Naturalist’s Notebook By Judy Silverberg ©DONALD LEOPOLD PHOTO KarnerKarner BlueBlue ButterflyButterfly

A flighty jewel with special habitat needs

The rich scent of pine fills the air and the needles crunch under my feet on this hot June day, as I walk through the only national wildlife refuge dedicated to the conservation of . The dry, sandy soil creates dust drifts across my shoes.

The open, sunny landscape — Dependent on pine barrens habitat for survival, the Karner blue grassy patches broken by pitch pine and is endangered in the state of New Hampshire. scrub oak — is known as the pine barrens. It creates the right conditions fire’s heat; the scarified land provided a Karner Blue for wild blue lupine, dogbane and New fertile place for plants like wild blue Jersey tea. This small remnant near the lupine to take root. Today, the habitat is Butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) Concord Municipal Airport is part of a being restored using a combination of once-extensive pine barrens where I methods: using heavy machinery and GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS: 7 begin my search for the endangered controlled burns to emulate natural Blue butterfly, /8” - 1 ¼”. Karner blue butterfly. disturbances, and planting a variety of IDENTIFICATION: pine barren plants. Larval/caterpillar - green, Karner blues have very particular less than an inch in length. habitat needs, which is why I look for My eyes search the landscape for Adult male - silver-blue wings with thin black them in the pine barrens. Pine barrens this tiny butterfly — it’s barely an inch margins. are the only place where wild blue lupine across. If I am fortunate, I will see the Adult female - grayish- grows, with its beautiful bluish purple fluttering of small iridescent blue wings brown to purplish-blue wings with orange bands flower and lighter green leaves. Wild against the low-growing green plants. and thin black margins. lupines are essential to the Karner blue Both sexes are brilliantly colored, but RANGE: butterfly; in fact, the butterfly and the male and female Karners look different Found only in the pine KARNER BLUE BUTTER- barrens of New plant evolved together over time, and from one another. The male’s wings are Hampshire, , Karner blue caterpillars feed only on the silver-blue in color with black margins Michigan, , leaves of the wild blue lupine. This and white-fringed edges. The wings of the Indiana and Minnesota.

exclusive diet spells danger. female are grayish-brown to bright HABITAT: FLY Pitch or jack pine barrens purplish-blue marked by orange cres- where wild blue lupine is Industrial, commercial and residen- cents; her assortment of colors is effec- present. tial development have fragmented the tive camouflage. REPRODUCTION: pine barrens to a great extent, leaving Two hatches of eggs per year, one overwintering. only small pieces of this increasingly rare Each summer there are usually two First adults emerge in June, community type. The original pine generations or hatches of the Karner second group in July. barrens were maintained by natural blue. In April, the first group of caterpil- FOOD: Caterpillars - wild blue disturbances, including and lars hatches from eggs that were laid on lupine plants. weather damage and — especially — fire. the blue lupine last July and August. The Adults - nectar from wild The pitch pine’s cones burst open with continued on next page blue lupine and other wildflowers.

WILDLIFE JOURNAL • May/June 2003 13 KARNER BLUE caterpillars feed on the ERIC ALDRICH PHOTO ©NHF&G they feed on a variety of tender upper surface of nectar-producing wildflow- wild lupine leaves. As ers. These adults mate and with all butterflies, the lay their microscopic eggs caterpillars pupate (or at the base of the lupine change form), going plants; however, these through metamorpho- eggs will not hatch until sis. Adult butterflies the following spring, when emerge from their the cycle begins again. cocoon-like chrysalis by early June. As I sometimes receive The Karner Blue adults, Karner blues calls from very excited people who think they’ve butterfly is very feed on the nectar of flowering lupine as seen the rare Karner blue small, with a well as dogbane, New in their yard. Of course, it wingspan that Jersey tea, butterfly is almost always an imper- barely spreads weed and a variety of sonator. The spring azure across the other wildflowers. and the eastern tailed-blue are two common butterflies Wild blue lupine, exclusive food diameter of a In a week’s time, that bear a strong resem- source of Karner blue caterpillars. penny. these adults lay their blance to the tiny Karner eggs on lupine and then blue. The spring azure die. This time, the eggs hatch in about a likes open deciduous woods, roadsides and week, and these caterpillars also feed on brushy areas, while the eastern tailed-blue the lupine. After about three weeks, the readily adapts to habitats altered by human caterpillars begin to change and pupate. activities. The summer’s second generation of adult butterflies appears in July. Once again, The Karner blue shares its habitat with other rare butterfly species, includ- ing the persius duskywing (Erynnis persius) and the frosted elfin (Incisalia irus). They too require the wild blue My Field Observations: lupine of the pine barren habitat.

The Concord pine barrens are a ______special place where wildlife biologists and ______many partner organizations are working hard to restore a unique ecosystem. Their ______work requires intensive captive-rearing ______efforts to be able to reintroduce Karner ______blues back into the habitat. It’s not just the Karner blues that will benefit from ______restoration efforts, though — the butter- ______flies are only one species out of hundreds ______of plants and that depend on this ______exceptional habitat. ______As for me, I will enjoy my walk in the pine barrens and keep my eyes peeled for ______a splash of blue. ______Collect Naturalist’s Notebook Readers may want to collect N.H. wildlife profiles ______by cutting this page out and collecting them in a notebook. A different species will be featured in each issue.

14 May/June 2003 • WILDLIFE JOURNAL