The Flutterby News Fall 2015 Volume 9, Issue 2 The Panhandle Butterfly house is a program of: Mark your calendars for Oct 16 & 17th from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Special festivities include: PBH Activities & Booths: -Monarch Market & Butterfly Bazaar -Monarchs, Milkweed & More - Jr Lepidopterist (Educational) - Monarch Tagging Navarre Sea Turtle Conservation Center Navarre Garden Club UF/IFAS Santa Rosa 4-H presents Entomology Woods in the Round Publishing Rachel with Scentsy Santa Rosa County Master Gardeners will be available to provide answers to your horticultural questions Holley-Navarre Elks Lodge # 2787 will offer meals for purchase A variety of native butterflies inhabit the inside and outside gardens. Come learn about our native Florida butterflies and the majestic Monarchs migration. Visit our website: www.panhandlebutterflyhouse.org or our Facebook page for more information! And supported by: INSIDE THIS ISSUE Monarch Migration 2 Volunteer in 2016 3 Did you Know? 4 Presidential Plea 4 Support the PBH 5 A Year of Rebirth 6 MARK YOUR CALEN- DARS! PBH Opening & Plant Sale May 2016
Monarch & Migration Monarchs suffer perils from both nature and man. Their predators include almost anything that eats an insect: ants, lizards, spiders, etc. Milkweed and nectar sources are declining due to urban development and the widespread use of herbicides in home landscapes, croplands (90% of milkweed/monarch habitats occur within the farming landscape.), pastures and roadsides. Urban growth removes the native plants and replaces them with yards, buildings, parking lots, etc., often failing to restore the butterfly habitat. Near the end of June most of the butterflies again head north. The monarchs arrive in the northernmost edge of their zone and will remain in Canada for two generations. Here again the females will lay their eggs and die. The new children are the grand children and great grandchildren of the butterflies that were hatched in the south back in March/ April. They will use all of their energy producing offspring and eating. The adult butterfly feeds on a wide variety of nectar plants. They seek their sugars and other nutrients to build up a fat reserve to help them make the long trip south and over-winter in Mexico. The monarchs that will migrate south (the great grandchildren or great, great grandchildren or 4 th or 5 th generation) emerge from their chrysalides in reproductive diapauses, meaning that they will not reproduce at this time. The days are growing shorter and the temperatures are cooling. Their biological clock tells them it is time to go. Because butterflies cannot fly in the cold, they must precede the winter weather. The coldest temperature at which they can fly is 50 degrees on a sunny day and 60 degrees when cloudy. Monarchs begin arriving in the southern part of the United States around the time of the Fall Equinox, with the peak time in our area being between the 4 th and 16 th of October. Usually a solitary animal, the monarchs have been traveling in groups and festooning (huddling together) at night for warmth. They have traveled an average of 30 to 50 miles per day at about 12 miles an hour. High winds may speedup their journey. The entire trip to Mexico may take 2 months. Winds speeds increase at higher altitudes. When winds are blowing in the right direction, monarchs will thermal upward. Sometimes the winds are too strong, then the butterflies cluster in trees, basking in the sun and waiting. When the winds are in their favor, they will take off in groups. You now know the story of this amazing and mysterious butterfly. You also know the perilous life that it leads. It survives immense journeys, predators, storms, shortage of food, cold weather to name but a few of the hazards it faces. Next spring, plant some milkweed and help this wonderful pollinator survive. by Mary Liz Peterzen PBH, Past President
VOLUNTEER, THE PBH NEEDS YOU IN 2016! Docents CONTACT: PBH.VOLUNTEER@GMAIL.COM Trained Volunteers Greet and interact with the Public Guide & educate Visitors about Florida butterflies and gardening Provide casual interpretation Manage butterfly house resources Workdays: Choose the day best suited for you - Thursday-Saturday 10 am-3pm Gardeners Work in the PBH gardens Grow & manage plants that attract butterflies & caterpillars Maintain the vivarium & outdoor gardens Workdays: scheduled weekly during the growing season / Marketeers Trained Volunteers Work in the Monarch Market inside the reception area Interact with visitors selling souvenirs, educational & informational merchandise Tour Guides Trained Volunteers Guide groups of children on tours & school field trips Provide education about Florida butterflies, butterfly gardening & ecology Workdays: Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday - Tour are scheduled in advance Additional volunteer opportunities - Contact: pbh.volunteer@gmail.com 3
