Butterflies

Go with the F.L.O.W. this Summer at CNC

Connect with Nature Through Fun, Learning, Outdoors, and Wellness

This summer, CNC is grateful to be able to offer our 127 acres as space where you can go with the F.L.O.W. – Fun, Learning, Outdoors, and Wellness – and connect with nature. Through fun festivals, robust programs, exciting exhibits, and beautiful trails and gardens, you will find there is so much to do and explore at CNC this season! Extended hours are back this summer! Opening at 9AM Monday to Saturday. More time to get your nature on.

June kicks off with the 23rd Annual Butterfly Festival celebrating all pollinators and the grand opening of CNC’s most popular seasonal exhibit, the Butterfly Encounter.

You will enjoy learning about the power of pollinators and meet native butterflies up close and personal while making memories with friends and family – a true highlight of the summer season.

CNC is also grateful for the wonderful staff and volunteers who share the love of nature with our visitors and members. Pee Wee Naturalist is a quarterly program for the youngest explorers.

CNC Naturalist Larry Stevens has created memories and sparked a love for nature with those lucky explorers that have experienced Pee Wee Naturalists.

A parent shared recently: “[My child] enjoyed today’s class so much! This afternoon he pretended that he was “Mr. Larry” and taught his big brother all he had learned about snakes. So sweet!” Our next Pee Wee Naturalist series begins the first week of June and registration is currently open. Spaces are limited and a great way for you and your budding naturalist to connect with nature.

Get your heart pumping with exciting adventures like ziplining with Screaming Eagle Aerial Adventures, or canoeing with CNC on one of our evening River Canoe Trips.

Get your foot tapping with amazing music, amazing views, and time to relax. Sunset Sips and Sundays on the River are both a great way to experience CNC after hours.

The River Boardwalk Trail is open and ready for you to explore! The Chattahoochee River and wetlands provide a place to learn, relax, stroll, and connect with nature. We look forward to seeing you this summer to go with the F.L.O.W.

Your Help is Needed in Reporting Winter Monarch Sightings

A message from the Monarchs Across Georgia Committee of the Environmental Education Alliance

*Photo courtesy of Monarchs Across Georgia Committee, Environmental Education Alliance*

Last winter, volunteers from across the Southeast and Gulf states provided more than 5,800 observations of monarch butterflies. This winter, the partnership of universities, agencies and other organizations called Monarchs Overwintering in the Southeastern States is requesting the public’s continued involvement in reporting sightings.

The public is encouraged to report monarch sightings from Dec. 1-March 1 in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.

Observations are entered in Journey North’s online data portal, where they are transformed into real-time mapping visualizations of monarch migration and breeding. Journey North is an organization designed to engage people across North America in tracking wildlife migration and seasonal change.

For more details on how to participate, read the full Press Release from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

The infographic below provides details of what observations (adult monarchs, monarch eggs and larvae, and milkweed) can be reported on Journey North this winter.

Thank you for your efforts.

—
Susan Meyers
Monarchs Across Georgia Committee
Environmental Education Alliance
P.O. Box 801066, Acworth, GA 30101

The Symbolic Migration project is a partnership project between Journey North, a program of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, and Monarchs Across Georgia, a committee of The Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia, a 501(c) (3) organization. Journey North manages the interactive Symbolic Migration Participant Maps and hosts all educational materials on the Journey North website. Monarchs Across Georgia administers the program and is responsible for all fundraising.

Spring is in full swing, and it’s on the wing!

Explore the migration of birds and insects

By Rebekah Dolan, Visitor Services Associate

With the return of longer hours of sunlight and warmer weather, you are probably seeing many critters flying and buzzing around – some of which you may have not seen before. Each spring, thousands of birds and insects migrate north to reach their summer breeding and feeding grounds and then return south again in the fall.

Bird Migration

*Sandhill Crane Migration, Photo by Rebekah Dolan*

For hundreds of years, the seasonal migration of birds was largely a mystery. Did you know that the Ancient Greeks believed that birds hibernated underground? This is how they explained their disappearance in the winter, and return again in the spring.

While we have learned a lot about birds and their migration since the Ancient Greeks, much of it still seems mysterious.

