- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Everybody eats in the pollinator garden.
Maybe not at the same time, but they all eat.
We noticed a syrphid fly, aka flower fly/hover fly, heading toward a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) in our pollinator garden. Alas for the fly, it was occupied. Occupied by a honey bee (Apis mellifera).
No worries.
The honey bee soon buzzed off, and the syrphid claimed it.
The honey bee returned and took a turn.
Then another fly, a drone fly (Eristallis tenax), claimed it.
Interesting that all three are sometimes called "bees," much to the chagrin of entomologists and other scientists. It just goes to prove that not all floral visitors are flies.
- Honey bee: Order, Hymenoptera; Family Apidae
- Syrphid fly: Order, Diptera; Family Syrphidae
- Drone fly: Order, Diptera; Family Syrphidae
But they do have several things in common: (1) they're insects (2) they're pollinators (3) they're hungry and (4) they like nectar just as much as humans like sugar, especially on Halloween. And doesn't orange symbolize Halloween?
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
We've seen monarchs, Gulf Fritillaries, Western tiger swallowtails, buckeyes, and fiery skippers nectaring on our Mexican sunflowers. But nary a common checkered skipper.
Where, we wondered, are the common checkered skippers?
Just as we were thinking that the common checkered skipper (Pyrgus communis) is not all that common and is not living up to its name, it appeared. Right on cue.
It nectared on the Tithonia and then fluttered away.
It will be back, according to butterfly guru Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, and Bohart Museum of Entomology associate Greg Kareofelas.
Why?
Its host plant is mallow and last spring we planted several tree mallows, Lavatera maritima--those drop-dead gorgeous plants with purple-throated pale lavender flowers. A bonus: unlike we Californians, the mallow loves the drought. It does not get thirsty. Plus, it attracts a variety of insects, and blooms much of the year.
Shapiro, who has monitored the Central California population of butterflies for more than four decades and maintains a website, Art's Butterfly World, says this about Pyrgus communis on his educational website:
"This familiar insect appears to be found from sea level to tree line-but things are more complicated than that. At the molecular-genetic level, the populations along our transect are apparently two different species. One is multiple-brooded and occurs as high as Lang Crossing (5000') on the Sierran West slope, and then again in Sierra Valley at 5000' on the East slope. These populations today breed largely on introduced weeds of the genus Malva (in the Sacramento Valley also on the native Alkali Mallow, Malvella leprosa, and on the now rare Checkerblooms, genus Sidalcea, in tule marshes). The other is single-brooded, occurs above 6000' (including Donner and Castle Peak) and breeds only on native Sidalcea. There are very slight 'statistical' differences in pattern, but the genitalia are the same. There seem to be occasional strays of the lowland animal picked up at Donner, mainly late in the season. In southern California occurs a morphospecies, P. albescens, which differs from communis in genitalia and is, like it, multiple-brooded. This animal, however, is molecularly indistinguishable from the univoltine Sierran (genitalic) communis!
"The lowland animal occurs anywhere in the open where hosts are nearby, including urban vacant lots and around ranch buildings and corrals. The montane animal occurs in open coniferous forest with Sidalcea in the understory, and along wood roads and paths. Both visit a great variety of flowers avidly. The flight seasons are March-November in the Central Valley, June-August in montane sites, and late March/April-October at Sierra Valley. (At Sierra Valley the univoltine animal is as close as the top of Yuba Pass.)
"Males are perchers, generally well off the ground, and extremely energetic fliers. They often appear blue in flight (females, lacking the silky hairs, do not)."
Plant mallow and they will come!
/span>- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
So here's this gravid praying mantis perched on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) in a Vacaville pollinator garden.
She's in a butterfly state-of-mind, a picture of patience and persistence, a predator like no other.
She doesn't have long to wait.
A migrating monarch butterfly drops down to sip some nectar, a little flight fuel to continue his journey to an overwintering site along the California coast, perhaps 113 miles to Santa Cruz. Unfortunately, he lands on a Mexican sunflower right next to the praying mantis.
