northeast-flora-and-fauna

Butterfly Milkweed isn't just of butterflies, proven by both an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and a bumblebee both stopped by for lunch. Butterfly Milkweed is like Cheers for thirsty pollinators, where lots of colorful, diverse characters drop by to wet their whistles. If anything, the "clientele" on these flowers is more diverse than the personalities at a bar; between butterflies, bees, moths, wasps, flies, beetles, etc. are far less closely related than the humans in a bar. July 6, 2023 at Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary Photo 301262427, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's an interesting member of the milkweeds, part of the dogbane family . It's a Butterfly Milkweed (AKA Butterfly Weed ). This milkweed is known for its small but bright orange flowers; when in bloom they're pretty easy to spot. They do have a taller relative, the Fewflower Milkweed which is technically in New Jersey but I'm not sure I've ever seen one [1]. A lot of times you can verify that a plant is a milkweed (or dogbane) by breaking a small part of a leaf; if you see a white sticky latex-like substance oozing out, you've got a milkweed (or dogbane). This stuff is what makes milkweeds poisonous and makes the Monarch caterpillars that eat it poisonous too. Butterfly Milkweed doesn't really ooze this substance. My understanding is that Monarch caterpillars can/will eat Butterfly Milkweed but won't become poisonous like their relatives who feed on other milkweed species [2].  Though their flowers are small, they are considered to be fairly prolifi...

If you like your colors between red and yellow on the visible light spectrum , orange you going to be glad to see this post. Amidst the vibrantly orange Butterfly Milkweed there are 3 primarily orange butterflies: Just right of center and probably the reason I noticed the activity is a Monarch butterfly. My recollection is that these milkweeds were pretty far out into a meadow, and I didn't notice the Great Spangled Fritillary until I got my binoculars on them. This butterfly is just to the left of the Monarch. But it wasn't until I got home and processed the photos that I realized there was also a Pearl Crescent in there too, a little to the left of the Great Spangled Fritillary. Generally speaking, I don't see open hostility between most pollinators. It's not at all uncommon to see butterflies, bees, wasps, and other pollinators near one another and (mostly) going about their own business. There are other instances though when I'm not sure what's going o...

Meadows are beginning to bloom out, and milkweed , one of the workhorses of the meadow, are an example of that. This almost certainly changes the ecosystem: There's a sudden increase in the nectar/pollen available out there, attracting a bunch of different pollinators (bees, wasps, butterflies, moths, flower flies, etc). This in turn attracts predators of the pollinators like spiders, mantises, and birds. It's also a host plant for lots of insects, many of which I talked about here . I wanted to talk about milkweeds partly because I'm supposed to talk about them as Duke Farms Outdoor Educator today so I watched some videos to refresh my memory about them: Nature at Your Door Frank Taylor Six Species of Milkweed ... Here are 2 of our most commonly seen milkweeds, the Common Milkweed and the Butterfly Milkweed . June 10, 2022 at Negri Nepote Native Grassland Preserve Common Milkweed June 10, 2022 at Negri Nepote Native Grassland Preserve Butterfly Milkweed

If you know where to look, it's not unusual to find Butterfly Milkweed . It's fairly common in meadows, and its bright, normally orange flowers stand out from most other plants. But I've been surprised that there's a spot in the Orchid Range Meadow at Duke Farms, which pretty much annually has what's apparently a Butterfly Milkweed that has yellow rather than orange flowers. It's hard to be certain, but the yellow Butterfly Milkweed seems to be in approximately the same place in the meadow each year. And there's usually orange Butterfly Milkweed nearby. I initially wondered if there was an underabundance or overabundance of some soil nutrient in this spot, and that was causing the unorthodox flower color. And I also assumed I wasn't likely to be the first person to see yellow Butterfly Milkweed, regardless of the underlying cause, so I did an internet search. I quickly discovered that: Yellow Butterfly Milkweed is sometimes found naturally. It's (rel...