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08/07/2019 08:30 AMFor anyone who has quietly dreamed of becoming a lepidopterist—or simply relishes spotting a butterfly or three—a walk through Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge with Thomas Kelly is an opportunity not to be missed. A member of the Connecticut Butterfly Association (CBA) and an outdoorsman, Kelly will lead a free walk at the Refuge on Saturday, Aug. 10.
While butterfly sightings aren’t guaranteed, they are certainly likely. Weather plays a part as well as the migration patterns of different species, Kelly explained. He keeps a notebook in which he documents every butterfly he sees on a walk he takes or leads. Species that frequent the refuge include monarchs, swallowtails, and skippers—or LBJs (little brown jobs).
Skippers are “very difficult to identify,” Kelly said, as the differences between skipper species are subtle. As they tend to be brown, they blend in with their environment, but “the markings on each one of the different species are different.” Often, Kelly said, the arrangement or number of little dots on the wings is the identifying feature.
Monarchs tend to be taken for granted, but their population has been adversely affected by climate change and the loss of habitat. According to the National Wildlife Federation, as of 2018, the number of eastern monarchs making it to Mexico for the winter had declined more than 80 percent over 20 years.
In fact, Kelly became involved in the CBA when he heard about its butterfly tagging project, which helps to track the migration of monarchs.
“There’s a mylar tag about the size of your pinkie nail,” he explained. The company “3M developed a special glue for this for the University of Kansas monarch watch. You can purchase the tags and they all have a separate alphanumeric code. It’s very helpful [for figuring] out migration patterns.”
According to Kelly, “[t]he past two- to four years have been better. They’re up more in population than what they were.”
In addition to the locals, Kelly said, “[y]ou get butterflies that come up from the South that are known as vagrants. They’re not a permanent species here. They just wander up in the warmer seasons. We’ve had a big influx here. This year everybody’s been seeing a lot of things very early.
“One of those is a buckeye—probably one of the most beautiful butterflies,” said Kelly. “It has big eyes on the side of the wings. And ladies—painted ladies, American ladies, and red admirals are all more or less in the same family. They, too, are Southern vagrants. Those are some of the unusual ones we might see.”
In addition to the possibility of seeing a rare species of butterfly—or simply enjoying the presence of more ubiquitous ones—the walk has an educational component. Kelly brings field guides along “to show people what are good reference books,” he said, and shares information along the way.
“We field all sorts of questions,” Kelly said.
Every butterfly, for instance, “has a host plant, where it lays its eggs, and a feed plant that it will eat off of,” Kelly said.
For the monarch, milkweed serves as both, but the plants are different for each butterfly family.
“One plant that attracts all kinds of butterflies is the butterfly bush,” which has “bright flowers and a pungent aroma,” Kelly said. “Some people argue that you shouldn’t plant it because it’s not a native species.
“In the case of the monarch,” he said, “the monarch’s in trouble.” Kelly believes that “any help that you can give it” is worthwhile.
The walk, which lasts up to two hours, depending on the prevalence of butterflies, is open to everyone and anyone, but pre-registration is required.
“It’s great to see the kids,” Kelly said. “When you get kids interested in a young age in things—that’s what we like to see.
“What’s a bad thing you can say about a butterfly?” he continued. “They’re beautiful, they’re pollinators, and very important to our own system of things. Without the pollinators, we as a species won’t survive.
“Come and see this one little aspect of nature and see how diverse it is,” Kelly said.
The free butterfly walk will be held on Saturday, Aug. 10 at 10 a.m. at Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, 733 Old Clinton Rd., Westbrook. Register by emailing shaun_roche@fws.gov by Friday, Aug. 9.