My Butterfly Habitat
Habitat is something that I've been thinking a lot about over the past few years, although I didn't put that specific name to it. I've been fascinated by lepidoptera since finding my first Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars and Tobacco Hornworm caterpillars in my yard as an adult. Watching them grow and metamorphose into the gorgeous butterflies and moths they became made me realize that my yard could serve more than just me. Over the past six years I've been researching and working on my yard to more fully support butterflies and moths during all phases of their life cycles, and I've been rewarded with more and more sightings of new species to my yard each year.
In paying attention to all phases of their life cycle, and providing what they need during each, I've actually been creating and growing a habitat for them. I've got the food that their young need (the plants for them to lay their eggs on), I've got plants that provide the nectar they need as adults, I've got shrubbery to provide shelter and protection when they need it, I've got gravelly areas I water down in the summer to provide puddling opportunities for the males.
This past week I watched a Cabbage White laying eggs on my spent collard greens (and I will leave those ratty looking plants in the garden for them), I witnessed an Eastern Black Swallowtail emerge from its chrysalis in my garden (where it received the shelter it needed over the winter), I've seen tiny American Coppers and Eastern Tailed-Blues feeding on the weed flowers in my lawn. And this is only the beginning of the year, I know it will get even busier in my yard as more flowers bloom and more butterflies emerge for the season or make their migration here. I have plans to expand even further to support more species, I love thinking of my yard as a habitat!
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Where did the Eastern Black Swallowtail winter over. That was a fascinating observation. I didn't realize butterflies winter over in cold places.
you post is so inspiring. I have tried to notice so many new things, but have not seen the whole life cycle you see unravel before you due to your focus and work to make it happen. Great job. your yard is clearly a habitat for those butterflies!
@belled - The Eastern Black Swallowtails are one of the butterflies in our area that winters over in chrysalis form. I have a giant stand of fennel, so their caterpillars are all over it every summer! The last generation of the season will find a spot in the garden (or on the side of my shed sometimes, haha!) to form their chrysalis, and stay in it until later in the spring. If they're in a really bad spot, or on something I need to clear out, I'll put them in a screen enclosure in my shed until the spring, so I always end up starting my year off with lots of butterflies! Some will migrate (like the Monarchs and Painted Ladies, and some butterflies and moths will overwinter in our area in the chrysalis/cocoon stage, some as eggs, some as caterpillars, and there are even some that overwinter as adults (like Mourning Cloak butterflies, one of the first to come out in the late winter/early spring). They usually do this camoflauged in leaf litter, under tree bark, or in plant material in the garden - one of the reasons why it's best to wait until spring to clear out all the dead stuff if you can.
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