Monarch: A Golden Flight of Hope

 

A golden flight of hope: In today's troubled and confusing times, we are always looking for a bit of good news, and I am happy to report on this item about one of our favorite butterflies.  Don Riepe is the Director of the Northeast chapter of the American Littoral Society  https://www.littoralsociety.org/don-riepe.html and has served the National Park System’s Jamaica Bay for more than 25 years and since 2004 is officially the Jamaica Bay Guardian.  He is also the Secretary/Treasurer of the NYC Butterfly Club.  So when Don gives news about the monarch butterfly, we know we are getting it from a knowledgeable source.  He put a reminder video on his Facebook page of the butterflies landing on goldenrod plants at Jamaica Bay in 2017, and he followed it up saying that he was seeing lots of them again this past week.  Seeing this, I felt I had to do a sketch and share it on the blog.  Monarchs have been in trouble for the past few years and their numbers have been dropping, so it is heartening to read that they are they are still visiting Jamaica Bay in some numbers as they head to Texas and then to California and/or the mountains of Mexico. I have seen dozens of them in the Riverside Park Community Garden since late August up until just yesterday.  Monarchs are amazing creatures especially considering that the monarchs that leave our northern climes and head south, flying up to 3000 miles, are the second generation of the monarchs that arrived here last summer.  New monarchs! Yet following air currents and thermals, they make the trip with in-born genetic information to guide them.  Monarchs are the only butterfly known to make a two-way migration, albeit with different generations, a feat only also accomplished by some bird species. The monarch's golden wings give us hope for their future and the future of our planet.  If you have a garden, plant milkweed since that is the host plant for the butterfly.  

    For me, drawing in my sketchbook also offers a bit of hope and a sense of gratitude for the beauty of nature.  It is a kind of meditation.  You can see that I drew across the page of my little 4x6 Daler-Rowney sketchbook giving me double the size. I don't mind the line in the middle, and I find it good practice to include the date and a note or two about what I am drawing.  

FALL MIGRATORS

 

 

 

As the days get shorter and colder and insects and flowers disappear, thousands of birds migrate along the Atlantic Flyway to move to warmer more hospitable climes.  Warblers, orioles, swallows, flycatchers, martins, and mimids among others take this perilous trip  Along with the mockingbird, the catbird is a member of the mimid family—birds that can mimic other bird and animal sounds; in fact, the catbird received its name because its call sounds like the meow of a cat.  The migration time in New York City is a dangerous time.  Birds fly into skyscraper and even store windows and suffer serious injuries and often death. 

We found a dead catbird on 88^thstreet between Broadway and West End Avenue yesterday. It must have flown into a store window after seeing its reflection.  The bird was so beautiful—its deep gray color both soft and luminous; its black eyes and its black skullcap.  I have tried to draw catbirds many times and have never totally captured the extraordinary gray of these birds, but I tried again—this time with a small drawing in my little sketchbook.  I did not draw from life (or should I say death) as I know many bird illustrators including Audubon do.  I have drawn from skins of stuffed birds in NYBG classes and even those skins do not capture the beauty of the gray bird we saw on the sidewalk.  So for this drawing, I found a picture on the web of the bird in a position that showed its curious nature as well as its sense of pride. I did the best I could to show those things and to create its amazing gray to pay homage to the beauty of the little bird we found.  

 

Finding a dead bird is devastating, but the Wild Bird Fund of New York City says that it is getting an enormous number of dead and injured birds this fall.  I just received this  from the Wild Bird Fund:  

This morning, October 2, was the worst window collision day of the year so far, with more than 100 birds found dead in the World Trade Center area, and some 50 or more survivors brought to the Wild Bird Fund from there. The numbers were also high at the Time Warner Center, and reports of dead and injured birds are coming in from all over town. We may have more than 100 intakes today.

They suggest that if you find an injured bird, you should pick it up carefully and put it in a paper bag to keep it calm.  Call the Wild Bird Fund at 646-306-2862 or go to it on Columbus Avenue and 88^thstreet and they will help your bird and save its life if it is possible.  The WBF always needs funding.  They do extraordinary work for the wild life in our area. Check their website www.wildbirdfun.org for more information about exactly what you should do to help any injured bird or to report any dead bird you find.