Hammock People, Attention! The top of the new trail is a perfect place to go hammocking and catch a breeze in the dappled shade. And in case you don’t know, hammocking is the big thing, as people swarm to the trees to string up, unplug, and relax. Our woods is waiting.

The Native Plants Garden Party on the 18th was fun even before the rain stopped, and then it was fabulous! The flowers didn’t mind the rain at all. We would have liked more people to appreciate the beauty, but there were plenty of butterflies that did. One of our distinguished guests hovered around the Swamp Milkweed for a long time. That Hummingbird Moth showed us how fast it could move every time I tried to take its picture.

Tammy Lundeen spruced up the garden shed, and offered a great selection of native plants at good prices. She even carries Gillenia trifoliata, which is one of my very favorites, and rarely found. It’s called Indian Physic or Bowman’s Root, and develops into a lovely galaxy of star-shaped flowers on wiry stems. The description says it likes “bright shade,” but it grows at my house, so it’s in the easy category.

Since Tammy and Barb McGuirl have created such a great garden, with more blossoms opening soon, we’re going to invite you to visit

August 2015The IKEs Updatewww.michiganikes.org

(continued on page 3)

Tammy Lundeen and Barb McGuirl take guests on a tour of native plants

in Teardrop Island.

Fritillary Butterfly on the Swamp Milkweed

Hummingbird Moth

Teardrop Island. Conjures up images of something like the famous novel by Robert Lewis Stevenson, Treasure Island. Well in this case, although our Tear-drop Island is indeed a treasure, it is not situated in the ocean, a lake or even a stream. Instead it’s a small piece land that if looked at from the right angle, somewhat resembles a “teardrop” and since it is sur-rounded by shrubs, trees, and assorted invasive veg-etation, it’s sort of an island of peace, tranquility and plants native to our area.

Here is what it looked like in 2006:

Here is what it looks like now:

Thanks to several years of efforts spearheaded by Tammy  Lundeen and Barb McGuirl, it has changed from a sprawling mess of invasive species, weeds and “stuff ” to a beautiful place to come to ad-mire the plants and flowers. You can stroll the gently sloping paths to see different kinds of plantings. Or you can elect to sit on one the benches to just relax and enjoy nature.

If you are patient (and fortunate) you may see a Hum-mingbird Moth like the one that Georgia Donovan was able to get a picture of.

I wish to thank everyone in-volved in making Teardrop Island a place worth seeing. I’m just sorry I don’t know all their names but YOU know who you are and you are appreciated!

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Teardrop IslandDuane De Vries

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Meribeth Bolt and Tammy Lundeen, members of both River City Wild Ones and the IKEs, will be at our garden with native plants and

pollinator-posters by Georgia Donovan for sale, before the BBQ Contest on August 13. Come out back & see the colorful wildlife!

(continued from page 1)The IKE’s Update

again. On Thursday, August 13, we’ll set up the bar in the garden shed for the Big Barbecue Contest. Sounds like fun! And it will be a perfect time for the program on Monarch Butterflies by Tam Bagby. Wander over, find food, friends, and flowers.

It’s not too late to take the kids camping. Last August we had a perfect view of the meteor shower right next to the garden at the IKEs.

Life is better in the great outdoors ~ please join us!

Georgia Donovan

To see this and past editions of the newsletter and

national IKEs information please visit our websites:www.michiganikes.org

www.iwla.org

8/1 Tom Watson 8/22 Sally Henderson

Tour of native plants in Teardrop Island.

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More alarming news from the Monarch butterfly roosting sites in Michoacán last week: the 2013 sea-son will surpass 2012 as the all time worst year for Monarch butterflies since records have been kept.

Ever since 1994, scientists have measured the hect-ares occupied by the migrating insects in the high altitude forests west of Mexico City to get an idea of their numbers. That information typically works as a key indicator on the state of the union of Monarch butterflies and other pollinators, which fertilize 70% of the world’s flowering plants and two-thirds of the world’s food crops.

For the 2013 season, the entire migrating Mon-arch butterfly population occupies only .67 hectares. That’s 1.65 acres, 72,000 square feet–or about 35 mil-lion butterflies, down from highs of 450 million in years’ past. Think about it: the entire population of migratory Monarch butterflies could easily fit into the average Walmart store, with 30,000 square feet to spare.

