No. Worcester July count results, 7-7-2018

[Wendy Howes]

Thanks to all who participated in the count on July 7th!  Species variety was a bit lower than in some years--e.g. 36 species compared to 39 last year--but numbers were comparable. Hairstreaks were rare, with only one Striped in Princeton (Radford Road, Wendy Howes & Alan Rawle) and 2 Banded at Rauscher Farm in Clinton (Bo Zaremba). Not a single Lady was found. Carl Kamp and Alyce Mayo observed the only Cloudywing, a Northern. Thanks to Elise Barry for spotting the only Appalachian Browns (and several other Browns that were likely also Appalachians) on a walk on the Sterling Rail trail.  Skipper numbers/species were way down except for the usual robust population on Wachusett Mountain counted by Alyce and Carl. Thank you to Dave Grant and Donna Schilling for picking up Dun and some Delawares for us at Wachusett Meadow Sanctuary and to Carl and Alyce for the two Dashes and a single Peck's. It was nice that we got two Baltimore Checkerspots this year--one at DCR Kristoff property in Sterling and one at Rauscher Farm.  Alan Rawle found the only Northern Pearly-eye at the Kristoff property, where more have been present in the past.

If anyone is interested, I have also posted the results on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/WareRiverNatureClub/posts/ and the Ware River Nature Club web-site: http://www.warerivernatureclub.org/announcements.html

And Bo Zaremba has photos posted here:
http://www.pbase.com/bo_z/rauscher_farm

Wendy Howes
Hardwick

8      Black Swallowtail                                                    36 species
54    Eastern Tiger Swallowtail                                     788 individuals
15    Spicebush Swallowtail
1      Unidentified black swallowtail sp.
81    Cabbage White
59    Clouded Sulphur
1      Clouded Sulphur white form
16    American Copper
2      Banded Hairstreak
1      Striped Hairstreak
3      Eastern Tailed-Blue
16    Summer Azure
20    Great Spangled Fritillary 
2     Aphrodite Fritillary 
5     Unidentified large Fritillary sp.
2     Baltimore Checkerspot
2     Question Mark
7      Eastern Comma 
1      Mourning Cloak
2      Red Admiral

1      Red-spotted Purple
1      White Admiral
1      Northern Pearly-eye
3      Appalachian Brown
4      Unidentified large Brown sp.
23     Little Wood-Satyr

1      Common Ringlet
2      Common Wood-Nymph
32     Monarch
1             Monarch larvae
16     Silver-spotted Skipper
1       Northern Cloudywing
5       Least Skipper
366    European Skipper
1        Peck’s Skipper
2        Long Dash
3        Northern Broken-Dash
14      Little Glassywing
11      Delaware Skipper
2        Dun Skipper

1      Unidentified Skipper sp.

[Paula Lieberman]

My yard in Billerica has blooming oregano, blooming thyme, a limited
amount of blooming mint, a some blooming dianthus... and the only
butterflies or bees I've seen on any of them this month and going back
at least two weeks, was five or sic cabbage whites on Monday or Tuesday.

There is also the pollen-loaded Chinese chestnut tree, which should be
covered with pollinators--there were one or maybe two handsfuls of
solitary bees.   There have been a couple small brown [fluttering around
to quickly for me to do any sort of ID much less get any pictures]
butterflies up in trees and not paying any attention to the thyme, the
mint, the oregano, the dianthus,  the chestnut tree...

30 years ago the oregano was covered with multiple species of
butterflies and bees with bees literally bouncing off the butterflies.

On the other hand 30 years ago I did not have a next-door neighbor using
BugHitman.com 888-321-4466 spraying for "ticks and butterflies" and an
over 55 development  less than a third of a kilometer away (and bordered
by swale wetland--what is are the rules about commercial lawn chemicals
and such?) spraying chemicals which include intentional clover-killer
because "people lush grass and clover is a weed people don't want"|.....

Even last year, when the next-door neighbor was not having the
above-mentioned entity spraying, there were some bees and butterflies
such as skippers, and there were a couple butterflies (pearl crescents?)
about a month ago, before the sign went up in the neighbor's front yard.....

[Garry Kessler]

Something I've been wondering about is the effect of gypsy moths on the butterfly population. Superficially it seems that the butterfly counts are most depressed in areas of more intense gypsy moth infestation. Not only are the moths eating host plants used by some butterflies, but they also carry a virus that attacks all kinds of leps. I'm wondering if the infestation of tree killing moths is also bringing a plague to all leps as the gypsy moth caterpillars defecate all over everything below. Just a dark thought.

Garry Kessler

Westborough, MA

 

[Josh]

Hey all,

Gypsy Moth infestation in our part of Amherst, definitely worse this year than the last couple. Last year we saw lots of cats but didn’t notice much defoliation. This year, clearly noticeable loss of foliage in our yard, especially on the oaks, especially higher up in the canopy, not so much the lower branches. And the cats were much more audible this year, sounded like it was raining many nights from all the frass falling, and every time I cleaned my bird bath it was like frass soup. Definitely worse than last year. 

