Announcing MDLepsOdes, a new Google list for sightings and discussion of the field biology of butterflies and odonates.

Over the years, the butterfly and ode communities have grown closer in our joint interest in and mutual commitment to field and ecology work.  A great example is the very useful and active sister list to the north, PALepsOdes, after which MDLepsOdes is modeled.  What we find so useful about PALepsOdes is that it reaches both communities, butterfliers and ode specialists, for whom there is an increasing overlap of interest and field activity and whose field observations enrich our knowledge of both orders of insects.  The collegial and respectful discussions that inform PALepsOdes will be what we strive for here.

There are plenty of resources for butterfly gardening, rearing leps, and general educational information about insects, but this list is created especially for those of us who are interested in field work. We welcome pictures, but this isn’t primarily a site for sharing good photography unless it is part of a field work or sightings discussion.  We won’t be too picky about geographic limits of MDLepsOdes as long as the location is within a day trip’s distance for most Marylanders.

Most importantly, this isn’t a list to debate the politics of GMOs or restoration schemes or to entertain the flame wars that erupt from time to time on some of our other local lists.  Issues that touch on butterfly field research or observation — such as collecting and permit rules, access to study sites, etc. — will be welcome within reason.  As moderator, I won’t hesitate to pull the plug on posts or posters that wander repeatedly off topic or descend into the uncivil.

MDLepsOdes seeks to complement, not replace, the discussions at washbutterflies, VA-MD-DE-Bugs, and VaLeps.  Each of these lists has its focus, just as MDLepsOdes will.  If you want to follow sightings and field activities with a minimum of other distractions, this is the place the find them.

Other than that, MDLepsOdes works like all the other listservs at Google Groups:  You subscribe yourself, and if the time comes that you want to leave the list, you unsubscribe yourself.  There are also digest modes and vacation stops and other bells and whistles that are explained at the Google Groups site. To keep from being spammed, I will be approving all requests to join the list, so give me a day or so to do that.  If you have any problems, just drop me a note.

I want to drop a special invitation to the Maryland ode community — I for one would really like to see/hear about what’s being seen where.  And to those of you lep people who’ve dropped out of the other discussions, welcome back!

Special thanks to Tom Stock and Beth Johnson, who’ve provided encouragement and beta testing for the listserv to make signing up as easy as possible.  I’ll continue to rely on them to provide counsel as issues in list management come up.

We look forward to seeing you at MDLepsOdes, and please share this information freely!

To sign up, go to https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/mdlepsodes

Caldwell writes on DesertLeps:

>>It is quite costly in terms of energy expenditure for moths to hover, and this research indicates that humidity emanating from the nectar supply of a flower is one of the cues that hawkmoths are able to detect and key in on, helping them search for food more efficiently:

http://www.futurity.org/science-technology/moths-sense-humidity-to-hunt-down-nectar/

The discovery is touted as that of “a previously unknown sensory channel that is used in plant-animal interactions”. The white-lined sphinx (Hyles lineata, Sphingidae) apparently can detect miniscule differences in relative humidity, namely such as the invisible plume of humidity emanating from a flower offering nectar.

The abstract — “Floral humidity as a reliable sensory cue for profitability assessment by nectar-foraging hawkmoths”– by Martin von Arx, Joaquin Goyret, Goggy Davidowitz, and Robert A. Raguso, an article of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, is here:

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/05/25/1121624109.abstract?sid=b54c10ae-ecbe-44f8-b870-b8dbc12d91d6

Full text of the article here:

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/05/25/1121624109.full.pdf+html

and again about CO2 levels:

This paper says “adult herbivorous Lepidoptera have especially well-developed CO2 organs” — the Carolina sphinx (Manduca sexta, Sphingidae) and other adult-feeding moths have “large labial-palp pit organs that sensitively detect” carbon dioxide.

Datura wrightii, a favorite nectar source, emits a big whiff of carbon dioxide when it first opens and is full of nectar, possibly sort of a silent dinner bell for the moths.

Tom Stock, Beth Johnson and I returned to one of the powerlines along Gambrill Park Road in the Frederick Municipal Watershed Forest on Saturday, hoping to do better than I had done last week in the short period before Sunday’s showers rolled in.  We did not expect, however, to find Brown Elfins in the kind of abundance we did — while each of us had slightly different numbers, we each had 25 or more, a personal high count for this species at any one location for me.  They are clearly ovipositing on the abundant blueberry along the powerline trail, and are most often seen basking on the broad, dark green leaves of mountain laurel, from which the males dart out to harass passing females or male interlopers.

