Crickets here are still high-pitched and butterflies are still high flying. Swirling within clusters of busy dragonflies, and darting past reigning Monarchs, is the Orange Sulphur. While this insect varies in color, it appears nearly neon against tawny grasses or nearly invisible within honeysuckle and clover.
These quiet days of September are perfect for learning more about butterflies.*
Find a bench warmed by the sun within native meadows across from Silver Eel Cove, and you’re bound to see just how “social” these brilliantly colored insects are, flitting from one flower to the next.
Some populations gather enough nutritious energy feeding on plants (aster family) within Parade Grounds to migrate south. Others stay behind and overwinter here on Fishers Island.
*The painted lady butterfly is one of the most ubiquitous butterflies in the world and is identified by the shape of its wings and its eyespots, particularly evident on the underside of its hind wings. The butterflies flare with orange when flying and are sometimes mistaken for monarch butterflies.
*According to the National Geographic Society, the two-inch painted lady butterfly can migrate nearly 2,500 miles, starting from Europe, traversing obstacles such as the Mediterranean Sea, North Africa’s mountains and the Sahara Desert. Unlike monarch butterflies, chemical signatures in the painted lady wings reveal that they can make the trip in a single generation.
From the Field, Field Note by Justine Kibbe, Sept. 9, 2019
For many diverse species of shorebirds, Fishers Island has become the best “next stop” for fall migration, with tepid tidal pools, thick salted wrack lines and sand dunes buffered with tall beach grass. Birds returning to this ideal habitat feed, rest and recover morning, noon and night.
The Common Buckeye Butterfly is another beautiful pollinator, in addition to the Monarch Butterfly, drawn to goldenrod in late summer.
As evening light overshadows and cricket’s echo dims–
See beams of setting sunshine pass though butterfly wings.
And feel breeze–fly above and beyond wispy meadow grasses.
*Parade Grounds, Fishers Island
From the Field, Field Note by Justine Kibbe, Sept. 4, 2019
Thank you to our caring and watchful community! With the help of your stewardship, several species of shorebirds are once again thriving on Fishers Island.
It has been a banner year for Fishers Island’s returning shorebirds!
For the first time ever, I saw 8-10 piping plovers (adult and growing chicks) scurrying around “together” on Sanctuary of Sands.
Fishers Island’s piping plover chicks were born in two separate hatchings on Sanctuary of Sands and near the Race Point Parking area in late May.
In 2014 and 2015, I spotted only a single piping plover at the Big Club Beach and had documented none on the West End. How exciting to see “our” piping plover community expanding!
The New York Times recently reported that Fire Island’s piping plover population has nearly doubled since Hurricane Sandy struck in 2012. Sand and seawater washed over the island during the storm, and the combination of new sand flats and coastal repair increased plover habitat by 50 percent. (Piping plovers like to nest on dry flat sand close to the shoreline.)
From the Field, Field Note Justine Kibbe June 26, 2019