I’ve definitely noticed lower abundance and diversity of moths this summer. On warmer nights, tons of Gypsy Moths and not much else. Cooler nights, just not much. Did see more variety earlier in the spring, before the Gypsy cats pupated and emerged; especially Hickory Tussock Moths, there were a TON of those.

But am not noticing fewer butterflies here in Amherst. Great Spangled Frits emerged recently, am seeing several per day in our yard, along with Monarchs more or less daily of late. No lycaenids lately, but that’s not unusual here. FOY Common Sootywing in our driveway yesterday. Plenty of Tiger Swallowtails earlier, fewer lately, haven’t been able to scrutinize Canadian vs. Eastern. Red-spotted Admirals occasionally, more of the RS Purple types earlier in the summer, with a couple of White Admiral types more recently. Not noticing a shortage of other pollinators either: bumblebees, honeybees, various sorts of wasps, beetles, etc.

That Bug Hitman outfit lists a few different chemical options on their website. The main one is pyrethrum. It’s a broad-spectrum toxin for insects, kills a wide variety. Normally highly biodegradable and safely metabolized by most vertebrates. However, if it gets into aquatic ecosystems, it is much worse, very bad for fish and aquatic invertebrates, far slower to degrade underwater and harder for them to metabolize. So worth keeping an eye on that swale wetland…

JSR

Joshua S. Rose, Ph.D.
Amherst, MA

Webmaster, Hampshire Bird Club

https://hampshirebirdclub.org/
http://bugguide.net/user/view/2399

https://www.facebook.com/opihi

[Paula Lieberman]

Gypsy moths were not really in evidence to me, I destroyed the one nest I saw in my yard [it was on a chokecherry]. 

I don't know what the over-55 development uses, the yellow tags sometimes put out don't specify the applier much less the chemicals.
Sometimes I think that cabbage white butterflies will be the only survivors of "suburbs"| and "NECTA" lawn-heavy areas...  {NECTA = New England City and Town Area, which is a unique US Census designation for demographics areas in New England which do not fall neatly into urban/suburban/rural designations.   The zealously guarder perquisities of just about every locality in New England, aren't mirrored in the rest of the USA].

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[bkin...@netscape.net]

Usually by mid July I have seen 20 or more species of butterflies in my yard.  As of this date, I have seen many Cabbage butterflies and one Red admiral.  That is it.  Maybe when the Buddlaea is out things will pick up.

bruce kingeasthampton

[pavu...@aol.com]

This is turning out to be a very odd butterfly year.  Here in northern Virginia, there have been virtually NO butterflies this year except in early April, which all got wiped out by late winter weather.  Since May, the only thing I've seen locally is the occasional Cabbage White, Red Admiral and singletons of our normally common species.  Many have not appeared at all.  I find it odd that some folks are getting good counts at other locations but I'm hearing many reports region-wide from Louisiana to Florida to New England that this might be the worst butterfly year in memory.  Two weeks ago, I visited Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA. (just west of D.C.).  The gardens are usually alive with thousands of butterflies at this time of year.  I counted about 6 species and maybe a dozen individuals total.  The only exception I have personally seen was the Great Smoky Mountains in May where butterflies were very common.

 

Harry Pavulaan

[Josh]

If the impact is that widespread, that would seem to rule out Gypsy Moths as a cause, no? 

JSR

Joshua S. Rose, Ph.D.
Amherst, MA

Webmaster, Hampshire Bird Club

https://hampshirebirdclub.org/
http://bugguide.net/user/view/2399

https://www.facebook.com/opihi

[pavu...@aol.com]

Gypsy Moths wouldn't be a cause for general butterfly decline in the mid-Atlantic or south.  They actually seem to have disappeared from the areas I'm familiar with in northern Virginia.  I imagine they would impact tree-feeding Lepidoptera in New England, though.  Anything that feeds on Oak in spring would have to eat very fast to compete with the Gypsies that can readily switch to anything green.

 

Harry

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Josh <op...@mindspring.com>
To: MassLep <mas...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Fri, Jul 13, 2018 11:37 am
Subject: Re: [MassLep] Where are the butterflies? [and bees, too...]

[Cloutier]

Without too much effort we have seen 77 species of butterflies in Massachusetts this year, although not many individuals of each. I am doing a survey of moths in our yard again this year. I am getting a few new species but again the total number and the diversity is down from 3-4 years ago. Late snow and draught have had a major impact I think. We have more than enough Gypsy moths day and night as this is their flight time. I have seen dead caterpillars too so it could have been worse.

We seem to have good diversity of bees on native flowers where ever we go.

Sue Cloutier, New Salem, MA

[billb55]

I wouldn't have thought that this is a poor butterfly year based on my own experience.  We're on our way to our fourth butterfly count for the season, and the three we've done so far have been good for butterflies in our usual territories.

