THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 6, 1994 TAG: 9407020187
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
It's butterfly time again, says our local butterfly expert Bonnie Denault. For the first time this summer, an abundance and variety of butterflies were feeding in her butterfly garden in Broad Bay Point Greens last week.
Butterflies may seem to be late this year, but it's really because their first hatching was early in the spring when the weather was unseasonably warm, she said. She thinks what she's seeing now is the second wave, so to speak, of butterflies for this season.
To keep the butterflies coming, you have to put up with their caterpillars, Denault said. Everything depends on those caterpillars having the right food on which to grow fat and happy before they spin their cocoons. If host food is available, the butterfly cycle can be once a month through September and then the remaining cocoons can winter over. ``Two black swallowtails wintered over in my butterfly cage in the yard and came forth in April,'' Denault said.
So be sure to plant enough parsley, dill and fennel to suit your family and to feed the big green caterpillars of those beautiful black swallowtail butterflies. Anise swallowtails also feed on parsley, dill and fennel and you'll find monarch butterfly caterpillars munching on your butterfly weed, which is a great nectar source for butterflies, too. ``Everything depends on the host food,'' Denault said, ``so be tolerant.''
OSPREY ARE THRIVING IN VIRGINIA BEACH THIS YEAR, said raptor expert and bander Reese Lukei. Lukei has banded 18 youngsters on the Lynnhaven River alone.
In addition two orphan baby osprey were adopted by parents in Lynnhaven River nests. Both babies were in a nest on top of one of the spars on a ship that was towed down to Hampton Roads from the James River reserve fleet.
The orphans were discovered in the nest after the boat had reached Norfolk. Lukei took the babies ``under his wing'' and successfully adopted them out to local osprey parents. One was adopted by birds which already were feeding three youngsters and another by parents' feeding two. Lukei was even lucky enough to watch one of the babies take its first flight from its adoptive home.
THE OTHER NIGHT I WOKE UP AT ABOUT 3 A.M. TO THE NOISE of something scraping against the house. Although the bedroom is on the third floor, the noise sounded exactly like someone trying to get in the window.
I went over to the window, opened it and looked down. What should be looking up at me but a raccoon, only inches from the windowsill.
With the help of some flimsy lattice work on the house, the rascal had actually climbed all the way to the third floor level.
A daredevil youngster, it was trying to reach a tiny bird feeder I had on a nearby window. The feeder had nothing in it but a handful of safflower seed, which I thought didn't appeal to raccoons.
Earlier in June the raccoons had just about totaled the bird feeder I kept out in the yard. I was handing out five pounds of sunflower seed every day or so, most of it to be eaten by the raccoons at night.
So I bought a new feeder and this time, I purchased a raccoon baffle, too. Well, so far, the baffle has kept the raccoons out of the new feeder, but the joke's on me.
In addition to scaring the wits out of me the other night, they also have learned to extract food from the big black city garbage can. The other morning I found a stripped chicken carcass on the ground. The raccoons never did this before, obviously because they had enough sunflower seeds to eat at the bird feeder.
On another recent evening as I talked on the telephone, the dog began barking. I found a raccoon on the deck staring into the house, paying no mind to the crazed dog on the other side of the glass. When I came up to the door and knocked to chase it off, the beast looked expectantly up at me, as if it knew I was coming over to give it something to eat.
I didn't, yet my presence made it bolder. So I went away. Still, the raccoon didn't give up hope, and my noisy dog and raccoon were in a stand-off for a half hour.
I was better off before I started trying to outwit the raccoons. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555; category
2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
by CNB