1/20 – Spokane Meeting 6 pm – David Droppers “Butterflies of the Deep, Dark Woods”

Posted on January 16, 2021 by Carolyn Heberlein

“Butterflies of the Deep, Dark Woods – Finding Butterflies Where Few Have Looked” with David Droppers

Date: Wednesday, January 20th 
Time: 6pm-7:30pm
Where: Via Zoom – please register for this event by clicking here: 
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMrc-yuqToiHdNnbSh1u0a8zkNxyRt-J4x5 

David Droppers Looking for Butterflies
David Droppers Looking for Butterflies

This meeting will be with WBA’s very own David Droppers who has been combing the relatively unexplored Mountain Loop Highway in Snohomish County for butterflies. That’s right, the cold, wet, dark, coniferous woods of western Washington! What could he possibly hope to find there? Allow David to introduce you to the Mountain Loop Highway, it’s enchanting trails, and the many surprises he has made. It may just inspire you to create your own butterfly survey!

David teaches courses on topics from birds to butterflies to trees to microorganisms for a variety of groups, including college biology courses and non-profit environmental groups. He has put his expertise to work for the National Park Service, Forest Service, University of Washington, and Woodland Park Zoo, among many others. He is ecstatic about sharing his passion for the natural world with others who wish to learn. His enthusiasm is said to be contagious!

David Droppers Netting a Butterfly
David Droppers defines the Blues

Just a few things about zoom and the upcoming meeting:

1) Participants will be muted upon entering the meeting so please keep yourselves muted during the meeting unless you are talking just to keep outside noise levels down

2) Please register in advance for this meeting you can do this by clicking the link below or the same link at the top of the email:  

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMrc-yuqToiHdNnbSh1u0a8zkNxyRt-J4x5

After registering you will receive an email confirmation containing information about joining the meeting.

WBA hopes to see you all there!!!

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2/25 – Seattle Audubon Butterfly Gardening Class with David Droppers – 7-8:30 pm

Posted on December 31, 2020 by Carolyn Heberlein

Butterfly Gardening with David Droppers

Thursday, February 25 from 7:00-8:30 pm
David will enthusiastically introduce you to the world of butterflies, and how inviting them into your backyard will reveal how they are connected to a number of other species of urban and suburban wildlife. Not only will participants learn about what plants to include in their garden to attract butterflies, but they will get a glimpse into butterfly biology – how they see the world, what additional resources they need, all centered on how to design your garden for maximum attraction. And remember, this is complementary to inviting birds to your yard – think of it as gardening for bird food! Watch your garden come alive with bloom and wings!

And, here’s the link for registering:https://my.seattleaudubon.org/event/online-class-butterfly-gardening-with-david-droppers/e318734

There are 4 levels–$15 for the Sustainer level; $10 for Supporter Level 1; $5 for Supporter Level 2; and free if those are more than you can pay.  It’s an honor system–no one asks any questions about your choice. 

You can sign up now 🐝

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National Butterfly Center and Trump Border Wall – Ongoing Funding

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Carolyn Heberlein

Some of you may be interested in what is happening at the National Butterfly Center in Texas.
Because the Center’s 100 acres border Mexico at the Rio Grande, plans for the new sections of the border wall are very disruptive to the NBC.

Here is a communication that they sent out earlier this month.
 