Lots of diversity in the fields in New Marlborough, and all three wetland skippers (Black Dash, Mulberry Wing, and Dion) in another spot, on the South Berkshire count.  Good numbers for us on the Central Franklin count.  Thirty two species last weekend on the North Berkshire Count.  And we're up to thirty species in the yard this year;  most years we get about 40 total, so not bad so far.

When I first started seeing these posts again this year on NabaChat and now Masslep, it reminded me again about the same sort of posts that seem to appear every year on the Humnet list--Where are all my hummingbirds?  And it's immediate corollary--Something Bad must be going on.

My two cents is that butterfly numbers and diversity vary in many complicated ways, and what's going on in my local and regional patch are not necessarily reflective of the general picture, if there is such a thing.  The only thing that seems constant about it to me is that every year is different.  But it's interesting to read other people's perspectives, so I am happy for the sharing here.

Not to say bad things aren't possible.  I lived on Long Island in the late 90's when they decided to aerial spray for West Nile prevention.  They flew over in helicopters after dark; we were told to stay inside; a fine mist settled over everything; it was very unpleasant.  Within less than a few days, it rained, and washed all of that into the Sound.  And within a very short time (days?), 95%+ of the lobsters in the Sound were dead.  You can probably google it.  Of course it was concluded that the spraying had nothing to do with it.

Anyway, enough rambling from me!  Can you tell that Joe is driving on our way to Pleasant Valley for the Count, and I'm bored in the passenger seat?!

Have a GREAT day!

Bill Benner

Currently passing throgh Dalton

bil...@aol.com

Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

[Garry Kessler]

During correspondence with Jeff Boettner at UMASS he sent me this note which might be of interest. Jeff recently retired after a long career researching insect parasites and disease. -Garry Kessler, Westborough, MA

----

Hi Garry,

    The virus that hits gypsy moth is (LdNPV) for Lymantria dispar NPV because it is specific to gypsy moth. It has been fed to hundreds of species of leps with no known effects.

    That said, one of our PhD grad students, Hannah Broadley, recently did trials with two other species specific viruses. One hit only winter moth and the other only hits bruce spanworm which are closely related species. She set up trials where she gave them either their virus, or the other species virus or a control. She had no mortality in the controls, but both species could die from the other's virus, but interestingly, when she sequenced the dead ones they only died from their own virus. Meaning that when fed the wrong virus they somehow became more likely to express their own virus.

    It is thought that many caterpillars get virus from their mothers (possibly in the oviduct of the female and passed onto the egg- caterpillar may pick it up when it eats its way out of the egg). [For example, when the silk moth industry was hit by virus, they had to rear eggs from each female individually, and if any of the siblings got virus, they destroyed all the siblings from that female until they eventually got rid of the virus.] So it could be possible that if gypsy moth was dying in large numbers and producing a lot of LdNPV, if other species were exposed to this load of virus it may add stress to the caterpillar that causes it to die of its own virus (which might not have been expressed in a not stressful year). But it could also be from both gypsy moth and the other caterpillars being stressed by their environment (say drought), which could also induce them to die of their own virus. So it is an interesting question, and not much work has been done to look at this. A hard thing to study until dna techniques came along that allow us to see which virus they have.

     So while NPV is in lots of species, there are likely a virus (or two?) for nearly every species of lep, that seem to be species specific. Often caterpillars will express their virus under stressed conditions (ie giant silk moths if they run out of food in captivity often get massive virus outbreaks). So in the wild a loss of food (drought etc...) could bring on a wave of virus not seen in low density years.

     So hard to say, but something that should be looked at. We did have a big wave of LdNPV in gypsy moth in South Amherst this year. But I haven't been working as much in the East this summer (I retired on June 1). So I haven't been following this one as much as usual.

     So a great question....but I guess we really have no idea is the correct answer. But I have thought about this. It would need someone like Hannah that has the dna skills to pull off the right study. I would expect Baltimore's are most likely crashing in their own system. Gypsy moth has been at pretty low numbers since the fungus outbreak of 1989. So you would have thought Baltimores would have rebounded while gypsy moth was at low density for several decades. Baltimores do get taken down by their own parasites in some years, it is common for patches to blink out and not recover for decades, maybe until the parasites blink out locally? Don Adams is the right guy to talk to about this.

      Jeff

      Jeff Boettner

      Department of Environ. Conservation, retired

      Room 115 Ag. Eng. Bld.

      250 Natural Resources Rd.

      UMASS Amherst

      Amherst, MA 01003 

[Paula Lieberman]

But do viruses affecting lepidoptera, affect bees?   The bee density is almost nothing around my oregano, which has never been the case before, it's not only all species of butterflies other than cabbage whites, it's all the other pollinating insects, bees and ones which are neither bees nor butterflies--I saw two individuals of insects,  one may have been a bee, the other was something else which I had observed a lot more of in past years in the blossoming oregano. (pollinator not predatory insect)