ring of parsley around the birdbath
school butterfly garden
Great little butterfly haven you got going there!!! Do hope you're getting butterflies and caterpillars.
I'm a bit leary about placing bird baths where butterflies and caterpillars will be - sort of like tempting any bird that may come to drink water to pick up a snack. Then again, could be a good learning experience for the students. Show then the nature of things...survival of the fittest as well as the circle of life.
It still pains me to watch mockingbirds, couchbirds, grackles and great kiskadees perched on my fence and just eyeing my yard. Those birds can pick out a cricket in the grass from quite a distance!!! I've had them snatch up a butterfly nectaring on my plants and they fly up to the telephone wire to eat it! UGH!!!
I know having a birdbath amongst all those lovely plants would make caterpillars and butterflies easy pickings...even though some butterflies and cats taste repulsive to them or make them sick...there's still those young birds that haven't learned what not to eat.
Perhaps some cut up fruit or butterfly bait in the bird bath would attract the brushfooted butterflies...or even a bunch of rocks or marbles with just a teeny bit of salt or fish emulsion and water. Little enough to frustrate the birds so they won't use it and just enough to allow butterflies to puddle.
:o)
~ Cat
This message was edited Jun 21, 2007 9:43 PM
Cat,
Thanks for your thoughtful and insightful responses. You are right about the water source being an invitation to predators. A pinch of salt is a great idea, I'll implement it first thing Monday. (The water will have evaporated by then anyway.)
I had pebbles in the birdbath, but well meaning souls kept sweeping them out for me and my princiapl said it looked "sloppy." I had a difficult time getting the boss-lady to agree to any water at all because she was afraid all the students would contract Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or some equally deadly disease from mosquitos laying their eggs there.
We had oodles of butterflies last year in another garden I planted under the NJ State sign near the road. That garden has 2 large butterfly bushes and an abundance of purple cone flowers and black eyed susans. Guess I should use botanical names here, eh? I had 3 monarch cocoons on the lone milkweed by October. I'm confidant that even if the birds feed, we'll be able to provide the shelter, nectar and host plants for more than a few winged flowers.
I'm not entirely opposed to letting the children, and staff, see the natural order of things. Life can be harsh, but it is always fair and beautiful, even in it's savagery.
Sometime, I'll tell you the story of releasing Painted Lady Butterflies with my delicate young Girl Scout Troop and the whoops of laughter when one of the insects got garsped in a beak as soon as it took flight. Kids!!!