Butterflies are visiting our garden, and we’re taking note
“A few precious moments spent watching a stunning red admiral or peacock butterfly feeding amongst the flowers in my garden never fails to bring me great pleasure.”
A Monarch butterfly in the Maple Street Community Garden, September 22, 2019.
The Maple Street Community Garden has joined a citizen science campaign aimed at surveying butterflies in community gardens across New York City.
Three times a year, members and volunteers will spend one hour surveying the garden for six different butterfly species. Butterflies are a sign of a garden’s biodiversity and are important to sustaining a healthy ecosystem. Effective pollinators, they facilitate plant reproduction over large areas by collecting pollen on their legs and bodies as they feed on nectar from flowers.
On the surveying days— planned for one day in the spring, summer, and fall seasons—it’s critical the forecast includes a sunny sky and little to no wind. The conditions were right on Oct. 19, when a handful of volunteers carrying visual guides gathered to conduct the fall survey, but there weren’t any butterfly visitors that day. According to campaign organizers, no butterflies is valuable data, too.
Did you know?
The Monarch butterflies you see pictured in this story are fourth generation Monarchs. This means they were born between the months of September and October, and can survive six to eight months—much longer than their first, second and third generation relatives.
First generation Monarchs start to appear around March and April, and live a life of two to six weeks. Their lives end after they mate and lay eggs. Second generation Monarchs are born in May and June and share a life cycle with their parents’ generation. Third generation Monarchs live slightly longer, up to fifty days. The fourth and final generation waits until January and February to mate and lay eggs, starting the process over again.
A Monarch butterfly in the Maple Street Community Garden, September 22, 2019.
If you’re interested in participating in the next butterfly survey, check this site as spring approaches. We’ll post dates when we can get a better sense of the environmental conditions.