PBH now has a sunshine yellow exterior with monarch orange lettering Credit: Louise Biernesser DID YOU KNOW? The PBH is run 100% by Volunteers The PBH is the Only Educational Butterfly House in the region The PBH does NOT charge admission The PBH spends $13,000 to $15000 dollars on butterflies a season The PBH Gardens (inside and outside) are pesticide free and planted with both nectar & host plants The PBH receives no Federal or State funding. Donations are critical! The PBH Tour program follows & meets Florida Sunshine State Standards A Presidential Plea. For most, the Panhandle Butterfly House is a place of learning and wonderment. While I absolutely agree, it has also become a huge challenge for the PBH Volunteers. So you ask, what could be the challenge in a place filled with these beautiful ephemeral creatures? ANOLES!!! You may know the anole under a different name Lizard. Although anoles are a natural enemy of butterflies (I mean they get hungry too) this year the PBH became home to the Cuban anole. This invasive anole eats our native anoles and will rip a butterfly s wing off just for fun. We ve seen it happen and it is so sad. It appears these Cuban anoles come in through gaps & tears in our plastic roof then the females lay eggs. We patch the tears but soon enough another hole appears. We spend on average $5 per butterfly, so not only is this issue horrible, it is costly! We ve had two estimates on replacing the roof with a hard plastic. Both include replacing the wood that s starting to show its rot. My plea to each of you is simple. Support the only butterfly house in NW Florida and one of the few educational butterfly houses in the nation. Help us to keep admission free and have live butterflies to help us educate and enjoy. After all, we are not the Anole house offering butterfly buffets. Join us in our Raise the Roof Fundraiser. We are the Panhandle Butterfly House, your butterfly house, and we need your support now! Louise Biernesser President, Panhandle Butterfly House 4 4
Support the Panhandle Butterfly House! Your help is needed so that we can continue our mission of educating the public on Butterflies and their important role in our environment Why Donate? The Panhandle Butterfly House relies on voluntary donations for operational funding and on volunteer support to maintain the building and gardens located on Highway 98 at the foot of Navarre Beach Bridge. A major expense is purchasing butterflies to maintain a consistent inventory of varieties, because an individual butterfly may live only 3-4 weeks. It costs $15,000 annually to buy butterflies from our Florida supplier. On average, an order of 100 125 butterflies are ordered weekly. We work hard to grow our own butterflies, and these do contribute to our display, but we can t collect and grow the quantity and variety of butterflies required for our exhibit. Donate by Check Mail the check to Panhandle Butterfly House, P. O. Box 5208, Navarre, FL 32566 Donate by Debit Card, Credit Card or PayPal Visit our website www.panhandlebutterflyhouse.org Donate by Cash Come visit us at 8581 Navarre Parkway, Navarre, Florida When you link to Amazon.com from our website and purchase ANY item, the Panhandle Butterfly House receives a small referral fee. This fee is included in the regular price of the item you are purchasing. Come see us FIRST when you are going to Amazon.com to shop!! Like us on Facebook! Visit us on FB to see next years upcoming events, such as Opening 2016, our next plant sale and other fun & education activities! Purchase a brick to be placed in the pathways around the Panhandle Butterfly House. What a nice way to remember someone or just to show the world you support the PBH. When you subscribe to the Navarre Press through our link the Panhandle Butterfly House will receive a credit towards future advertising equal to 1/2 of your purchase. Thanks in advance for subscribing
A year of rebirth. By Louise Biernesser Our goal to encourage others to do in their backyard what we do in the PBH grounds, Help the butterflies and you help pollinators and the environment! This year has been a huge success as indicated by the many questions asked about butterfly gardening. Although, the Panhandle Butterfly House (PBH) opened its doors in 1997, this year was the year of rebirth. The house, outside gardens and the inside vivarium gardens were renovated. This year brought new beds, newly painted benches, new and better defined signage while all existing beds were revamped. The Panhandle Butterfly House (PBH) gardens (both inside and outside) now offer lush, native, and Florida -friendly vegetation, brightly colored butterfly host and nectar plants, pathways with signage, the sound of water, and seating to allow visitors to observe and enjoy native butterflies. Come visit and discover new design ideas and an array of both host and nectar plant selections that you can incorporate to create a butterfly garden in your own landscape. Learn the importance of creating a garden that is Florida-friendly and environmentally healthy. Exemplary brochures used as garden guides are: Florida & Butterflies: https://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/wildflower/brochure_side1_butterflies.pdf https://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/wildflower/brochure_side2_wildflowers.pdf Monarchs & Milkweeds: http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/files/7914/3109/6302/monarchs-milkweeds-southeast.pdf Photo Credits: Louise Biernesser
A special thank you to the following Monarch Madness Supporters: Santa Rosa Tourist Development Office Thrivent Financial Look for our article on milkweed plants in our next issue of the Flutterby News. Got Milkweed is coming...