Zebra Swallowtail

Cabbage White butterfly feeding at thistle

I caught just a glimpse of her,
skipping boldly through the field
on the long, striped wings I have waited for.

Coneflower in garden

But today, I cannot find her,
though at every other flower and stem,
wings lay open,
hungry mouths feed.

Skipper feeding at teasel

Little Wood-Satyr on goldenrod stem

I hope she will remember me,
the Paw-Paws planted,
just as she likes them,
in the shaded grove.

Three small trees.

Paw paws planted

Zebra Swallowtail, Eurytides marcellus

Just as Monarchs go with milkweed, so, too, do Zebra Swallowtails and the Paw-Paw tree.
As wooded areas are cleared, this native understory tree is often lost.
In April, hoping to attract Zebra Swallowtail butterflies, I planted 3 small trees.

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Fort Hill

Each day I spend time on our land.
The trails into the woods and fields have become extensions of our home--as if a long hallway extended through and beyond the wall, into fresh air. Without effort, I step along, ducking under a small oak branch or skirting a reaching rose—navigating with ease.
Knowing what I will find before I find it.

Fort Hill State Memorial is a National Natural Landmark a short drive from our southwestern Ohio home. A ceremonial earthwork enclosure built atop a large hill almost 2000 years ago by the Hopewell civilization, a prehistoric culture of the American Middle West, now a 1200-acre preserve.

The walls have grown over with centuries’ soil and seeds.
The people have passed.
But safe within now, is this land.

Around it-- miles of trails to explore.



Paw-paws fill the shaded understory, their rounded green fruit a Native American favorite.


From beside the darkened trail I hear footsteps in the dry leaves—and a very large black beetle scurries out of sight.

Broad-Necked Root Borer
Prionus laticollis

Magnificent fungi in all shapes, colors and sizes beg for a closer examination.

Amanita sp.

Boletus sp.

?

And in the quiet streamside, are flowers.


Collected in photographs, and studied late into the night—for much of this I do not know.
But in stretching my legs, I have stretched my mind.

Tomorrow my land will look different.

Please help me identify my collection.
Photos enlarge with a click.


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It's all about diversity

A Zebra Swallowtail--not unusual, by any means.
Yet, in our woods, rare.
A treasure to find, a fleeting moment--sipping moisture from sand at a nearby lake.



And I wondered why it is I seldom see one.
In our sprawling fields of wildflowers and dense oak and hickory woods.
For we have so many others that choose to visit our growing, green space.

Yet, as much as we have, something is missing.
A Pawpaw tree--the single plant that this butterfly feeds upon as a caterpillar.
With long, draping leaves and a crooked spindly stem,
others are far more lovely.

For as I may not miss its graceless presence in these woods, its absence means the world to a butterfly.

It is believed that the Paw Paw has disappeared from much of its natural US habitat due to the harvesting of virgin forests. Paw Paw seedlings are sensitive to ultraviolet light, and do not re-establish themselves once the forest has been clear cut.
More info here.

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