Butterflies, Baby Birds Abound Throughout July The American painted lady butterfly is among the species found in Door County in July. Few months of the year in Door County can match July for the numbers of butterflies on the wing. This too is the time that one begins to see more and more baby birds. Ordinarily most of those adult birds, but not all, that have been coming to your feeders for seeds, cracked corn, marvel meal, peanut butter mixes, oranges, grape jelly etc. do not fed these foods to their young in the nest. They are mostly fed insects, spiders, caterpillars, etc. Once the young are brought to the feeders they slowly begin to learn how to also feast on the handouts that their parents have been relishing all the time the babies were in the nest. Perhaps this is the reason we continue to feed right through the summer. It’s not that we feel we are helping the birds survive, we simply enjoy watching them from close range. We believe that the food we place out for the birds simply supplements the other natural food they find and consume. A great favorite bird family of many people is that of the ruby-throated hummingbird, especially when the young begin coming to the feeders. Fortunately this spectacle continues often into mid-September when, finally, the young of the year are the last to leave for the South. Interestingly the adult males were the first to arrive in May and are the first to leave in early fall, before the adult females and young. Locating a hummingbird nest has always been a challenge for people who feed these little "flying gems." Now that the young are growing in the nest and are being fed more often is a good time to look for one of these marvelously camouflaged "nurseries." Frequently the females will come to a feeder for sugar water and then make a bee-line for her nest. Here is your chance to observe the direction she takes to the nest and, gradually and carefully watch her return to the young. What can make for difficulty locating the nest is the manner in which the female has decorated its outer surface with lichens. One of the more common species is this region is Parmelia sulcata (par-ME-lee-a sul-CAT-ta), bluish-gray lichen that is quite black on the underside. An easily observed feature of this lichen, especially growing on the trunks of eastern white cedars trees, is the raised network on the surface of the relatively flat leaves. My guess is that the female fastens the tiny bits of collected lichens to the nest with spider silk, a material also used to support the nest on the branch. Dr. John Thomson, renowned lichenologist from UW-Madison, told me that he examined all of the ruby-throated hummingbird nests in the collection at the Milwaukee Public Museum and found that every one had some Parmelia sulcata lichens on their outer surfaces. What an incredible lichen expert the mother hummingbird must be! Last July we enjoyed watching the gray catbirds and scarlet tanagers feasting on the serviceberries in our front yard, an excellent fruiting tree to consider in landscaping one’s property. A great favorite is the Allegheny serviceberry, usually available from good nurseries. Early this month can be a good time to enjoy some of the native wildflowers including twinflower, Canada anemone, harebell, wood lily and the ninebark shrub. This shrub is also an excellent landscaping choice, not only for its attractive blossoms that are favored by butterflies but also for its flashy red fruits in later summer. Take a hike in the woods around the 10th of this month to admire the flowers of the wild leek. The leaves have wilted and virtually disappeared a few weeks ago and now the solitary, white, tall, onion-like flowers decorate the forest floor. It is usually around the beginning of the third week this month that one realizes how deserted the bird feeders have become. Now many of the adults are entering their post-nuptial molt period and retreat to cooler, quieter, well-protected areas where they can grow new feathers in relative safety from predators. This is a stressful and difficult time for them. Interestingly the orange halves and grape jelly we’ve been putting out for the birds, including the orioles and red-bellied woodpeckers, now begin attracting butterflies. Some of the regulars are the northern pearly eye, viceroy, white admiral and American painted lady. It’s now that the great spangled butterflies begin to appear along the edges of the woods and in sunny openings, one of my favorites. Two wildflowers, the blue chicory and white Queen Anne’s lace, begin to decorate the roadsides, ditches and fallow fields in all their glory as the month comes to a close. Joyous July – enjoy it to its fullest! This column appeared in the Door County Advocate on 07/01/2003. © Copyright 2003 Roy Lukes. All rights reserved.