Fun Facts:

Around 4,000 species of birds are migrants. Even birds that don’t fly, like emus and penguins, still migrate by foot or swim.
The arctic tern has the longest migration of any bird, traveling around 49,700 miles each year almost equal to traveling around the Earth twice!
Many birds migrate at night to avoid predators and reduce the risk of overheating.
Bar-headed geese migrate at the highest altitudes reaching heights of around 23,000 feet when flying over the Himalayas in India.

Insect Migration

There are several species of insects that also migrate up to thousands of miles each year. The most well-known insect migrant is the monarch butterfly. Monarch butterflies are one of only a few butterfly species known to make a two-way migration like birds. While the monarch might be the most famous of migrating butterflies, the painted lady, question mark, and common buckeye also make a two-way migration. These butterflies all play an important role during their migration in pollinating crops and wildflowers.

Butterflies are not the only insects that migrate. Moths, dragonflies, beetles, grasshoppers, milkweed bugs, and some species of flies also undergo long journeys in search of food and warmer weather. Besides carrying pollen, because insects themselves are food for birds and other animals, their annual migrations are very important for ecosystems.

Fun Facts:

Milkweed bugs, just like monarch butterflies, are colored orange and black to warn off predators and migrate following the emergence of milkweed plants in the spring and summer.
The wandering glider, a species of dragonfly, undertakes the longest migration traveling more than 4,350 miles one way. In the Eastern Hemisphere, they are known to migrate from India to Africa by crossing the Indian Ocean and are the only known insect to make a transoceanic crossing.
The hummingbird hawk-moth resembles a hummingbird as it flies between plants and hovers over flowers. Like, butterflies, hawk-moths also migrate, but they generally migrate at night, as opposed to butterflies which migrate during the day.
Hoverflies mimic stinging insects like wasps with stripes and bright colors and migrate over multiple generations. As they do so, their larvae eat trillions of aphids, and the adults visit billions of flowers carrying pollen as they go, making them the ultimate gardener’s friend!

*Snowberry Clearwing Hawk-Moth, Photo by Rebekah Dolan*

The annual migrations can be really exciting to watch, they are also a very dangerous time for birds and insects. Some dangers may come from predators, but a lot can be caused by humans.

Each year, millions of birds die from building collisions, and pesticides can cause the deaths of billions of beneficial insects.

What Actions can you Take During Migration Time?

Make your windows bird-friendly. Placing decals on your windows that reflect ultraviolet light can help prevent collisions. Also, something as simple as turning out the lights at night can help keep migrating birds safe.
Make your yard a haven for wildlife by growing native plants. Not only do native plants provide perfect hosts for insect larvae, including butterflies, but the larvae and insects the plants attract also provide food for birds, lizards, toads, and other insects like dragonflies.
Eliminate pesticides from your yard. Even pesticides that do not harm birds directly can pollute water sources and kill beneficial insects as well as insects that birds rely on for food.
Keep your cat indoors. Cats can cause many bird deaths, so keeping kitty indoors helps keep birds safe, especially when young birds are beginning to leave the nest.
Join bird and insect conservation groups and citizen science projects. The more we learn and know about the world around us, the more we will care. The more we care, the harder we will strive to protect. Check out the Urban Kings Project and Atlanta Firefly Project for citizen science projects in the metro Atlanta area.

Migrate to the Chattahoochee Nature Center this summer to visit the Butterfly Encounter opening in June. Learn about amazing native butterflies, their importance to our planet, and their incredible migration journey. As a bonus, you can buy native, pollinator-friendly plants outside the Butterfly Encounter to make your home a paradise for migrating wildlife.

The (Un)usual Suspects

The pollinators you love – and a few you might be surprised to meet

April 19, 2021

By Emma Schell, Scheduling Coordinator

Spring has sprung, and while that means warmer weather and blooming flowers, it also means the arrival of something many people dread: pollen.

While it may be a nuisance to our noses, pollen is an essential part of plant reproduction. In order for many plants to make seeds and fruit, pollen must travel between flowers. While wind and water can do some of this work, an estimated 70-87% of flowering plants rely on animals for help.

We call these animal helpers pollinators.

1. Butterflies

Perhaps the most widely recognized pollinator, butterflies help pollinate in a rather accidental way.

Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid found in flowers, and it is the primary food source for most butterflies. They use their long, straw-like mouth parts, called a proboscis, to reach down into the flowers and drink the nectar.