If you would like to donate to NBC, click on the ‘donate today’ link below.
Attached is a post card that you can mail, if you are interested.
More info can be found at: https://www.nationalbutterflycenter.org/.
Flatbed Truck enters National Butterfly Center with Border Wall Sections
Flatbed Truck enters National Butterfly Center with Border Wall Sections
National Butterfly Center, a project of the 
North American Butterfly AssociationView this email in your browser
This Saturday, the New York Times published an article regarding “A Rush to Expand the Wall That Many Fear is Here to Stay.” In it, the authors state:“Advisers involved with the transition team, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss planning for the incoming administration, rejected the notion that there would be any attempt to dismantle the existing border wall, with one adviser calling the wall a “distraction.””This point of view has been expressed by Ali Noorani of the National Immigration Forum, who previously called the wall “a distraction that frankly only the margins like to yell about.”Well, we are hardly the margin. People who care about the survival of species and the health of the environment, not to mention the Constitution, are NOT on the margins. What we are is directly impacted by the decisions these policy wonks advocate for far away, inside the Washington, DC Beltway.We are the ones who have our levees torn open during hurricane season; the ones who lose what limited greenspace remains in our communities; the who no longer enjoy the protection of laws that are waived, like the Clean Water Act and the Solid Waste Disposal Act; the ones who suffer the bulldozing of historical landmarks and sacred burial grounds; the ones who have our land condemned and confiscated.Each day, we watch flatbed trucks with border wall panels drive by as Trump’s wall goes up on either side of the National Butterfly Center.  This truckload was headed to Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park where wall is being built at the park entrance, even though construction was prohibited in the 2019 Department of Homeland Security spending bill.  And right now, Congress is considering a 2021 budget that actually contains almost $2 billion MORE for border wall construction!PLEASE HELP US ELEVATE THIS ISSUE SO IT CANNOT BE IGNORED OR DISMISSED BY PRESIDENT-ELECT BIDEN AND VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT HARRIS, NO MATTER WHO THEY SURROUND THEMSELVES WITH. Please DOWNLOAD THIS POSTCARD!  Print it double-sided, cut it, stamp it, sign it and mail it—and get your friends to do it, too!We need your help to ensure the Biden administration will NOT do as the Obama Administration did and allow his predecessor’s border wall project to continue or allow any contracts to be fulfilled. THANK YOU!
With no regard for the terrain, the road for constructing and servicing the border wall makes it way. It is as if someone took a sharpie pen to a map.
With no regard for the terrain, the road for constructing and servicing the border wall makes it way. It is as if someone took a sharpie pen to a map.
A thin black line crosses the plains to divide the United States of America from United Mexican States.
A thin black line crosses the plains to divide the United States of America from United Mexican States.
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12/2 – Seattle Meeting 7 pm – Dave Wilderman and Regina Johnson of DNR

Posted on November 26, 2020 by Carolyn Heberlein

“Managing for butterflies on Department of Natural Resources’ Natural Areas: a delicate dance”. 

Valley Silverspot Mima Mounds
Valley Silverspot Mima Mounds

Dave Wilderman is the Natural Areas Ecologist for Washington’s Department of Natural Resources and Regina Johnson is the Assistant Natural Areas Ecologist for the west side.  We will look at DNR Natural Areas throughout the state that host interesting butterflies, then dive into the details of managing South Puget prairies for grassland-dependent butterflies and other sensitive animals and plants.

Please register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0ofuutqD0iH9NEL56ejWleBoiu5NgNhh5l
After registering you will receive an email confirmation containing a link to the meeting.

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11/18 – Spokane Meeting – 6 pm “Glad Tidings from Mothlandia”

Posted on November 14, 2020 by Carolyn Heberlein

We are very pleased and excited to announce our very own mothman Carl Barrentine is doing the presentation this month with a few more local moth-ers!!!  Keep reading for details….

Where: Via Zoom – please register for this event by clicking here: 
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItduysqj8iHtzomoDBqAA5C1FVc0gLiN74
After registering you will receive an email confirmation containing information about joining the meeting.

Six Spokane residents invested many hours finding and photographing moths (as well as other interesting arthropods) during the 2020 Mothing Season.  Four of these ‘mothologists’ will share highlights of their experiences night-lighting for leps with WBA members. 

Part 1. Michelle Sloan Bos, Meteorologist and Entomologist,  “If You Build It, They will Come.” 
Click here to meet Michelle:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PVzu0ePcJI

Part 2. Michael Woodruff, Physician and Naturalist, “My First Summer of Mothing Adventures in Spokane.” 
Click here to meet Michael:  https://www.inaturalist.org/people/nightjar09

Part 3. Susan Mulvihill, Garden Columnist and Book Author, “How I Got Hooked on Mothing.” 
Click here to meet Susan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N7dmvSTQfk 
and https://www.susansinthegarden.com/books/

Part 4. Carl Barrentine, Retired Professor and Photographer, “Taxonomic Update: Three Years of Backyard Mothing in Spokane.”  
Click here to meet Carl: 
https://nationalmothweek.org/2020/07/18/backyard-mothing-with-carl-barrentine-in-spokane-washington-usa/

P.S. We would like to introduce and acknowledge two other Spokane Moth’ers who are unable to make zoom presentations for the November WBA meeting.  Both have been exhaustively enthusiastic in their dutiful nocturnal efforts of finding and photographing Spokane County Moths during 2020.

Ronald Smith, Wildlife Photographer, with his Moth Trap

Tom Munson, Wildlife Photographer  

Just a few things about zoom and the upcoming meeting:

1) Participants will be muted upon entering the meeting so please keep yourselves muted during the meeting unless you are talking just to keep outside noise levels down

2) Please register in advance for this meeting you can do this by clicking the link below or the same link at the top of the email:  

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItduysqj8iHtzomoDBqAA5C1FVc0gLiN74

After registering you will receive an email confirmation containing information about joining the meeting.

WBA hopes to see you all there!!!

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