In addition to the Brown Elfins, Tom’s eagle eye spotted a Pine Elfin in the same location, nectaring on the same blueberry bushes.

Aside from elfins, we saw:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (11, all yellow form)

Cabbage White (1)

Orange Sulphur (1)

Spring Azure (2)

Eastern Tailed-blue (1)

White-M Hairstreak (6)

Juvenal’s Duskywing (14)

Horace’s Duskywing (1)

Dreamy Duskywing (6)

Even though the weather yesterday along the Nassawango was pretty much perfect for elfin watching, they appear not to have emerged yet.  The flower racemes were just beginning to flower — two or three open flowers at most on the most advanced stalks.  And no elfins.

Best sighting of the day was of Denise Gibbs, who also showed up to check out the same lupines, and sent me on a welcome but ultimately unsuccessful chase for a mystery snake along the Paul Leifer Trail.

A number of small whites are flying in Allegany at this season, most of which are the quite diminutive first spring brood of Cabbage White.  The challenge is differentiating these in flight from the past-peak flight of Falcate Orangetips and the always-hoped-for Olympia Marble.  We were delighted to see small but stable numbers of Olympia Marbles flying among the other two, but except for the one we photographed the other determinations were made almost all the time in the hand (or in the net, as it were).

Silvery Blue is flying now wherever there are substantial amounts of vetch in bloom, and that includes roadsides of Oldtown-Orleans Road and Piclic Road in Green Ridge State Forest.  The azure flight is about over:  We had two only Summer Azures during our field work today.

All the expected duskywings are flying, including super-abundant numbers of Juvenal’s Duskywing and smaller numbers of both Dreamy and Sleepy Duskywings.  Other skippers that surprised us today were Common Roadside Skipper (always a good find) and Northern Cloudywing (early for this species).  We dipped officially on one of the Green Ridge specialties, Cobweb Skipper, despite the fact that other folks had it in abundance were we were just last week.

Most expected swallowtails are out:  Eastern Tiger, Spicebush, Pipevine, Zebra, Black.  We did not not see Appalachian Tiger but expect it will emerge within the next week or two in Allegany.

Other notable butterflies to round out our 28-species day included Meadow Fritillary, Clouded Sulphur, Sleepy Orange, Henry’s Elfin, and American Copper.

And speaking of copper:  At one point scrambling up a shale scree back to the car I was about to grab a root to give me a boost up.  Good thing I took a closer look:  Not a root but a Copperhead.  Handsome snake, but clearly not enjoying my company.

Today added 7 new species to my MD100 count, bringing my total to 36 for the season.  Need to clean up all the other early single-brooded species, so the next couple of nice days will see me out trying to secure Frosted Elfin and West Virginia White, among others.

Close-focus binoculars are recommended, but butterfly net-and-release (with in-jar identification) will be conducted by the leader. Educational and fun for kids and adults! Hike will be cancelled if raining or overcast, but slideshow will be presented regardless of weather status.Children under 12 should be accompanied by an adult.

Meet at the Visitor Center. For more information, call (443) 778-4973 (office – weekdays, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) or (410) 997-7439 (home) (please call after 7:30 p.m.). Cost: Free! Donations welcome.

More information on the Soldiers Delight serpentine barrens (including map and driving directions), its butterflies and other wildlife, and nature activities scheduled there is available at the following websites:

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/central/soldiersdelight.asp

http://home.comcast.net/~soldiersdelight/

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/pdfs/PVSP_SD_aprmay2013.pdf

http://home.comcast.net/~soldiersdelight/sdci_heritage.html

Please join the Washington Area Butterfly Club on Saturday, May 11 for an informative talk on Butterfly Gardening, “Intro to Butterfly Gardening.”

Presenters Frank Boyle and Kathleen Lathrop,will share their trials and tribulations, plus tips and resources from over 20 years of Butterfly Gardening in both urban and rural settings.

WHO:    Washington Area Butterfly Club Members and open to the public

WHERE: Long Branch Nature Center

625 S. Carlin Springs Road

Arlington, VA 22204

WHEN: 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM
Directions – click here:   map

Please do not call the Nature Center.  For inquiries please respond to Frank Boyle at ravenfrank@earthlink.net

Location:  Salem/Monmouth, OR

Job Category:  Temporary/Seasonal Positions

Salary:  $10/hr. Housing & mileage reimbursement provided.

