Surprisingly High Number of Butterflies for Bethpage State Park in the Month of October

   This week in the pollinator garden behind our maintenance shop, park staff gathered in awe to find dozens of native butterfly species not only present simultaneously but feeding voraciously! Many remarked that it was like being spectators at Bethpage State Park's very own "Butterfly Zone". These high numbers seen so late in the season may have to do with the extremely warm weather we've been experiencing on Long Island well into October; during midday, on both Friday October 6 and Monday October 9, temperatures reached 80°F. In the past, temperatures were cooler and many of the butterflies seen this week would have been well on their path of migration to warmer habitats down south. 

        Nevertheless, butterflies of all different shapes and colors were swarming around many of the flowers and shrubs still in bloom near #13 green on the Black Course. One type of flower in particular, the Lantanas, was the champion of all host plant for the pollinators at this location. Lantanas are interesting flowers of the verbena family, well known for taking on different colors as the flowers mature with time. The range of colors that can be seen of the Lantanas growing in our garden vary, from pinks to oranges to whites and yellows. Each umbel, or cluster of flowers, is truly unique and can provide nectar for honey bees, swallowtails, monarchs, skippers and many others.

          40 Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) were counted on Friday at around 1 pm in the garden. This was the highest recorded number of monarchs spotted by park staff, at any one given time, though out our park. Evident in the photos above and below, monarchs seemed to be feeding on all the Lantana varieties available, with some of shrubs providing nectar sources for 3 to 8 monarchs at a time. While monarchs use Bethpage State Park as a breeding and feeding grounds during the spring and summer months, hopefully they will be on their way to their overwintering sites in Mexico soon, as temperatures cool down in NY within the days to come.

Below are some of the other pollinators that visited our garden this week : 

Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice) species can typically be seen on lawns, meadows and roadsides as they do enjoy dandelions and clovers for food. However, verbenas are a favorable nectar source as well, explaining their strong presence in our garden this week. 

Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) butterflies tend to enjoy open areas that receive sunlight, provide low level vegetation and mud puddles for feeding. This buckeye surely found the right place in our park to stop for resources!

Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) butterflies were in noticeably high abundance all season, including this week. In this specific garden, we noted well over a hundred of them each day. Painted Lady butterflies have four distinctive eye spots on their lower wings (differentiating them from the American lady butterflies) and are speckled with colors, of white, brown, black and orange. According to scientists, painted lady butterflies are considered a generalist species as they are widely distributed and have a varied diet of more than 300 flower species.