“Monarch butterflies drop, migration may disap-pear,” the Washington Post reported. On January 29, NBC Nightly News anchor Bryan Williams told viewers–incorrectly–that the head of the World Wildlife Fund in Mexico said the Monarch butter-fly is in serious risk of disappearing. In fact, it’s the migration that’s endangered, NOT the butterflies. Important point.

The New York Times put the dismal news in proper perspective: “The migrating population has become so small—perhaps 35 million, experts guess—that the prospects of its rebounding to levels seen even five years ago are diminishing. At worst, scientists said, a migration widely called one of the world’s great nat-ural spectacles is in danger of effectively vanishing.”

Ed - Numbers for 2015 are not available yet. We know that storms in Mexico this spring and cold weather this summer in the US has hurt their progress.

Wake-up Call: As Monarch Butterfly Numbers Plummet, will their Migration become Extinct?

Posted in Texas Butterfly Ranch website on February 8, 2014 by Monika Maeckle

Monarch population status 2014: less than two acres! Graphic via Monarch Watch

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OFFICERSPresident, Duane DeVries........................532.9151

duanedv@earthlink.netVice President, Georgia Donovan..........................

georgiadonovanart@gmail.comSecretary, Jim Schneider..........................340.4604

jim-ms@comcast.netTreasurer, Fred Eyer ................................363.0253

fseyer@gmail.comBoard Members

Barry Gilbertson ....................Gilby40@MSN.comBruce Gilmore..........................................365.8892Maurie Houseman....................................560.2895

mhouseman@grar.comJay Huston................................................942.2503

hootjay1@outlook.comBill Kirk....................................................874.8230

bkirk@i2k.comLen Kizer.................................................866.4256

len12sc4mi@yahoo.comTravis Vanluyn..........................................723.4550

travis.vanluyn@gmail.comTom Watson.............................................874.7254

twwatson@comcast.netLars Wigert..............................................866.8626

wigerts@aol.comConservation Chair

John Stegmier......................... fishysteg@msn.comGrounds/Maintenance Chair

C. J. Tasma................................................887.8542handicapsign@gmail.com

Membership SecretaryRon Waybrant..........................................361.1422

rcwaybrant@gmail.comLodge Rental

Jim Schneider...........................................340.4604jim-ms@comcast.net

Do you have milkweed plants in your yard? Do you see them when walking in a park? If so in the next month or so you may notice parts of the leaves missing or sometimes most of a plant defoliated. It may be a Monarch butterfly caterpillar or “larvae” eating it up. The butterflies lay eggs on these plants. The larvae are easier to spot than the tiny white eggs.

You can help save the declining numbers of Monarchs by bringing in the larvae, feeding it, helping it go to chrysalis and releasing the final butterfly. The following article explains how to do it starting with finding an egg (which I can never find). It is fun, educational and very important in Michigan because the Monarchs that hatch here are the “superbutterflies” that fly all the way back down to Mexico!

Last year Tom and I successfully raised and released 20 Monarchs. I will be presenting this process and giving away supplies of jars and screens for you to raise the Monarchs in at the BBQ Contest, August 13th.

DWIGHT LYDELL CHAPTER of the IZAAK WALTON LEAGUE of AMERICACore Event Schedule 2015

Scheduled Event & Location DirectorAugust 13, Thursday ..... Barbecue Contest, Monarch presentation@ CC ......................................... Tom WatsonSeptember 9, Wednesday ..................... Oktoberfest @ CC ................................................................ Tom WatsonSeptember 17, Thursday ......... Fun & Fix up Event - 6pm - ? @ CC ........................................Maurie HousemanOctober 7, Wednesday ...............Chili Cook-off/Potluck @ CC ...................................................... Tom WatsonNovember 19, Thursday ......................Game Dinner @ CC ............................................................. Tom WatsonDecember 3, Thursday.........Christmas Dinner @ Timbers Restaurant ................................................. Jay Huston

Saving Monarchs, One Caterpillar at a Time

Tam Bagby

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Now’s the time of year you’ll find Monarch butterfly eggs on your milkweed. Just turn over the leaves, look on the underside and you’ll see them. Your helping

hand could give those eggs a higher chance–from 10% to 90% of completing their life cycle and be-coming a butterfly. Mother Nature can be brutal. The tiny eggs represent a protein pop for beetles, ants, and wasps and serve as the equivalent of a highly nutri-tious smoothie.

Once the eggs hatch and start munching on milkweed leaves, the holes and “chew marks” they leave in their wake signal to predators that a tasty morsel is near. While birds generally don’t find Monarchs tasty, they don’t know that until they have their first bite.

