The Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) is smaller than a more typical Monarch (Danaus plexippus). Each butterfly is a unique example of diversity among these flying insects. These two species are the tip of the iceberg in terms of a huge total of known butterflies worldwide.

Worldwide estimates of 20,000 species are believed to exist. In North America, the list is about 700, and butterflies exhibit a full range of specializations to how and where they live. Their variety is tremendous, and behaviors are also unique and mysterious. And all their colors add to an already huge complex of flower colors within their natural habitats.

Butterflies are arthropods, creatures with jointed-legs, three body segments and two antennae. The wings of butterflies, four wings actually, are covered with miniature overlapping scales. Butterflies are active during daylight hours, moths are active at night. The antennae of butterflies have a club-like knob at the end or these sensory organs.

The life cycle stages of butterflies begin with eggs dutifully and carefully laid and attached to the underside or stems of various host plants. Upon hatching, little caterpillars, the larvae stage, emerge.

These larvae have eyes, chewing mouthparts, three pairs of grasping legs near the front of its body, and five pairs of prolegs near the rear of the cylindrical body form. The caterpillar spends its time feeding on host plants, and the more it eats the bigger it grows.

However, since its skin cannot stretch, it molts several times, each time being larger in body size than where it came from. The final stage, called an instar, is the time when the chrysalis, or pupa, is in its resting stage.

Transformation takes place inside the chrysalis and when mature, the case splits open, and the new adult butterfly emerges with its colorful wings. The newly emerged butterfly must pump fluids into its wing veins so those wings begin to take a final shape and become rigid enough to support their shape and serve as flying appendages.

Once at the adult stage, butterflies seek mates. Each species has unique elaborate dances, prenuptial flights and chemical signals to find each other. An adult life span can be as short as six weeks or as long as eight months, depending upon the species.

Each species has plant food preferences, different tolerances to moisture from high to low, temperature tolerances also exist. Many butterflies lay eggs in leafy ground litter or in the soil and never migrate.

The Monarch is a migrator and makes its final adult stage a big journey from all locations in North America to specific mountain regions of Mexico to over-winter. Programmed into the Monarch brain are all the codes for when to leave summer ranges and how to find those specific mountain winter habitats.

Butterflies have to deal with predators like birds, other insects and parasites. Life is not easy or assured. During caterpillar stages, eye spots may warn predators that a distasteful bite will repulse a bird from devouring the worm. Birds learn to avoid these distasteful larvae.

Wing spots may also warn birds of distasteful chemicals should a bird bite off a piece of the wrong butterfly. Butterflies are an important part of prairie and forest life ecosystems as pollinators. A lot of emphasis had been made in recent years to plant flowering native prairie species to provide for foods for these insects, and to assist in other plant propagation.

The Painted Lady has another common name, the Thistle Butterfly. It is very common throughout the world. This species must migrate to warmer climatic zones as it is intolerant of too much cold air for too long. They can be found in the Sonoran deserts of the southwest USA. As warmer air begins a new spring, these butterflies will begin working their way northward. By late spring, they will have recolonized the entire continent. That is a remarkable accomplishment for a tiny insect.

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At this time of year, the Monarch butterfly is in its fourth stage, the final adult stage, that must migrate toward the central mountains of Mexico. Many folks have participated in capturing and placing tiny tags on the wings of Monarchs. Data on those tags will tell researchers where the tag was placed, date and time and by whom.

Now, a declining population of Monarchs is of concern. In Mexico, the mountain forest areas used by overwintering Monarchs has become noticeably less and less. Scientists are attempting to determine why the population seems to be declining. The reasons are huge and do not pose any easy answers.

What is known is that food sources of some milkweed varieties are required for a large portion of a Monarch’s life cycle. There are many other factors that complicate finding any easy answers.

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Pheasants Forever will be hosting a fundraising banquet on Nov. 4, 2023, at Marshalltown’s Midnight Ballroom. This will be the 37th year that PF has sponsored events to raise money for land and habitat projects and programs.

The PF chapters of Marshall and Tama counties have been combined for many years to cooperate in any local projects in central Iowa. A big thank you is in order to these PF chapter members for the support they continue to provide.

One local project is the Mann Wetland acquisition and its soon to be subsequent transformation of shallow wetlands, and the seeding of prairie grasses and wildflowers. The game plan is for all this work to be accomplished this fall during October and November.

The land acquisition has been accomplished. Habitat development on 214 acres of this property will be greatly assisted by PF and other partners, public and private, to create and enhance this wetland complex.

Tickets can be acquired to attend the PF banquet by checking out their Marshall/Tama County Pheasants Forever Facebook page for details, and folks can also contact Eric Briggs at eric.brinkesexcursions@gmail.com. A State Center vicinity contact is Luke Engel at 641-861-1015. I’ll see you there.

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“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”

— Albert Camus