The mantis is as still as a stone. She holds her spiked forelegs in the "ready" position, ready to strike. She knows what she wants. She's in a butterfly state-of-mind.
Suddenly, the monarch looks up and notices that the gray "twig" next to him is not part of the flower. In a winged frenzy, he escapes.
And you wonder why many migrating monarch butterflies don't make it to their overwintering sites?
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Presidential candidate Herbert Hoover campaigned for "a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage." (Now we have free-range organic chicken on every barbecue grill, and as many as three fuel-efficient cars with sophisticated high-tech gadgets in every multi-car garage.)
Marco Gutierrez, founder of the group "Latinos for Trump," warned that we might have a "#taco truck on every corner." (That's a slogan that backfired; who doesn't love tacos?)
So, "chicken in every pot," "car in every garage" and "taco truck on every corner."
What about a slogan for our monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus)? If we all planted milkweed, the monarch's host plant (monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed and their caterpillars eat only milkweed), that would be ideal. And even more ideal, if we all provided some flight fuel (floral nectar) for migrating monarchs.
In the 1990s, nearly 700 million monarchs made the epic flight each fall from the northern plains of the U.S. and Canada to sites in the oyamel fir forests north of Mexico City, and more than one million monarchs overwintered in forested groves on the California Coast. Now, researchers and citizen scientists estimate that only a fraction of the population remains, a decline of more than 80% has been seen in central Mexico and a decline of 74% has been seen in coastal California.--Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.
Public awareness could go a long way in helping to boost our monarch population:
- "Milkweed on every corner" or hashtag it: #MilkweedOnEveryCorner.
- "Tithonia in every garden" or hashtag it: #TithoniaInEveryGarden.
Meanwhile, you can't go wrong with Mexican sunflower or Tithonia, which anchors many pollinator gardens in California from early spring through fall. In addition to monarchs, we've seen Gulf Fritillaries, Western tiger swallowtails, mourning cloaks, pipevine swallowtails, skippers, buckeyes, acmon blues, painted ladies and other butterflies sipping nectar from Tithonia. That's not to mention the other pollinators drawn to the colorful orange flower. Among them: bumble bees, carpenter bees, sunflower bees, leafcutter bees, blue orchard bees, sweat bees, syrphid flies or hover flies, and hummingbirds.
Imagine a world with #MilkweedOnEveryCorner" and "TithoniaInEveryGarden." Imagine more monarchs...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Splat! Splat! Splat! What was that?
A squadron of flying insects? No, more like multiple squadrons of flying insects.
There's a major outbreak in the area of alfalfa butterflies, also known as sulphur butterflies, Colias eurytheme.
Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology who has monitored butterflies in Central California for more than 40 years and posts information on his website, says he's been receiving lots of inquiries about the sulphur butterfly outbreak. Their caterpillars are major pests of alfalfa. The 'cats can consume an entire alfalfa leaf, including the midrib.
"Outbreaks like this used to be commonplace in late summer and fall in the Valley," Shapiro says, "but they disappeared during the drought: from 2012 through 2015 there were hardly any Colias, and I even contacted ranchers and farm advisers to find out if they were using any new pesticides or had altered alfalfa culture in some way that might account for the situation." The answer: No.
"The last big outbreak around here (Davis) was in October 2012," the professor noted. "Long-time residents can recall killing multitudes of them when driving near alfalfa fields in the Valley back in the 'old days.' Now it's happening again! Mass dispersal, like we're seeing now--when they blanket urban flower gardens and mowed lawns--typically occurs when the alfalfa is cut. Females are laying eggs on clover in lawns. One is, of course, tempted to say it must somehow be related to the weather--but we really don't know."
Encounters with cars and people and--yes, predators--continue. We just noticed an alfalfa butterfly trapped in a spider web in our yard.
There will be more.
Related Link:
UC Statewide Integrated Pest Program: Alfalfa Butterfly