Butterflies do not intentionally collect pollen, but when one stops to drink nectar, small amounts of pollen stick to its body. As the butterfly continues its search for food, it carries this pollen to new flowers – helping to pollinate plants as it goes.

2. Bees

Georgia is home to over 500 species of bees, and although they might be a little less colorful than butterflies, they are the real MVPs of the pollinator world.

Both pollen and nectar are essential parts of a bee’s diet – nectar provides energy in the form of carbohydrates while pollen provides proteins and other nutrients. Because of this, bees actively collect both nectar and pollen for themselves and their larvae.

Bees possess special structures on their bodies that allow them to store and carry pollen. These adaptations allow bees to transport large amounts of pollen, sometimes 30% of their body weight, back to their nests. Along the way, they distribute this pollen to the plants they visit.

3. Wasps

Like bees, wasps have very high energy needs. While most wasps are carnivorous, they cannot survive on meat alone. They supplement their diet with a variety of sugar-rich foods such as fruits and, of course, nectar from flowers. As they pass between flowers, they transfer pollen along the way.

Wasps are less hairy than bees, and they are generally considered less efficient pollinators because less pollen is able to stick to their bodies. However, in some specialized environments, specific wasp species have been shown to outperform their honeybee counterparts.

Though they may not be as widely impactful as a bee, wasps are important specialist pollinators. Specialist pollinators are very picky in their choice of plants that they visit. They choose to visit the flowers of only one small group of plants, and often, the plants that they do visit are entirely dependent on these wasps for reproduction.

4. Flies

Though flies are often overlooked in discussions of pollination, this ancient group of insects was likely one of the first to pollinate early flowering plants.

Less fuzzy than most bees, they may not be the most efficient pollinators, but in some environments, flies carry the majority of the burden. Especially in cooler climates, where bee activity is reduced, flies are often the primary pollinator group.

Just like with wasps, some plants have evolved specifically to be pollinated by flies. They may emit foul odors or even resemble rotting meat in appearance. They do all of this to attract flies to their flowers.

One of these plants is the cocoa tree. The cocoa tree has small, downturned flowers that grow on its lowest branches and trunk. These flowers smell similar to some mushrooms, and they attract tiny flies that normally feed on fungi. Without these flies, the cocoa tree cannot bear fruit. Without this fruit, we humans would not have chocolate.

5. Bats

These nighttime flyers may go unnoticed much of the time, but make no mistake, they are vital to plants all over the world. Over 530 plant species rely on bats to assist with pollination – some of these plants include agave, bananas, and balsa trees.

Bats both drink nectar and also eat many of the insects that can be found in flowers. During both activities, bats collect pollen in their fur and redistribute it to other plants as they travel. Fruit-eating bats will also disperse seeds as they fly.

Bats also have a unique advantage over insect pollinators. They fly farther distances than most insects and are therefore able to transfer pollen between a wider distribution of plants.

So, as the weather warms and you explore the outdoors this spring, remember that for every butterfly and bee you spot, there are many more pollinators helping with their important work.

Tips for Starting a Successful Butterfly Garden

Always include a nectar source and host plants

March 16, 2021

There are two parts to any successful butterfly garden: nectar sources and host plants. Nectar is an important source of food for many pollinators, and luckily there are many different types of annuals and perennials that provide this resource.

To attract native pollinators to your garden, we recommend planting native annuals and perennials that would typically be found in your area naturally. Butterflies see in ultraviolet light, so bright colored flowers with a lighter center can act as a target to help attract pollinators. Butterflies also prefer a space to land while feeding on the nectar, so native species with larger petals or petals that form in clumps will also help attract butterflies to your garden.

The National Wildlife Federation provides these additional tips when selecting nectar plants:

Plant good nectar sources in the sun
Select a variety of plants to promote continuous bloom throughout the season
Say no to insecticides! Insecticides are lethal to butterflies while they are still caterpillars.

Here is a short list of nectar sources that have been used in our Butterfly Encounter at CNC throughout the years.

