Butterflies

2019 Long Point Butterfly Count Results

2019 Long Point Butterfly Count Results
By Adam Timpf, NFN Member and Event Organizer (feature photo, above: Painted Lady, photo by Len Grincevicius) The 28th annual Long Point butterfly count took place this year on Saturday July 6th, 2019, with 36 observers in various groups surveying different areas in an attempt to identify and count each butterfly encountered. The forecast the night before was calling for a lot of rain, but I was hoping there would be breaks in the weather. My optimism was short lived when most of Saturday was dominated by rain. Some groups packed it in early, while others were able to fit in a few hours in the late afternoon. This was by far the wettest count in our 28-year history, and we could have cancelled the event all together. However, despite the fact most groups could only count for a couple hours,…
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“Marvellous Milkweed” Seed Collection: Participant Report

“Marvellous Milkweed” Seed Collection: Participant Report
Article by Lisa Timpf, NFN Director. Photos by Laura Robson When I saw the notice about the "Marvelous Milkweed Seed Collection" event circulated to Norfolk Field Naturalist members, I was intrigued. Sponsored by the Nature Conservancy of Canada, the event was scheduled for Friday, October 5th. The purpose was to collect milkweed seeds that would be used for meadow restoration in the Backus Block. It was pitched as a three-hour commitment, which didn't seem like a lot, so I thought I'd take the plunge. I had my first pleasant surprise of the day when I joined the circle of volunteers as the coordinators did their pre-event sign-in. Two of my former Simcoe Composite School classmates whom I hadn’t seen in forty years had also volunteered to help out that day, and it was great to see them. Right on time,…
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Long Point Butterfly Count 2018: Participant Report

Long Point Butterfly Count 2018: Participant Report
By Inga Hinnerichsen Photos by Len Grincevicius The Long Point Butterfly Count is organized by our official “Butterfly Counter” Adam Timpf and is supported by the Norfolk Field Naturalists. It is an all-day event and involves identifying and counting local butterflies. This count is part of a North America wide survey providing valuable information of the butterfly populations and the well-being of the environment in general. Members of our team were Dr. Richard Tanner, Mats van Kleef, Anita and Dick (visiting from Calgary—my old stomping grounds!) and myself. Saturday, July 7, was ideal for the count—sunny, not too hot with only a gentle breeze. Our area consisted of Backus Woods and nearby fields. We began our count at a restored field near East 1/4 Line Road. This is excellent butterfly habitat with many flowering plants at their finest, including Brown-eyed…
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Long Point Butterfly Count 2018: Organizer’s Report

Long Point Butterfly Count 2018: Organizer’s Report
By Adam Timpf, NFN Member and Count Coordinator All photos by Len Grincevicius This year the Long Point butterfly count fell on Saturday July 7th, the latest date that the first Saturday in July could possibly fall on. Thirty-five observers were divided into different groups, each group covering a different territory and recording all the butterflies they could find throughout the day. Many thanks go to Peter and Mary for hosting the wrap-up and serving food and drink to the hungry butterfly counters at the end of a long day. Right after I had emailed out the count results to participants, yet another species was identified from photos uploaded to iNaturalist by one of the counters. Thus, a single Gray Comma bumps up our species total to 54, two shy of our all-time high, and well above our 27-year average…
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December 2016 Lotus

December 2016 Lotus
Here is the December 2016 Lotus newsletter. It has the annual Long Point Butterfly Count results and a story by Inga Hinnerichsen about Tiritiri Matangi, an island nature reserve in New Zealand.
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Long Point Butterfly Count

Report by: Adam Timpf This year's Long Point butterfly count was held on July 5th, 2014. We had an uptick in participation this year with 31 observers and had all parts of the circle well covered. Despite this, and nearly ideal weather conditions on the day, most groups commented on the lack of butterflies. With everyone's hard work we still managed to find 3731 individuals of 52 species. If it wasn't for the 2108 Edward's Hairstreaks, our individuals total would be far under the long term average of 2622 individuals. 52 species is slightly above the long term average of ~49. Notable sightings: 2108 Edward's Hairstreak. This will likely be a new North American high count surpassing the 1004 record set by our count last year. 71 Banded hairstreak. New count high. Previous high was 57 in 2006. 1 Meadow…
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Effects of Habitat Fragmentation on Swallowtail Butterflies

By Jenna Siu, Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario Jenna Siu is a M.Sc. Candidate in the Environment and Sustainability Collaborative Program, Department of Biology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario Research was done under the supervision of Dr. Daria Koscinski and Dr. Nusha Keyghobadi. The following is a brief summary of Jenna's research work. Background: In southern Ontario some of the most threatened habitats occur in the Carolinian Zone, where major portions of prairies, savannahs and forests have been destroyed. These changes to the natural landscape have caused habitat loss and fragmentation; the breaking up of habitat into smaller patches creating more edges, or the boundary between two land cover types. Habitat fragmentation has been shown to have harmful impacts on native populations (e.g. the Acadian Flycatcher, the American Badger, and the Grey Ratsnake). To understand how…
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