This Year...
Years ago when visiting our coast, I wondered where all of my childhood bumble bees had gone. When I was a small child, they loomed large in my short view of the landscape. I went to the bookstore and purchased a copy of "The Forgotten Pollinators" by Stephen Buchmann which explained what had happened to many of our native bees. Wanting to help, I began volunteering at Louse Hallberg Butterfly Gardens. Much later, I began hiking in our local parks and was greatly relieved to see the diversity of butterflies and bees in their much more intact habitat of Hood Mtn. Regional Park. I am truly grateful for the foresight of so many individuals who have done so much to preserve our wild places.
Poverty of experience. When walking on the Santa Rosa Creek Trail, I once pointed out a small flock of about 50 birds practicing their turns in group flight to my companion saying, "Its so sad how few birds there are now." She retorted, "That's a lot of birds." She had moved here from Southern California. I had been raised here. I recall flocks of 5,000 birds in vast clouds rehearsing their flight plans over my neighbor's barn. I remember many hundreds sitting on the powerlines. Even as recently as five years ago, I remember watching the bats on the Santa Rosa Creek Trail at dusk. Where are they now? So many are gone. The ancestors of our Native Americans reported that you could once hear the sound of the salmon run coming upstream. I feel the poorer for never having heard it but delight in the knowledge that it could be heard.
Last year, I don't recall seeing a single Monarch butterfly. This year I planted milkweeds in my tiny garden along with nectar plants that provide a good landing pad for the large Monarchs. This year I have been rewarded by one Monarch who, over the course of two days, laid about two dozen eggs. As I learned from one of Louise's very old books on the subject, I carefully collected each leaf where I found an egg and taped the leaf to heavy paper. After about four days, the eggs turned dark and then hatched. With a soft brush, I transferred the caterpillars to their host plant where they will grow large and cute. This year I anticipate having a Monarch reveal party when I will release a small cloud of orange and black butterflies. If it were only so easy to raise bats...
