By Suzanne Herel, Delaware Master Naturalist
About 20 nature enthusiasts gathered at the Ashland Butterfly Habitat on a recent Saturday to learn more about our local butterflies as part of a class hosted by DelNature.
Delaware Master Naturalist Suzanne Herel points out the pipevine growing in the Butterfly Habitat. It is the host plant for the Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly, whose caterpillar is pictured. Photos by Hank Davis.
By official and anecdotal accounts, it’s been a poor year for butterflies. If you haven’t seen many flying around, you’re not alone. But they and other pollinators are critical to our very existence, so it’s important to understand our mutual place in the environment.
That’s what the Butterfly Habitat is all about.
While we didn’t see as many butterflies as we’d hoped, we were graced by a Monarch, Red Admiral, Pipevine Swallowtail, Red-Banded Hairstreak, tiger swallowtails and numerous skippers.
Left: A Red Admiral enjoys the nectar of Phlox paniculata ‘Jeana,’ a butterfly magnet.
Center: Some females of the Tiger Swallowtail occur in a dark form, mimicking the toxic Pipevine Swallowtail.
Right: This Red-Banded Hairstreak was resting on senna, which also was being munched by Cloudless Sulphur caterpillars.
More tiger swallowtails dined at the adjacent pollinator garden, and we spotted a Common Buckeye on Hawk Watch Hill during our hike around Ashland.
Class participants spotted a Common Buckeye butterfly and lots of skippers on Hawk Watch Hill.
In addition to butterflies, we came across a majestic bullfrog and hummingbirds.
A bullfrog and male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird were also enjoying the day at Ashland.
Newly Open Butterfly Habitat Invites Full Life Cycle
Since expanding the plantings of the former Butterfly House and removing the netting to open the space to the insects’ full life cycle, the habitat has become a demonstration garden, providing visitors ideas of how to replicate the plantings that butterflies and other pollinators need, whether at their own homes or in their communities.
It’s also been successful in welcoming butterflies to lay their eggs, providing food for the hatching caterpillars and offering a safe place to make a chrysalis – before the whole cycle starts all over again.
We kicked off the season with dozens of American Lady caterpillars. On this Saturday, we spotted Cloudless Sulphur larvae feeding on the Maryland senna (Senna marilandica) and Variegated Fritillaries munching on the passionflower (Passiflora incarnata). Participants could see how some of the Cloudless Sulphur caterpillars are green, blending with the leaves, and some are yellow, camouflaged well among the buttery blooms.
Left: Cloudless Sulphur caterpillars can be green or yellow, helping them to blend in with the senna’s leaves or flowers.
Right: Passionflower and violets are the host plants for Variegated Fritillary butterflies.
Sennas and passionflower are these species’ “host plants,” or food that their caterpillars can eat. Planting these invited the adult butterflies to lay eggs in our habitat.
Similarly, milkweed attracted monarchs that laid eggs on our milkweed. The numerous nettles throughout Ashland host the caterpillars of the Red Admiral.
This male Monarch was sipping nectar from Joe-pye weed in the Butterfly Habitat as, nearby, a Monarch was developing in a chrysalis hidden in milkweed.
As adults, most butterflies can feed on nectar from a variety of flowers, while some prefer rotting fruit or animal droppings. But as caterpillars, they can only eat particular plants. Some, like Monarch and Zebra Swallowtail caterpillars, can eat only one type of plant (milkweed and pawpaw, respectively), which explains how widespread development of land, or the use of herbicides and pesticides, can have such a devastating effect on their populations.
Do Try This at Home
Download and print our guide to help you identify what butterflies you are seeing in your own travels.
You can do your part to help them and other pollinators by landscaping with native plants – those that have grown up in the area, developing relationships over centuries with our local animals and insects – and eliminating the use of pesticides. If your garden looks like it’s being eaten, that’s a good thing! It means it’s part of the ecosystem.
You could even create a Certified Wildlife Habitat, or a Monarch Waystation.
Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, a great place to start is DelNature’s native plant sales. The next one is right around the corner, on Oct. 5, at Coverdale Preserve.