Hunting an Elusive Prey : County Residents Comb Parks, Sea Bluffs to Count Butterflies
Beneath a sweltering sun and the lithe black willow trees, amid the salt grasses, the pickleweed and the wild grassy growth of orange witch’s hair, they hunted an elusive prey Saturday.
Some 40 county residents, young and old, armed themselves with mesh nets and water canteens to scour parklands and ocean bluffs from Tustin to Newport Beach as part of a nationwide, once-a-year butterfly census. They met at 10 a.m. at UC Irvine’s arboretum and at Bowers Museum in Santa Ana before fanning out across the county for the search.
Organizers said they found fewer butterflies this year, in part because of the drought that has scorched the Southern California landscape but also because of the steady decline of the butterfly family resulting from years of development. The annual count is sponsored by the Xerces Society, a national preservation group that takes its name from a tiny, now-extinct butterfly that once wandered the blue skies above San Francisco Bay.
“A lot of environmentalists believe that butterflies are kind of on the front line of defense,” explained Larry Shaw, 34, a biologist who works for the county.
“If you don’t see as many butterflies year after year, you wonder why,” continued Shaw, who organized the Orange County contingent of the nationwide search. “They’re kind of an indicator species because they’re so delicate.”
If there were fewer butterflies to count this year, it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the eight volunteers who scoured Caspers Regional Park in Irvine. Fred Soria and his three children, who live in Garden Grove, watched breathlessly as they waited for just the right moment to swoop a net down on a blue Pygmy, the tiniest butterfly in the world, who just happens to call Southern California home.
“Careful, careful. Let him land,” Soria told his children. “There he is right there.”
Then came the swoosh, swoosh of 12-year-old Talia Soria’s net and the blue Pygmy was captured, examined, noted on an inventory sheet and freed.
“This is it,” Shaw confirmed before freeing the rare butterfly. “This is the smallest butterfly in the world.”
“There’s one right here,” called out 10-year-old Henry Lim, who chased the apparently more prolific wandering skipper. “There’s another. There’s three!”
Saturday’s hunt also offered a rudimentary biology class for the novice butterfly afficionado. The butterfly, Shaw explained, is part of the arthropod family. Its less attractive relatives include spiders, other insects, centipedes, crayfish, crabs and lobsters.
There are thousands of varieties of butterflies in the world, 80 to 100 of which are found in Orange County. Most live only three to four weeks once they leave their cocoon-like pupae, travel no more than a few hundred yards and mate only once. One type, the desert swallow, may wait as long as seven years for a lush, rainy season before shedding its protective shell and emerging as a butterfly.
“How unfortunate. Such a short life span,” mused Kristina Adamek, a Costa Mesa resident. “I hope they’re happy every moment. At least we have some time to repair.”
Saturday’s highlight was a glimpse at a morning cloak that had just shed its pupa that morning. Still in mint condition, with no scratches or bird bites, the butterfly gently batted its gilded black velvet wings as it rested on a tree trunk preparing for flight.
“It’s just so perfect,” Shaw said. “That one has not flown yet. He’s just exercising his muscles.”
Despite the find, Saturday’s relentless heat proved too much for 6-year-old Chelsea Soria.
