Butterflies arrive and paint the town




 

 

We’re being invaded—but in a good way.

The advancing army means us no harm; in fact, they bear no arms whatsoever. They are winged beings called California painted ladies.

Their common name may suggest denizens of a 19th century frontier brothel, but the name refers to the species’ speckled palette of orange, black and white.

Their suggestive name notwithstanding, painted ladies are not voluptuous or breathtakingly showy. Large butterflies like monarchs and swallowtails own the title to beauty pageant status.

The painted ladies don’t move about like those gorgeous flyers. They seem hyper and impatient, eager to sport about rather than drift dreamily on the breeze.

The painted ladies may not evoke inspiration in a poet’s heart to compose a sonnet. Yet an observer can’t help but get a feel-good vibe by viewing this animated creature.

They are known to appear some years in great numbers, and may mirror the behavior of human shoppers during Christmas season—all hustle and bustle.

I’ve seen them in swarms around a neighbor’s flowering jade plants as well as winging through asphalt parking lots. Luckily for the painted ladies, most of the shopping centers in the Las Virgenes and Conejo valleys are lushly landscaped, so there’s a multitude of herbaceous plant snacks as well as safe rest stops for the busy flyers.

In some instances, eggs will be laid en route, on wildflowers or garden plants, and members of the next generation will emerge to continue the journey north.

Some years, however, the very vastness of their numbers dooms members of the painted lady population. They can be so thick en masse that they plow into windshields or get inadvertently swatted into oblivion by a hand reaching instinctively to flick at a ticklish sensation.

Judging by the profusion of painted ladies, they are not a troubled species like the monarchs, masters of the immense migration. CNN recently reported that “drought, pesticides and loss of habitat are seen as reasons for the monarch’s decline.”

Both species have been the topic of news reports: the monarchs for their plummeting numbers in California and the painted ladies for their conspicuous abundance this year.

The year’s ample rain has produced what biologists dub a “super bloom” of native California wildflowers, especially in desert areas. This attracts the painted ladies, heading to the Pacific Northwest from their wintering grounds in Mexico. The wildflowers include our state flower, the vibrant California poppy, and provide ample opportunity for egg-laying and caterpillar nourishment for these travelers.

Next fall their offspring will migrate back to Mexico. Butterfly migration experts have noted that 2019’s painted lady bonanza has not been seen in many years.

With climate change creating so many unprecedented shifts in our world, we may not see such a mass migration of beauty on the wing again. Be sure to witness it now.

Glasser is a freelance writer and local nature enthusiast. Reach her at whirlawaygig@gmail.com.