Wednesday, July 12, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Tales from a
Sisters
Naturalist
by Jim Anderson
Counting
butterflies
Looking at the toad
photo, you may be wonder-
ing, “What does that toad
have to do with counting
butterflies?”
It has everything to do
with counting butterflies,
because everything out there
in that amazing World of
Nature is connected.
For 28 years, my wife
Sue has been conducting
butterfly surveys in Big
Summit Prairie, over in
the Ochocos, and around
the Metolius River here in
Sisters Country. On each trip
we have anywhere from five
to 20 people with us, ranging
in age from newborn babes
to home-schoolers and up to
90 years of age.
Every one of those help-
ers, from the mom carrying
the newborn in a chest pack
to the 90-year-old, have not
only enjoyed the butter-
flies of the count, but all the
other creatures they bumped
into along the trail, even the
rattlesnakes and mosquitoes.
That’s the message Sue
wants everyone to under-
stand: butterflies cannot
survive unless everything in
their home is in balance, and
for that their neighbors, both
friend and enemy must also
be able to make a living.
There’s another message
Sue wants to make clear as
well: The North American
Butterfly Association is
strictly a non-collecting
organization, advocating
watching butterflies through
binoculars, not catching
them in nets.
However, in identify-
ing fritillary butterflies,
that doesn’t work. The fine
details of different species
require that one have said
butterfly in hand to iden-
tify them into their correct
species.
So, Sue begins the day
by demonstrating the proper
way to capture a butterfly
without damaging it, as she
is not in for killing and col-
lecting every—or ANY—
butterfly that goes by.
Unfortunately, she and I have
been out with butterfly peo-
ple who do that. We identify
them as “compulsive collec-
tors” who for some strange
reason, just can’t look, enjoy
and let it go at that.
Sue wants the people
who go with us to enjoy all
aspects of doing a butter-
fly survey. Look and enjoy
without damaging anything
is primary. So, last Friday
when 14-year-old Sisters
resident Joshua Newton went
looking for butterflies in the
Prairie Farm meadows up
on Green Ridge, and came
back carrying a great big,
beautiful adult western toad,
the rest of the party jumped
up and enjoyed seeing it as
much as Joshua did finding
it, especially Teal.
Twenty-eight years ago
when Sue recognized Prairie
Farm and its surroundings as
important butterfly habitat,
because of the diversity of
plants and water, she decided
it was the perfect place for a
prolonged lunch so it could
be explored fully.
At about the same time
our helpers — especially
the home-school young-
sters — also discovered it
is vital reproductive habitat
for amphibians, because of
the small pond created each
winter by snow and rain.
Central Oregon’s only
salamander, the long-toed,
(Ambystoma macrodacty-
lum) breeds there in spring,
along with western toads,
tree frogs, Cascade frogs
and a host of aquatic insects.
Plain old mud also plays a
vital role in the life of but-
terflies; tortoise shell and
blue butterflies can be found
“mudding,” using their pro-
boscis mouth-part to suck
the vital minerals into their
bodies.
Unfortunately, about that
same time the “mud-bog-
gers” (those irresponsible
4-wheelers who tear up the
countryside) also discov-
ered Prairie Farm and cut the
beautiful meadow to pieces,
killing thousands of frogs,
salamanders, toads and
destroying butterfly habitat
in the process.
Thankfully, the stout
Missouri-type log fence
erected by the Forest Service
(and probably with the strong
support of law-enforcement)
21
PHOTO BY JIM ANDERSON
Young Teal gets a close look at a toad.
has put an end to the destruc-
tion by the mud boggers; the
meadow has healed over,
as is the same situation at
Dugout Lake, on the north
side on Highway 242.
What’s left of the pond
at Prairie Farm has a won-
derful assortment of frogs,
salamanders, and toad larvae
swimming about. We had
to almost tie our grandson
Truman’s hands behind his
back and put blinders on him
to get him back counting but-
terflies, he was so hooked on
amphibians.
Speaking of which,
Joshua couldn’t have been
more delighted while count-
ing the blues, sulphurs, and
admiral butterflies sucking
minerals from the mud, when
he discovered a new brood
of Northwest garter snakes
doing their best to devour as
many tadpoles and salaman-
der larvae as possible.
And what a day USFS
wildlife biologist Shelley
Borchert had. Like most
wildlife bios through the
ages, she, too, couldn’t stop
learning. She was along to
become better acquainted
with the butterfly fauna of
Sisters Country.
At the end of the day, as
we stopped at the Sisters
Ranger Station parking lot
to drop Shelley off to her
car, she and Sue noted that
how one day out in the field,
focused on just one resource,
can increase one’s knowl-
edge exponentially. Which
for Shelly, helps her to see
the ecosystems she works
with in a more detailed way.
Not only local people get
involved with Sue’s counts;
a crew came over from
the Eugene chapter of the
North American Butterfly
Association, which collects
all the data from the counts.
At the end of the day we
all met at the Wizard Falls
Fish Hatchery for a picnic
dinner and compilation of
the day’s butterfly discov-
eries. When the totals were
worked up it appeared more
than 45 species were tallied
— which is about average —
but the number of individu-
als was down. We’re won-
dering why.
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PHOTO BY AMANDA KREB
Sue Anderson and a blue butterfly.
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