Hallberg Butterfly Gardens
T8687 Oak Groveh Road,e Sebastopol, P CA 95472i peHalvberg iButtn e y GSpringerdens 2013 Halberg Butt e y Grdens
(707) 823-3420 www.hallbergbutterflygardens.org 16th anuIssuel Number 15 16th anul Open Gardens Celebration Open Gardens Celebration
Sny, J 23, 2013 Sny, J 23, 2013 16th10 am Annual o 4 pm 10 am o 4 pm www.hallbergbutter ygardens.org (707) 823-3420 www.hallbergbutter ygardens.org (707) 823-3420 Open501 (c)3 non-pro Gardens t #91-1767178 Celebration ~ your donations are 501 (c)3 non-pro t #91-1767178 ~ your donations are Sunday,tax deductible June as allowed 23, by law2013 tax deductible as allowed by law 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Halberg Butt e y Grdens Halberg Butt e y Grdens
16th anul 16th anul Welcome to Open Gardens Day 2013 Open Gardens Celebration Open Gardens Celebration By Louise Hallberg
A new map is being printed so visitors can match numbers and information more easily to signs posted in the garden. We hope for good weather so you can enjoy your visit. There will be host and nectar plants for sale including Dutchman’s pipevine, milkweeds, salvias, verbenas, scabiosa and Buddleia. Insect and host Sny, J 23, 2013 Sny, J 23, 2013 plant exhibits will be in the barn and 10 am o 4 pm 10 am o 4 pm a bird information table will be at the www.hallbergbutter ygardens.org (707) 823-3420 www.hallbergbutter ygardens.org (707) 823-3420 501 (c)3 non-pro t #91-1767178 ~ your donations are 501 (c)3 non-pro t #91-1767178 ~ your donations are top of the hill. In the meadow you will tax deductible as allowed by law tax deductible as allowed by law find a table with wild flowers. Docents will be there to answer questions. Louise Hallberg and Pat Costello at Open Gardens Day 2012. There will be activities for children. Hopefully on your tour around the plants and walk the trail to the orchard house you will find pipevine caterpillars you will see a magnetic board with eating on the Dutchman’s pipevine sightings for the day. Stop here and see growing abundantly along the path. what is flying and nectaring on the nearby Our population of Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly bushes and flowers. Further on, Above: Visitors study posters of plants and butterflies is decreasing. Climate change, you come to the books and craft sales animals found on the property. fragmentation of surrounding habitat, table where volunteers are happy to assist Top Left: Friendly volunteers greet visitors and many other factors contribute to the you. Nearby are cold drink sales which as they enter the gardens on last year’s Open decreasing butterfly populations. are very popular if it is a hot day. Under Gardens Day. As you pass the Dutchman’s pipevine Continued on page 2. All photos by Gene Pearson except as noted.
Spring 2013 • The Pipevine Page 1 2012 Open Gardens Day Butterfly Sightings Anise Swallowtail, Blue Azure, Buckeye, Cabbage White, Checkered Skipper, Lorquin’s Admiral, Mournful Duskywing, Northern Cloudywing, Pipevine Swallowtail, Red Admiral, Spring Azure, Tiger Swallowtail, Umber Skipper, West Coast Lady Bird Sightings Acorn Woodpecker, Anna’s Hummingbird, Bewick’s Wren, Black-headed Grosbeak, Brown Creeper, Bushtit, California Towhee, California Quail, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Mourning Dove, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Oak Titmouse, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Red-tailed Hawk, Turkey Vulture, Spotted Visitors watch for dragonflies at the pond with volunteer Paul Wycoff. Towhee, Vaux’s Swift, Western Scrub Jay, Wilson’s Warbler Open Gardens Day 2013 photographer. They interviewed visitors and took pictures. The next day in the Continued from page 1. paper a headline in the second section the apple trees are the children’s craft stated “1000 Attend Open Gardens”. An tables. Instructions are given for making interesting article followed. Many readers paper butterflies. who missed Open Gardens Day decided Those with tired feet may sit on the to pay us a visit. We were swamped with bench across from the sign-in table to calls for tours the following weeks. wait for the shuttle. Posters hang on cord Many of the visitors said it was the between the apple trees. When school first time they had been to the Gardens children thank us for their tour they often and made a special effort to say thanks as include an art poster. There are lists of they departed. We had a new table at the all the trees, shrubs, birds, and butterflies head of the road showing a DVD of the found on the property. There is also a history of the Gardens and our mission poster listing the Santa Rosa JC interns of being a wildlife