Start Date:  05/01/2013

Last Date to Apply:  04/17/2013

Project:  An ongoing project investigating the impacts of herbicides, used in the management of invasive grasses in Pacific Northwest prairies, on prairie butterflies including the endangered Fender’s Blue butterfly (Icaricia icarioides fenderi) . The following position offer an excellent opportunity to get endangered species, applied ecological, and plant/insect research experiences.

Duties:
- Monitoring of emergence traps for butterfly enclosures.
- Capture, handling, marking and measuring of butterflies from emergence traps.
- Data entry and curation.

Description:  This part-time (~ 15 hrs/week) position will run from early May until late June and will be based entirely at Baskett Slough NWR near Salem, Oregon. Will involve 2-3 hours of work per day 4-5 days per week and can be flexible with work schedule.

Qualifications: – A positive attitude and an interest in environmental sciences, conservation biology, or other relevant biological fields.
- Ability to work independently
- Strong attention to detail
- Ability to carry up to 20 lbs of equipment up and down hilly terrain.
- Ability to work in the field in cold wet conditions or in hot conditions under intense sun.
- Must be comfortable with the idea of working intimately with poison oak and Himalayan Blackberry. (Nobody actually enjoys this and if you do you should seek help.)
- This position should in someway fit into your education or long-term career goals.

Application Information:  Please send a cover letter indicating which position(s) you are interested in and summarizing your relevant experience and interests, as well as a CV and contact information for 2-3 references to Tyler Hicks at uplandsandpiper@hotmail.com.

Contact Person:  Tyler Hicks, uplandsandpiper@hotmail.com

Southeast AZ Butterfly Association (SEABA), a chapter of North American Butterfly Association (NABA), invites you to join us in August 2013 for a special Sky Islands Butterfly Blitz.
 
We will begin with the Ramsey Canyon Butterfly Count (compiler Doug Danforth) in the Huachuca Mountains on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013 and conclude with the Patagonia, AZ Butterfly Count on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2013 (compiler Rich Bailowitz).  Butterfly count participants will pay the normal $3 fee collected by the compilers and sent to NABA.  There is no additional fee for the counts, but you will need to make your own arrangements for transportation, food and lodging.
 
Special field trips to Sky Island mountain ranges and US/MX borderlands will be offered each day in-between the butterfly counts.  Each day (Sunday 8/4/13 through Friday 8/9/13) will have at least one field trip to various locations in the Sky Islands bioregion of SE AZ.  Note:  All field trip locations are subject to change at the last minute due to weather, road and habitat conditions.  All field trip participants will be responsible for their own transportation, food, lodging and personal items.
 
Some of the possible locations to be visited on field trips include Chiricahua Mountains, Huachuca Mountains, Pinaleno Mountains, Coronado National Memorial, San Pedro River, Santa Rita Mountains, Baboquivari Mountains, Atascosa Mountains and Pajarito Mountains.  Note:  All field trip locations are subject to change at the last minute due to weather, road and habitat conditions.
 
You can sign up for any or all of the days we offer field trips.  There is a one-time, non-refundable registration fee and a daily field trip fee.  Please see the schedule below.  For local expert leaders that you may or may not have heard of, we will limit the number of participants to 15 per field trip and charge $10 per person per day.  For well-known butterfly experts we willl limit the number of participants to 10 per field trip and charge $30 per person per day.  All registrations will be taken as they are received.  You may reserve a spot and we will hold your place until April 30, 2013.  If your payment is not received by that date, we will release your spot to the next person on a wait list.
 
We may add more special field trips with well-known experts, and if so we will let you know as soon as possible.  Please reply to Mary Klinkel munchita@msn.com if you would like to participate in these spectacular field trips.
 
Registration:  $10 non-refundable per person if NABA member; $40 non-refundable per person if not NABA member, includes one-year membership in NABA
 
Field trip fees per day:  $10 per person for local expert leaders, max. 15 participants per field trip
 
National expert field trip leaders include Jim Brock and Rich Bailowitz.  Jim Brock will lead a field trip on Friday 8/9/13 and Rich Bailowitz will lead a field trip on a different day TBD (either Mon. 8/4, Tues. 8/5 or Thurs. 8/8).  For these field trips, fees are $30 per person per day and there is a maximum of 10 participants per field trip.
 
We look forward to many exciting discoveries with you in SEABA’s Sky Islands Butterfly Blitz!
 
Mary Klinkel, coordinator
munchita@msn.com

Reblogged from Dear Kitty. Some blog: