[SEMCO] Butterfly presentation & filed trip

[Alison Robb]

Nature's Circle

Alison Robb
540-2408
PRESS RELEASE;  June 6,  2000

 Nature's Circle opens the season with a celebration of butterflies. 
And to launch the celebration we will have Tor Hansen, Cape Cod's
well-known naturalist,  artist, author, photographer and lecturer
presenting the butterflies of Falmouth in a slide presentation and a
field trip.
 On Saturday, June 17, at 10  a.m., we shall meet at the Falmouth Public
Library to hear Tor's appreciative description of the butterflies we
shall see that afternoon at the Crane Wildlife Management Area (CWMA) on
Rte. 151.  He will weave a fabric of plants and butterflies in their
natural interaction as specific plants become the food source of the
caterpillars and as those and other plants become the nectar source of
the adult butterflies.
 Hansen will show us in his excellent photographs each species of
butterfly that we are likely to find at CWMA.  Crane is a favored site
in Falmouth because of its diversity of plants and habitats.  Open
grassland and meadow is where most local butterflies grow and inhabit
because of the abundance of wildflowers, grasses and sunshine.  A few
are found in dappled light in woodlands, such as Spring Azures,
Duskywings,  Elfins and Red-spotted Purples.  Butterflies need the sun
to warm their muscles for flying.  Moths, on the other hand, get their
energy from their food and most of them fly only at night.
 The plants that are food sources will be featured in the slides also. 
For caterpillars:  milkweed, wild indigo bushes, plantain, butterfly
weed, asters, violets, Queen Anne's lace, grasses, oaks, elms,
sassafras, and more.  For adult butterflies:  Thistles, daisies,
hawkweeds, knapweeds, milkweed, Joe-Pye weed, mountain mint, dogbane and
many more.
 This celebration of butterflies will be only a beginning of your
adventures in becoming aware of these splendid, fragile creatures that
inhabit our woods, fields, wetlands and gardens.  They are not just
pretty, fragile, splendid, evasive -- they are also major pollinators
and in danger of being eliminated by pesticides.  They are part of the
food chain with birds, dragonflies, frogs, salamanders, bees, bats and
spiders as predators.  Pesticides affect every creature in that food
chain.
 There are butterfly walks every week in the Nature's Circle schedule. 
After you attend this event we hope you will continue to look for
butterflies with us all season at other sites.  All walks are open to
the public and free of charge, as is this June 17th event.  You are
encouraged to watch the newspapers for our schedule.  Birds, wild plants
and ecosystems are also part of our agenda.  Nature's Circle hopes to
enhance everyone's understanding and enjoyment of nature.
 Meet us at 10 a.m., June 17, at the Falmouth Public Library.  Enjoy the
lecture, ask questions, then meet again at Crane Wildlife Management
Area on Rte. 151 at 1 p.m.  for a two-hour field trip.  Bring binoculars
if you have them.  We don't use nets.  The entrance to CWMA is just east
of the Nickelodeon Theater, and beside the baseball field.  Go north to
the farthest parking area.  Information, 540-2408.