preserve. It took Facepainting with their completed projects. more than two We had near perfect weather for Open year’s work to Gardens Day in 2012. Visitors arrived complete this all day long in 75 degree temperature. very special Early comers are often hoping to find a DVD. The special plant. The plant sale was busy all day was very day with helpers finding requested plants. successful Many were sold out by day’s end. thanks to the Fifteen butterfly species and twenty- help of many two different birds were seen. Most of volunteers. the 1200 visitors were from Sonoma County with most towns in the county represented. There were some visitors The Children’s from other California counties and Craft Tables several states represented. A very feature butterfly- big surprise last year was the visit related projects. from the Press Democrat reporter and
Page 2 Spring 2013 • The Pipevine Tours of the Gardens By Louise Hallberg
Although visitors knew they might colors of Buddleia blossoms, lilac, not see as many butterflies during rosemary, manzanita shrubs and buckeye their visit as we would like, they were trees are butterfly favorites. Camellias not disappointed because of the many flower before the Gardens are officially different plants, flowers and birds. Most open but early guests and friends have remarked they saw and heard many commented on the beautiful blossoms of Vinca major different birds. The Gardens have nectar the many varieties planted throughout the and host plants to enrich butterfly habitat. property. 11th Santa Rosa Junior Different butterflies require a variety Summer guests were shown pictures College Internship of different plants to lay their eggs on. of the unique little vaux’s swifts that have Host plants provide food for butterfly nested in the house chimney for the last Student Project caterpillars. Plantain, anise, mallow, ten years. When the chicks are fed there Last fall Jonathan Brody’s stinging nettle, wild radish, grasses, is a lot of noisy chirping. A recording challenging project was to remove Dutchman’s pipevine, milkweed, pearly of the chicks’ competitive cries was the invasive Vinca major plant from everlasting, oaks, and willows are some made last summer to share with visitors. a large Dutchman’s pipevine area. of the host plants. An adult butterfly is Pictures of the adults descending into the Each week, sometimes in showers, interested in drinking from a variety chimney in the evening and the recording he used a big pitch fork and tried to of flowers—or nectaring. Some of the were on the front porch. save the Dutchman’s pipevine. This popular nectar flowers we have in the A visit to the Gardens is more than spring the native plant is coming up Gardens are salvias, verbena bonariensis, butterflies these days. We are a wildlife and wildflowers are blooming there. scabiosa, centranthus, ceanothus, sanctuary with many stories about the life It will be a challenge for us to keep cheiranthus, zinnia, bidens, goldenrod, found here. Vinca major out. milkweed and lippia. The many different
Silk Tassel Bush Beautiful Silk Tassel Bush By Louise Hallberg From The Calypso newsletter, March—April, 2013, www.dkycnps.org
Last spring small blossoms of a California native plants are treasured by recently planted silk tassel bush were horticulturists especially in Great Britain and Europe. observed at the top of the hill. That The January 2013 issue of The Garden, the Royal reminded me of one planted years ago in Horticultural Society’s magazine, featured Garrya an area not observed for years because elliptica ‘James Roof’ as a plant that has won the of its location. I sent Catarino to look RHS Award of Garden Merit, the Society’s highest for it. What a surprise! He came back plant accolade. Garrya is a dioecious shrub and it is with four 12 inch ‘James Roof’ silk the male plants that bear the graceful catkins—and tassel blossoms. They were gorgeous and ‘James Roof’ silk tassel bush has particularly long and were viewed for many days in a vase on beautiful catkins. “The wavy-edged leaves and silvery the table. Many thanks to The Calypso, catkins look picturesque when dusted with frost on a Newsletter of the Dorothy King Young sunny winter’s day,” said Peter Catt, a member of the Chapter of the California Native Plant RHS Woody Plant Committee (something we are able Society, in Gualala. I joined in 1960 to appreciate given our recent super cold days on the because there was no chapter in Santa coast). Garrya elliptica ‘James Roof’, Rosa at that time. To grow ‘James Roof’: Coast: part sun; Inland: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit winner. part shade. Infrequent to occasional water. www.rhs.org.uk.
