Gotta gloat :o) Jeff Glassberg was at our local NABA IBP (North American Butterfly Association International Butterfly Park) today meeting with the movers and shakers regarding the park developement.
He remembered me from the rare Marius Hairstreak caterpillars I found back in 2005 :o) We walked and talked and did a little bit of butterflying before I had to leave for work. I had a couple of his books in my car so he signed them too. I am tickled pink - I missed him when he was down last month.
He has some fantastic plans for our local park. Anyone interested can have a look see:
http://www.naba.org/nababp/Park%20News1a.htm
~ Cat
Woohoo...Glassberg's in town!!!
How exciting for you! I'm sure he's seen butterflies all over the world. Any idea what his favorite is? Your park is going to be fantastic! You'll have to be sure and show us the progress.
TPP, that's really neat!
It looks like it will be a great place to hang out with a camera.
Oh how cool Cat. I got to meet Dr. Mark Minno at a NABA meeting in Florida a few years ago and got his new caterpillar book which he signed for all of us
Yes, our local NABA IBP is a fantastic place and it is only a tiny fraction of what he has planned.
Am trying to think of the area that is planted now...I'd say it is roughly 50 yards in length??? If you look at the link below - what we have now is the preliminary phase. It is the light brown colored area with flowers on the lower right corner. You can see just how small that area is in comparision to the future developement.
http://www.naba.org/nababp/Park%20News1a.htm
You can still walk along the canals and through fields - there are lots of native trees growing there and many park volunteers have re-vegetated the area with more natives...but that little area listed as "preliminary phase" is a high concentration of native butterfly nectar and larval host plants and little pathways you can wander around...a fountain, some benches, palapas and picnic tables. That little area has made international news by bringing in many rare strays and new US record butterflies. We get folks from all over the world coming down to the Lower Rio Grande Valley to go butterflying. An excellent idea considering we get about 300 butterfly species down here :o)
The majority of butterfly photos I post are either from the NABA IBP or my back yard. As I am getting to know my butterflies and caterpillars better I try to spend a few hours each week at the park when my shift and the weather permits.
It is a fantastic place to watch butterflies in their natural environment (outdoors with no cages or walls). I often get to see females ovipositing on their larval hosts and look at eggs and caterpillars up close. Finding chrysalids is somewhat difficult though...there are just so many places for a caterpillar to sneak away to and pupate :o)
If I have a free weekend I sometimes pack a picnic lunch, grab my favorite butterfly and caterpillar ID books and take the dogs. I usually leave the dogs tied up under the large palapa (a wood floor platform that is covered with straw/palm leaves) while I walk the butterfly trail. Have tried walking them through the park but it's impossible to photograph butterflies with two dogs pulling in opposite directions - one is a little terrier so the sight of a lizard means the chase is on!!! :o) They are happy enough laying on the wooden floor of the palap and watching me walk around. They also equate guarding my books and the picnic basket with treats!!! ...and love the attention they get from others and kids.
As I continue to learn about butterflies I have been contemplating leaving something in my will for the NABA IBP. I need to do a little more research into that soon.
http://www.naba.org/nababp/Park%20News1a.htm
~ Cat
I have a couple of Florida butterfly and caterpillar books by Minno :o) Florida gets butterflies very similar to the those we get in south Texas.
It's great when you get to meet all these scientistics and lep authors! They are a wealth of knowledge and it is extremely enlightening to have the opportunity to walk and talk with them out in the field. I guess I'm lucky because the teach the seminars and are often the tour guides or tag along during our butterfly festival trips.
Wagner asked for my ceraunus blue caterpillar photos when he was here in October. I was able to photograph the protruding organs - no others like those that I could find in any book or on the internet :o)
~ Cat
that's cool Cat!!!!
Isn't that an awesome priviledge to get to walk along side of and pick the mind of an expert in the field? Don't ya just wish that you could plug into all the wealth of information that Jeff has stored away in his brain!? Even a teeny tiny bit of it! :-)
300 different species ? How exciting !
You're a lucky one Donna!!! Minno has some good photos. Which caterpillar book do you have???
I do wish there were more caterpillar books or at least at book that covered life cycles of all the butterflies!!! Judy Burris' book is really good for the most common garden butterflies...but really would love to see one with lots more butterfly species in it.
Yahhhhh...and I do pick their minds. I also love it when they also have a background in plant biology :o) We get to talk about larval host plants then too :o)
...oh, and across the border in Mexico, in the next state over...there are about 750 species. That's where lots of them go on butterfly trips...and why get rare strays and new US records.
