Faithful readers of this blog might remember that in April I blog about my apricot tree (actually if you remember this, I should take you out to breakfast or lunch—you really are a faithful reader). The tree has hung on through disease and my tree surgery and is the first to bloom every spring. The blossoms have often attracted hundreds of bees, including small, native bees, bumblebees, and honey bees.
Red admiral butterfly on the apricot tree’s blooms (photo by Pat Hasburgh).
The tree has just started blooming with a most pleasant and lovely surprise. It is covered with butterflies. This abundance has produced temporary exhaustion. I’ve been running back and forth from the tree to the computer in the basement bunker, trying to identify these beautiful butterflies. Perhaps I should learn the camera function of my new smartphone.
I’m pretty darn sure the butterfly is the red admiral. The blossoms’ nectar must be a welcome food source. And I’m tickled pink to help provide it. I wonder if the bees will appear soon*.
Natural abundance is exhilarating and hopeful. The sheer vitality emanating from a healthy, happy horde of animals or plants brings joy and energy to just about any lucky bystander. I think the pleasure is even more intense when you stumble on such an event. One of my peak natural experiences was blundering into a spawning run of redhorse (probably shorthead redhorse) in Black Earth Creek. They filled riffles with their bright, red colors—the Badger equivalent of sockeye salmon. Another was watching thousands of mallards swarm a pothole in southern Dane County as they sought refuge from a dramatic change of weather.
These encounters are humbling—just little old me in the face of so many cool, lively creatures—and hope inspiring. A nice reminder of what Nature can do when she has the chance. They also remind us how special the common can be. Perhaps it’s a bit too easy for a birder or any watcher of Nature to become caught up in searching for the rarity. That’s okay, of course, but we shouldn’t lose sight of how wonderful more common flora and fauna are. When those creatures appear in such numbers, we’re reminded of how special they are.
Many red admiral butterflies on apricot blooms (video by Pat Hasburgh).
SoWBA happily touts the rare and endangered species we protect and nurture. We also manage our lands to support the amazing abundance of Nature. Lots of waterfowl are laying over at Goose Pond and the burns that have occurred at all our sanctuaries set the stage for the explosion of common (on our lands at least) and oh-so-lovely wild flowers. We don’t just want to save grassland birds and pollinators from extinction. The aim of our advocacy, land purchase and management is to restore those species to the abundance that should be theirs.
Get outside and see what abundance you can find this spring. And thanks for your support of SoWBA.
Topf Wells, Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance advocacy committee
*Postscript: An hour after I wrote this, the bees arrived. First honey bees, but I think the rest will follow soon.
