Butterflies and pollinators by Shelley Hopkins

                                        Hike and flowers and butterflies, great joy!

 I walked a little bit more each day this last month. The best day was on my birthday, when my son and I walked over 5 miles at the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge. This is one of my favorite trails, it circles behind the building used to observe the sandhill cranes when they arrive. We enjoyed the walk, and got to see some interesting birds and lots of butterflies. Also one day my husband and I took our truck and drove a dirt path on another section of the same wildlife refuge. I didn’t count this trip since we didn’t walk, but the views and the sheer number of butterflies we saw were beautiful. At one time three landed on me, and another one kept buzzing my face. It was thrilling, I felt I was in the middle of a butterfly dance, and I was the new visitor they all wanted to check out.

 Another of the walks was on our family farm in NC, where I also took place in a pollinator count. I walked across the fields, found some wildflowers, and sat down to count all the pollinators that landed on one single bush. There were quite a few butterflies flitting about, mostly yellow sulphur, and bees buzzing around near the trees, but fewer critters landed on my flower than I expected. The idea was to count every landing on a single bush or flower for 15 minutes. I counted 2, then started over, moved back further away and counted 6.  Earlier I had counted at a pick your own flower garden, and I counted 22. In a yard, close to sprayed fields of soybeans, I counted one.  Making myself sit still for 15 measured minutes allowed me to really focus on watching. I watched while a grasshopper leapt from one grass blade to another. I watched the flowers bend as the bees and butterflies landed on the flower, and then straighten back up when they flew away. I’ve never been good at sitting still for a period of time, but having the timer with me made it easy. I plan to do this often, just for my own interest. 

The pollinator count is part of a citizen science project, that has taken place since 2017.  It started in Georgia, then expanded to South Carolina, and now includes Alabama and North Carolina. The group that started the count had several reasons in mind, but the number one reason was education. Many gardeners and teachers know about plants, soil, and water, but in general know much less about insects. Several public gardens were growing lots of vegetables but not getting the amount of produce they expected, and the woman that started the count suggested planting flowers. The flowers would attract pollinators, which would help with the vegetable plants. Over several years these gardeners found their yields increasing as well as having fewer harmful insects in the gardens. Teachers were working hard to teach kids about gardens, about compost and watering and eating the produce, but in general teachers knew less about the insects, and so didn’t teach as much. Schools and families and individuals take place in the pollinator count, and learn along the way. Also all the information collected goes to a database that is being used in research, helping scientists track the insects. Everyone who took place in the count recorded the weather and time of day. We had a sheet of paper describing different bees, flies, wasps and butterflies and moths. When I tallied 22 insects, I actually tallied one bumble bee, two small bees, three flies and the rest were butterflies and moths. I can’t wait to find out what the overall census tells us. 

 It has been a good month, counting bugs and watching birds, reading books and just being outside. On my pretend hike I am now in Erwin TN.  I have walked a total of 343 miles this year.