Annuals: Lantana ‘New Gold’, Petunia ‘Wave White’, Calibrachoa ‘Blue Legend’, Zinnia ‘Profusion’, Verbena ‘Vepita Dark Red’, Plumbago

Perennials: Gaillardia pulchella, Indian Blanket, Coreopsis sp., Tickseed, Stokesia laevis, Stokes aster, Pycnanthemum sp., Mountain mints

The second item necessary for a successful butterfly garden are host plants. Host plants are required for a butterfly’s reproductive cycle.

When a caterpillar hatches from its egg, it must eat from a specific plant to survive. If an egg is laid on a plant that is not the correct host plant, the caterpillar will hatch, try to eat whatever plant they are on, and then die. Therefore, if you would like to attract a wide variety of native butterflies to your garden, be sure to plant a wide variety of native host plants!

Below, you can find the list of host plants to some of the native butterflies of Georgia.

Butterfly: Danaus plexippus, Monarch
Host Plant: Asclepias incarnata

Butterfly: Papilio polyxenes, Black Swallowtail
Host Plants: Variety of plants in the Apiaceae family including: Carrots, Dill, Parsley, Fennel, Celery, Caraway

Butterfly: Papilio cresphontes, Giant Swallowtail
Host Plants: Variety of trees and herbs in Rutaceae family including: Prickly Ash, Hop Tree, Common Rue

Butterfly: Battus philenor, Pipevine Swallowtail
Host Plant: Pipevines (Aristolochia species)

Butterfly: Papilio troilus, Spicebush Swallowtail
Host Plant: Plants belonging to Lauraceae family

Butterfly: Papilio glaucus, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Host Plant: Common host plants in Magnoliaceae and Rosaceae families including: Tulip Tree, Sweet Bay Magnolia, Wild Black Cherry

Butterfly: Siproeta stelenes, Malachite
Host Plants: Ruellia coccinea and other plants in the Acanthaceae family

Butterfly: Heliconius charithonia, Zebra Longwing
Host Plant: Several passion flower vine species (Passiflora sp.) including: Purple Passionflower, Corkystem Passionflower, Yellow Passionflower and more

Butterfly: Vanessa cardui, Painted Lady
Host Plants: More than 100 species of plants have been recorded as a host plant for the Painted Lady including: Compositae family, Boraginaceae family, Malvaceae family

Butterfly: Agraulis vanillae, Gulf Fritillary
Host Plant: Many species in the Passiflora family including: Purple Passionflower and Corkystem Passionflower

Along with nectar and host plants there are also a few other things to consider when planning your butterfly garden. They are not plant related, but just as important for attracting butterflies.

Create a spot for butterflies to rest. Butterflies need sun and warmth to dry their wings and be ready for flight. Flat stones in your garden are a great place for them to warm up and get ready for the day.

Did you know that butterflies need to drink water? Puddling is a term for when butterflies congregate on wet sand and mud. Birds & Blooms shares details on what to consider when making a spot for puddling. Kidsgardening.org has a step by step guide to making a puddle for your garden. All ages can take part in this activity! The butterflies will appreciate it!

If you would like more information on other plants you can include in your butterfly garden at home, you can visit your local county extension office or shop at the native plant sales at the Chattahoochee Nature Center. The Spring Native Plant sale happens the last weekend of March and first weekend of April and the Fall Native Plant Sale happens in September. There are horticulturists, master gardeners, and garden experts at the plant sales that can help you pick the right plants for your butterfly garden.

Bring together nectar sources and host plants in your garden, along with a few other features, and you will be on your way to attracting butterflies and other pollinators throughout spring, summer, and fall!

A Chance to Get Up Close and Personal with Butterflies

July 25, 2020- Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Things To Do
By Kathryn Kickliter, Publisher

The “Butterfly Encounter” held by the nature center is this summer’s exhibit and will run through Aug. 2. Landscaped by nectar and foliage-type plants, at any given time there are hundreds of butterflies fluttering around, feeding on nectar or resting inside. Read on to discover more details.

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Our Day at the Chattahoochee Nature Center

Explore nature through trails, animals, gardens and butterflies at this local wooded escape

Jul 16, 2020 – Macaroni Kid Alpharetta-Roswell-Milton
By Karen Cohen, Publisher

Tiger swallowtail on bush — **Image Credit**: Karen Cohen

The Chattahoochee Nature Center (CNC) in Roswell is an outdoor nature oasis. We recently went to the CNC and explored the 127-acres of woods, wetlands and river habitat. We packed a picnic, water, sunscreen and bug spray and experienced the serenity of nature.

