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Health & Fitness

The Butterfly Park - What's Flying (April 6, 2012)

A Regular Column on What's Been Seen at the Butterfly Park

Amazingly, the East Brunswick Butterfly Park turns 10 this year! Kudos to all the volunteers that have helped make this park so special. Despite its small size and location in a heavily developed area, the park provides lots of opportunities to find a wide variety of butterflies throughout the spring, summer and fall. It just takes a little looking.

Throughout the years, dozens of species of butterflies have been seen in the park. The Friends has developed an On-line Field Guide to them that has photographs, ecological notes and tips on how to tell butterflies apart that look similar. The Park also has a Facebook page so that everyone can share what they find at the park.     

Each year we try to do something new with the Park. This year we hope to run some weekend Butterfly walks and with the help of the Patch, post what is being seen at the Park each week. We can't always get there ourselves to see what is flying, so please share your observations and photos.

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So, what's flying now? A quick walk through the park on Saturday afternoon yielded four species: Mourning cloak, Comma, Cabbage white and Common sulphur. The Mourning cloak and Comma were along the woodland trail lazily gaining warmth in sunny spots and the Cabbage white and Common sulphur were flying in the meadow. If you walk the woodland trail and spook up a Mourning cloak or Comma, just stop and wait a few seconds, it may come right back to the same spot and land. They seem to have favorite sunny spots. These two butterflies overwinter (hibernate) as adults up underneath bark or in a tree hollow and come out on warm early spring days. At night and when it gets cold they simply find another protected spot and wait until it gets warm again. These behavioral and other physiological mechanisms have evolved to allow them to survive through the winter and the cold periods that often punctuate early spring. On the other hand, the Cabbage white (the most common butterfly in the park) and the Common sulphur overwinter as a chrysalis and the adults emerge when it is warm enough. Both of these species have been recorded in every single month in New Jersey, including during unusually warm periods in January or February! I can recall a very warm East Brunswick Winter Bird count when we found a Common sulphur flying around at the top of Edgeboro Landfill in January. If it gets cold after these species have emerged, they either find a protected spot in the grass, or wind up perishing. As Darwin put forth, evolution favors the "survival of the fittest" and those butterflies that emerge too early just might not be able to pass on their genes to the next generation. But, pushing the envelope of hardiness is what evolution is about and successful early mating may just breed stronger progeny.   

In early spring pick warm afternoons to look for butterflies. Scan the meadows and walk the woodland trails and let us know what you find. Looking for butterflies is a lot like a treasure hunt. You never know what you might find. Not every butterfly will be evident or just flying around in plain sight. Finding butterflies takes a little practice, but once you begin to know what to look for you will be amazed at what is at the Park.           

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