...but alas, Becky...although south Florida and south Texas have similar species...we don't get the atala butterfly...and I haven't seen any Mexican Cycadian coming across the border yet. I have two zamia (coonties) growing in my yard...so I can still hope!!!
~ Cat
Donna,
I was going through my books and pulled out the Florida Butterfly & Caterpillar book by Minno. I don't know how I overlooked reading through that all these months! (Banging head on desk!!!)
I stayed up late reading through it last night. It is wonderful!!! Lots of good egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly photos...wish it had the larval host plants listed right next to the photos but they are included in the book...just have to flip some pages to get to them.
(Still banging my head on the desk) Guess I was too focused on the south Texas butterfly books to realize what an excellent book that one is!
I tell you...I order butterfly books right and left and forget that I have them!
Must thank you again for your post about meeting the good doctor :o)
~ Cat
I agree, Cat! That is my favorite book to identify butterflies here in Florida! I paid retail price for it because I just couldn't leave the store without it! lol It's become well-used since I bought it several months ago!
Funny, but I too overlooked the moth section of the book. They were listed at the end after all the butterflies. I was so engrossed with all the eggs, cats, and butterfly photos that I just never paid much attention to the moth section.
Thanks for listing it for other folks to check it out of their library or to possibly purchase it!
It has moths in it too? Rut roh........ :o)
Cat - My mistake. I have another book by Marc & Maria Minno called, "Florida Butterfly Gardening". This book had tons of photos of various Florida butterflies and it also has a section on Moths. I jumped the gun when I saw the Minno name and got it mixed up with the book you are talking about. I have not seen that book, but I love the one I bought.
Cat - BTW - Unfortunately, I don't get the Atala Butterflies either. They are only found in a few areas in south Florida. There is coonies all over the place since it is common to use as a landscape plant in Florida, but that doesn't help to expand the area where the Atala are found. Which is a bummer! ;-(
Exciting to have the new "state of the art" butterfly garden in your area. We will all be looking forward to some great pics from it! And so interesting that you have met Dr. Glassberg through your butterfly discoveries!
I didn't know who Dr. Glassberg was so I googled around and found his list of books on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/s/002-2313230-8558462?ie=UTF8&index=books&rank=-relevance%2C%2Bavailability%2C-daterank&field-author-exact=Glassberg%2C%20Jeffrey
Sounds like the Expert in the field and I will have to get some of his books.
Can you tell us any more about him?
I wish we had the butterfly activity up here that you southern and southwesterners have! (We do have a very good group of BF lepidopterists in the Ohio Lep. Society, though!)
This message was edited Dec 3, 2006 9:28 AM
Glassberg is the president of NABA (North American Butterfly Association) www.naba.org - there are about 35 NABA chapters throughout the United States. He promotes conservation...not collection :o) Extremely knowlegable about butterflies for different parts of the US and their larval hosts..birds too. He rattled off some plants but I can't remember them all so will end up emailing or calling him up to ask again. Looks just like his photo. I have several of his books...excellent photography!!! He comes down to south Texas a few times a year to check on the progress of the park and meet with the movers and shakers who are helping fund the development. Walks around with a pair of binoculars hanging from his neck...then again, we all do too :o) He's very passionate about butterflies...you can feel his energy and enthusiasm when he talks about them.
I tell ya'll...ya'll just need to pack up your cameras and binoculars and move to south Texas. Butterflies all year around...with a higher rate of rarities making an appearance during the winter months :o)
~ Cat
I can't move but it sure would be fun to have a group trip! :)
I ordered Glassberg's "Butterflies through Binoculars" for the eastern regeion (used, from Amazon).
I read the introduction to the book (on the Amazon 'search this book feature) and it alone is full of good information about how to look for butterflies and notes on how to ID them.
Also the section on how to purchase Binoculars for butterfying is good info to know when purchasing (or did I see that on the NABA site?).
Here is the link to the Glassberg's butterfly book for the East (he also has them for other regions). This is the introduction which I think is great info for newbie 'butterfliers' like me:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0195106687/ref=sib_dp_pt/104-4357764-6034342#reader-link
So, TexasPP, are you thinking of opening a Bed & Breakfast? I think you would get a lot of business!
A 'B and B and B'......bed, breakfast, butterflying heeheee
Good one Fly!!!
There's already an RV park close by. They also have landscaped with lots of butterfly friendly plants. Way too many hotels in town too.
...but I do like that B&B&B!!!
~ Cat