Dave Taft has a brave article on Monarch Butterfly in this weekend's NY Times but the truth is that this iconic insect is at an all-time low. This morning I saw one, only my third of the season. Earlier there were numbers of Tiger Swallowtails, hairstreaks and other native butterflies. I thought that with the bursting forth of Seaside Goldenrod
-- more than I have ever seen -- there would be lots of nectaring butterflies. But so far these gorgeous plants are covered with bees and wasps and other insects but the only butterflies I have seen are skippers and I would hesitate to say which ones. I did see a very striking beetle which I have tentatively identified as a Locust Borer; it is a good-sized insect with yellow-green bands on a black background. According to the Petersen "Field Guide to the Insects" it is common on Goldenrod in the fall and that is exactly where I saw it.
Yesterday I reported up to seven or eight Osprey on Weesuck Creek at the same time. A report from Paul Spitzer via Carl Safina counted forty birds in the air simultaneously at the mouth of the Connecticut River yesterday! If there was a Menhaden run here that was big enough to attract numbers of migrating Osprey, imagine the size of the run in Long Island Sound.
Eric Salzman
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