit the Ernst Seed website, buy some “Native Northeast Wildlflower Mix” and/or other blends, and get your meadow planted in time for the 2025 growing season. Just think of all the new kinds of native plants and animals you’ll be seeing. It could change your life as well as theirs.
A Snowberry Clearwing (Hemaris diffinis), more commonly known as a hummingbird moth, visits the flowers of Blue Vervain in the Riverfront Park wildflower meadow.
A special message from your local Chinese Mantis (Tenodera sinensis).
Hey you! Yes, you. I pray you’re paying attention to what’s flying around out there, otherwise it’ll all pass you by.
This summer’s hot humid breezes from the south have not only carried swarms of dragonflies into the lower Susquehanna valley, but butterflies too.
So check out these extravagant visitors from south of the Mason-Dixon Line—before my appetite gets the better of me.
In some years, the Sachem, a vagrant from the south, can become the most frequently observed orange skipper in the Susquehanna valley, far outnumbering faltering populations of resident species around lawns, gardens, meadows, and roadsides. 2020 appears to be one of those years.The Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus) sometimes strays north along the lower Susquehanna River in late summer. This one was photographed recently at Conewago Falls.The Cloudless Sulphur is a large fast-flying brilliant yellow butterfly. Here in the Susquehanna valley, it is usually seen singly, though colonizers will breed in patches of Partridge Pea, Wild Senna (Senna hebecarpa), and Maryland Senna (Senna marilandica). Cloudless Sulphurs are really widespread this year. In areas where intensive farming practices are in use, your chances of seeing one of these wandering around right now might be just as good as your chances of seeing one of the diminished flights of the resident Clouded Sulphurs (Colias philodice) and Orange Sulphurs (Colias eurytheme).The Red-banded Hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops) is the least conspicuous of the stray butterflies shown here. This beauty was photographed several days ago along the edge of an oak forest in northern Lancaster County, PA.
There you have it. Get out there and have a look around. These species won’t be active much longer. In just a matter of weeks, our migratory butterflies, including Monarchs, will be heading south and our visiting strays will either follow their lead or risk succumbing to frosty weather.
For more photographs of butterflies, be sure to click the “Butterflies” tab at the top of the page. We’re adding more as we get them.