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Butterfly Encounter lands at the Chattahoochee Nature Center

Roswell's Chattahoochee Nature Center has plenty for you to see right now

July 14, 2020 – Fox 5 Atlanta, Good Day Atlanta
By Paul Milliken

ROSWELL, Ga. – Reservations are required and masks are abundant, but aside from the obvious changes due to the coronavirus pandemic, staffers at the Chattahoochee Nature Center say their popular Butterfly Encounter will provide the same magical experience for visitors this year.

This year’s Butterfly Encounter opened last month will will continue daily through August 2nd, welcoming visitors into a butterfly-filled tent and allowing them to see the delicate winged creatures closer than ever before.

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How to Invite Butterflies to Your Garden & Help Pollination

Planning is needed to invite pollinators

Edited by Henning von Schmeling, Senior Director of Operations
June 12, 2020

We have all heard the stories of bees and other insects dying out in large numbers. It’s a mysterious phenomenon, however our buzzing friends are not the only ones facing difficulties in populations.

Pollinators of all kinds – including bees and butterflies – are relied upon heavily in the plant world to, well, pollinate. The relationship between pollinators and flowers is one that most people understand. Butterflies rely on nectar, the sweet liquid found hidden within flowers. As a butterfly lands and sips nectar it unintentionally picks up pollen. By doing that it does the flower a favor by moving its pollen around the garden and ensuring another generation of blooms. While a butterfly may visit a variety of flowers for nourishment, they look for specific plants – called “host plants” – on which to lay eggs. A caterpillar is choosy; it will not munch the leaves of just any plant.

One famous example is the milkweed species of plant. Monarch Butterflies, those bright orange and black butterflies, will only lay their eggs on milkweed, making it essential to their survival. However, if the milkweed is not present when the Monarchs make their annual migration to Mexico, they cannot breed. Likewise, the Tiger Swallowtail, Georgia’s state butterfly, looks for tulip poplar trees, on which to lay their eggs.

Henning von Schmeling, with the Chattahoochee Nature Center, said planning is needed to invite pollinators into a garden.

“Everybody always says that you have to plant flowers since adult butterflies eat nectar, but you won’t raise butterflies unless you have the specific host plants that each species of adult butterfly needs to lay their eggs on,” said von Schmeling.

Even if you live in a subdivision where there are covenants with strict landscaping guidelines, von Schmeling suggests locating a section in the back for a natural garden. Butterflies are repelled, and often endangered, by herbicides and pesticides. They prefer overgrown areas, especially with native plants and flowers of the host and nectar plants they prefer and where they can lay their eggs where the caterpillars will thrive.

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The Flower Power of Pollinators

The secret message in the color of flowers

By Liz Platner, Outreach and Partnerships Coordinator
Originally Posted on March 23, 2018
Updated on June 12, 2020

You may think that roses are red and violets are blue, but that’s because your eyes are human eyes. If you were a pollinator, you would see there’s a secret message in the colors of flowers. To understand why flowers contain secret messages, we need to understand pollination.

Flowers have male parts called stamens, which are the long thin filaments topped with the anther that produces pollen. In order to create seeds, the pollen must be transferred to the sticky stigma which is at the top of the female pistil. Once the pollen grains are on the stigma, pollen tubes can grow down into the ovule and a seed is created. These seeds can grow into new plants, or, in some cases, the ovule develops into fruit and we get to eat it. This explains why flowers are critical to the survival of many plant species.

Wind and insects, especially bees, flies and beetles, are the primary pollinators and there a few other kinds of animals as well. Pollination can occur by water, but it is very rare. Since it’s so important to plant survival, some flowers have embedded color patterns to help pollinators find their nectar more easily. As the pollinators feed on nectar, they get pollen grains stuck on them, which they then transfer to the next flower. These color patterns are called nectar guides, and they benefit the plant by facilitating cross-pollination.

Some of these nectar guides are made of colors in the ultraviolet range, not visible to the human eye but obvious to insects. Our eyes can see colors from red to violet wavelengths of light. Insects such as bees can’t see as many colors, but they can see orange through violet, plus ultraviolet wavelengths of light.

So next time you look at a sunflower or a pansy, know that there are hidden messages for pollinators right in front of your eyes.