butterfly haiku.

my lily-lady nieces and i recently spent a long afternoon learning about and catching butterflies in the stowe region of pottstown in montgomery county, not far from route 100. despite being so close to a well-traveled highway, we identified 13 different species of butterflies. the girls caught more than a dozen, in total, including some duplicates by species.

here is a list of which of the 13.

• comma
• question mark
• monarch
• red-spotted purple
• silver-spotted skipper
• cabbage
• sachem skipper
• peck's skipper
• hackberry
• indigo duskywing 
• common sulfar
• american painted lady
• dark tiger swallowtail

we were fortunate to have the guidance of local butterfly educator ron richael, as he invited us to scout for these majestic winged ones in his backyard. flowers, herbs, and trees which are each known to attract specific kinds of butterflies are a big part of the draw which nudges these insects to make a definite stop in pottstown.

having slowly rotting fruit out attracts certain species of butterflies which often live on apples and bananas. richael's yard accommodates that well.

below is an email which richael sent to his email list recipients on the 8th of september. i asked him permission to share this news, as i feel we can all benefit from this kind of knowledge and enthusiasm for the creatures in our lives which fly and are carrying so much responsibility on their small backs.

Dear Butterfliers, 

On September 5th (Monday) Carol & I were sitting in the backyard when we noticed a monarch laying eggs on our common milkweed. The monarch was laying the eggs rapidly on the bottom of the leaves. So rapidly I questioned whether she was really laying them. I did a spot check & found 3 eggs on two leaves that she visited. I checked another 3-inch milkweed that she visited. I found one egg there. What I was witnessing with my wife was incredible. The monarch went to every milkweed patch that we have & laid eggs. We estimated that about 100 eggs were laid. Carol & I were laughing while we watched. We usually average 5 monarch caterpillars a year & now this in September of all things. I estimate these monarchs will not emerge till around October 5th for their trip to Mexico. We tagged monarchs on September 2nd & several more since. All the monarchs flew southwest toward Mexico. Why did this monarch decide to stay here & mate & then lay eggs in the city of all places? I have already raised 56 monarch caterpillars this year & now possibly 100 more. I feel it would too much work to bring them all inside but I may give in. Luckily, my milkweed crop this year was outstanding although now I need rain. We have about 160 milkweeds on our small property. This was an amazing phenomenon that Carol & I witnessed. By Saturday, I will have about 100 caterpillars to worry about. How does Janis Good from Boyertown raise all of those monarchs? 350 last year. I get tired thinking about it. If anyone needs monarch caterpillars please let me know. Hope you are having a butterfly day!

and here is a butterfly haiku from the history of this particular early september day.

wings press september

air as heat of sun meets net:

butterfly hunting

i may use one of these photographs, or a few, more officially for community poetry one picture at a time. but if anyone would like to offer a butterfly poem for now, feel free to send one.