Joann Merritt's Essays

Midnats Follow The Leader
June, 2004

In this instance our leader was not Field Chairman Bill Lupardus, but rather it was April Spring Rain who was first followed by the greening countryside, then the wildflowers blooming all across the fields, pastures and meadows. Everybody knows “April showers bring May flowers” but not everybody knows that “May flowers bring showers, showers of butterflies!” These butterflies were in turn followed by butterfly enthusiasts who set our North American Butterfly Association July 4th Count for the 12th of June. This date is early for the Midnats but we were enjoying such a wonderful diversity of butterflies that we decided we’d better keep following the leader, April Spring Rain.

Butterflies seen in our circle before the count but not seen on June 12th included Soapberry & “Olive” Juniper Hairstreaks, Fulvia, Theona and Elada Checkerspots, Streaky Skipper and California Sister. The Great Purple Hairstreak, Dusky-blue Groundstreak and Texas Powdered Skipper were probably the best butterflies, but any year that we can tie our all-time high total of 56 species, every butterfly is special. I’m so glad we followed the leader, April Spring Rain, who led us on a successful Butterfly Count!

In last month’s issue of The Phalarope I mentioned the Ruby-spotted Swallowtail, and since then Rose Marie read on a web site that Alex Grkovich had found 2 Ruby-spots in Medina and Bexar Counties at the end of May, so she reported our specimen. Mike Quinn, Invertebrate Biologist for Texas Parks and Wildlife, sent an e-mail asking for more information. Rose Marie sent the picture she had taken along with the following message: "The Ruby-spot spotted by Joann Merritt was perched head-high in the interior of a shade tree) on her 2 acre place on the edge of Midland City limits. Joann caught the butterfly, took it inside and placed it in an open container on paper towels to see if it could recover. When I got there, the butterfly was still feebly moving its wings once in awhile but made no effort to fly. I took several pictures and we watched it for half an hour to see if it would recover but it soon quit moving at all." Mike Quinn responded there’s only a few county records north of Midland and needless to say, this is a new county record. The Ruby-Spot’s normal range is from South Texas south to Argentina. (It is)… a rare stray to Kansas, southeast Arizona and West Texas. Thanks to Rose Marie our Ruby-Spotted Swallowtail has now been officially recorded!

Thanks to the Midnat Butterfliers who “Followed the Leader” and worked hard to achieve such good results. THANK YOU!!