It’s not difficult to nurture an egg all the way through the life cycle–from teeny creamy yellow dot to chubby waddling caterpillar to jewel-like chrysalis to beauti-ful butterfly. Chrysalises also make fantastic, unique gifts for life’s transitional occasions–weddings, funer-als, graduations, a job or other life change.

If you’re up for fostering Monarch caterpillars, you must have ample, chemical-free milkweed. Any type of Asclepias species will do.

Once the eggs hatch, you’ll need to provide fresh milk-

weed regularly–and in later stages, daily–to these vora-cious eating machines, so make sure you’re well stocked.You’ll also need a pot, container or “cage” in which

to store the milkweed and sequester the caterpillars. They make quite a mess. Some people use tupperware boxes, others will put milkweed leaves in a vase and let the caterpillars crawl around, munching as they please. I like to use a beverage bottle or a plastic iced coffee cup with a lid, which makes a simple “caterpil-lar condo.” Be sure to put some newspaper under-neath to catch the enormous amount of caterpillar poop, also known as frass, that will result from the constant eating. Clipping the paper with a clothespin to create a catch for the frass will keep it from rolling onto your floor.

Another option, if you have chemical-free potted milkweed available, is to bring the plant inside the house or on a porch and let the caterpillars consume the plant. That’s one of the easiest methods.

Professional butterfly breeders often take this ap-proach, devoting entire greenhouses to seeded milk-weed pots. Others will use cut milkweed supplied fresh daily after cleaning the containers.

Cages must be kept clean and free of frass. You can empty out the frass and wipe down the inside of the cup or container with a paper towel. Trapped frass can cause a germ problem, as the caterpillars waddle through the mess, track it onto leaves, then consume the nastiness, possibly getting sick.

Beyond fresh milkweed and a container, cage, or pot-ted plant, you’ll need little else but time. The life cycle from egg to butterfly usually takes about a month. The egg stage lasts about four days. Then the cater-pillar hatches and remains in its first instar, or stage, for several days. As it eats and outgrows its skin, it morphs to become a second instar caterpillar.

The process continues, to third, fourth and fifth in-star “cats,” until finally, the caterpillar is almost as big as your ring finger and appears as if it will bust its stripes. Usually the process from egg to fifth instar

How to Raise Monarch Butterflies at HomePosted in Texas Butterfly Ranch website on April 5, 2013 by Monika Maeckle

page 7

takes about 10 -14 days, depending on conditions. And, if there’s less milkweed available, the caterpil-lars will hurry up and form their chrysalises, eating less and forming more petite chrysalises.

When that time nears, the caterpillar typically wan-ders away from its host plant or attaches itself to the top of the cage if confined. It seeks a nice, quiet place, out of direct sunlight to form its chrysalis. We have found chrysalises in the most unusual places.

For that reason, many people prefer pop-up cages rather than cups or potted plants since you can put a potted plant inside, sit back and wait. Personally, I love watching the cats’ acrobatics as they go through the process and I don’t mind finding caterpillars on or under my furniture or curtains. My husband is also quite tolerant. But…I understand not everyone feels that way.

When the caterpillar is ready to go chrysalis, it sits quietly for a while, seeming to ponder the possibili-ties. But actually, it’s spinning a tough, sturdy silk button that will support its weight for the period in which it hangs upside down as a chrysalis for about a week.

When it’s ready, it hangs vertically and forms a j-shape. At some moment, when

you see its tentacles hanging limply, it will begin its trans-formation from caterpillar to chrysalis with an exotic

twist-i n g dance that allows it to shed its skin for the fifth and final time. It forms the most fantastic jade colored jewel, flecked with

gold specks and rimmed with black. The chrysalis remains for 10 – 14 days, depending on the weather and humidity.

Finally, when it’s ready to become a butterfly, the green chrysalis will turn opaque, then dark, then black, then clear. You can see the gorgeous orange-and-black coloration of the Monarch butterfly waiting to be born through the shell. To watch the butterfly eclose, or emerge, from this form warrants a toast of champagne or a sip of Bor-deaux. It happens quickly, so don’t

leave the scene if you’re hoping to catch the moment.

When the butterfly first hatch-es, its wings are soft and mal-leable. The butterfly needs to hang vertically so its wings can take shape and firm up. After about two hours, the butterfly’s wings have dropped completely and are fully formed, ready for first flight. When you see the butterfly start to beat its wings slowly, as if it’s revving

up its engines, its time to take her outside and send her on her way.