• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Park Takes Attendance: Butterfly Hunt Kicks Off First Bio Blitz to Count Plant, Animal Species -- Maybe Find New Ones

Posted on: Saturday, 10 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Bob Downing, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Jun. 10--Alice Phillips had misgivings. It was too breezy and too cool for the best results in Friday's butterfly hunt in the Gorge Metro Park.

But Phillips and Phyllis Devlin of Akron, Doug Caesar of Cuyahoga Falls and seasonal biologist Louisa Kreider of Metro Parks, Serving Summit County still saw eight species as they strolled down the Highbridge Trail.

The butterfly counters were participants in the first Bio Blitz, sponsored by the county park district. The event kicked off Friday and continues until 3:30 p.m. today in the 155-acre Gorge park along the Cuyahoga River between Akron and Cuyahoga Falls.

The goal is to count species of spiders, fish, aquatic insects, birds, mammals, bats, snakes, reptiles, amphibians, owls, moths, dragonflies, frogs and plants.

The counting is being done by nearly 50 nature experts: park personnel and trained volunteers, professional friends from other park districts in Northeast Ohio, university biologists and government scientists.

The plans called for netting bats and attracting moths with smashed bananas spread on trees under black lights through the night on Friday. In addition, volunteers will be electro-shocking (but not hurting) fish in the river at 11 a.m. Saturday.

"We're hoping to find a plant or animal species that we didn't know existed in the park," said Marlo Perdicas, park biologist. "That's kind of our hope."

That is a good possibility because the Gorge features some diverse, quality habitats for animals and plants, she said.

The count will also provide the park district with basic information, because it really doesn't know how many species might be found in the Gorge, she said.

The data collected from the Bio Blitz will be incorporated into management plans that are being developed this year for the Gorge, Sand Run and Deep Lock Quarry metro parks.

The park district is hoping to stage a similar event in a different Summit County park next year, she said.

The butterfly quartet spotted about 30 butterflies, and the most numerous species was the Zabulon skipper, a tiny orange-and-black butterfly.

Devlin, a volunteer who works on the park district's butterfly counts at the Seiberling Nature Realm and Hampton Hills and Silver Creek parks, said she was satisfied with the results, although a little disappointed. "It was just not a good day for them," she said.

She said she had been hoping for eight to 10 species of butterflies.

In August, about 20 species of butterflies would probably be spotted, she said.

She said a dozen species had been seen Thursday at Hampton Hills park.

The first species found was a white cabbage butterfly originally from England.

Seeing one is as common as seeing starlings, Devlin said.

She and the others were more into the least skippers, pearl crescents, tiger swallowtails and little wood satyrs they saw.

Serious butterfly watchers can catch a glimpse of the fluttering insect and then will passionately argue over what they saw.

They come armed with field guides, butterfly binoculars, nets and plastic jars, where specimens can be examined before being released.

Most butterflies are typically found 10-15 feet off the ground, floating over vegetation in search of nectar, said Devlin, who has been a butterfly counter for seven years.

Caesar, one of the other blitz participants, got hooked on photographing butterflies that his wife, Mary, was counting.

"They're beautiful," he said. "They're very photogenic."

Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

Source: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

More News in this Category