Receive your newsletter by email! Drop us a line at: [email protected] Spring 2013 • The Pipevine Page 3 Monarchs Still Missing MONARCH RELEASES Tachinid Fly Year Releases By Louise Hallberg Losses 1997 108 n/a For the second consecutive year we There are now only one-fifteenth as many have observed fewer monarch butterflies Monarchs as in 1997—the same year we 1998 53 80 even though we have milkweed, their released 100 Monarch that hatched from 1999 18 11 favorite host and nectar plants available eggs laid on milkweed plants here at 2000 82 5 for them. Few were seen in August and the garden. This year’s falling to lowest no eggs or caterpillars were found. A level since records began 20 years ago. 2001 12 n/a recent March 2013 Press Democrat The number of Monarch dropped 59% 2002 22 4 article stated that six of the last seven this year. Experts don’t agree about 2003 28 2 years have shown a decline in the why the population of Monarchs is numbers of Monarchs that migrate decreasing. They believe illegal logging 2004 51 20 from the United States and Canada to of forests in the 193,000 acre Mexican 2005 7 7 mountain top forests in Central Mexico. preserve has been reduced. One source 2006 57 3 lists climate conditions and agricultural practices in the United States as 2007 3 n/a damaging. Herbicides kill off milkweed. 2008 24 3 Water diversion is another practice 2009 0 18* that manipulates the environment. The declining numbers of Monarchs is a 2010 2 2* great concern. Canada, United States 2011 0 0 Monarch and Mexico must take action to protect 2012 0 0 Butterfly the migration and survival needs of the Monarch butterfly. *Due to late hatch, too cold (not tachinid flies.)
Pipevine Swallowtail Butterflies By Louise Hallberg
Sightings from last year recorded the 05-01-12 Two of 21 eggs remaining. first Pipevine Swallowtail observed April 05-09-12 Six caterpillars found in a.m., 6, 2012. With so many sunny days during 4 left in p.m. the spring of 2013 we first observed 05-09-12 Brought in 4 to save them. the pipevine this year on March 12th. A 05-09-12 Two of original 14 hatched, second Pipevine Swallowtail was seen one gone, one brought in. Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly March 24 when two were seen. By late Releases: April we expect to see several Pipevine Caterpillar Observations: Swallowtails. Many years ago 50 were Between 04-20-12 and 05-20-12: seen in one day. 05-02-12 Volunteers saw first caterpillar in area of 14 eggs. Twelve Pipevine Swallowtails were There are far fewer butterflies sighted 05-06-12 One caterpillar left, brought in. released after hatching in house cages. currently. Here is a little data about Chrysalises from previous year’s 05-09-12 Four brought in, spiders are Pipevine Swallowtail eggs that were caterpillars usually emerge in early eating. found the spring of 2012. spring whether they wintered outside 05-15-12 Lots of caterpillars seen. Egg observations: or inside in cages. A few more Pipevine 05-26-12 Not many seen now. Swallowtails were seen during the 04-20-12 First 14 eggs found outside. 06-13-12 Three brought in. summer months than some years, but it is 04-27-12 Two of 14 eggs remaining. 07-09-12 Last one in chrysalis. discouraging to see so few other butterfly 04-27-12 21 eggs found outside. species compared to previous years.
Page 4 Spring 2013 • The Pipevine STATISTICS: Butterfly Species Sightings in 2012
Family Name Common Name Latin Name First Date Seen Last Date Seen Papilionidae Pipevine Swallowtail Battus philenor April 6 October 3 Anise Swallowtail Papilio zelicaon March 5 October 5 Western Tiger Swallowtail Papilio rutulus April 18 October 26 Pieridae Cabbage White Pieris rapae February 8 November 23 Orange Sulfur (Alfalfa) Colias eurytheme September 21 September 21 Lycaenidae Western Tailed-Blue Everes amyntula June 23 July 6 Spring Azure (Echo Blue) Celastrina ladon June 14 July 11 Acmon Blue Plebejus acmon May 9 October 9 Nymphalidae Mylitta Crescent Phyciodes mylitta August 14 November 6 Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa January 15 June 26 Painted Lady Vanessa cardui August 5 August 7 American Lady Vanessa virginiensis August 5 November 21 West Coast Lady Vanessa annabella February 3 November 6 Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta March 8 November 21 Common Buckeye Junonia coenia July 13 October 23 Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini May 11 October 16 Great Basin Wood-Nymph Cercyonis pegala June 9 June 10 Monarch Danaus plexippus April 19 November 4 Hesperiidae Northern Cloudywing Thorybes pylades May 7 August 24 Mournful Duskywing Erynnis tristis March 21 October 17 Common Checkered-Skipper Pyrgus communis July 22 November 8 Fiery Skipper Pyrgus communis August 22 September 14 Sandhill Skipper Polites sabuleti May 11 May 11 Sachem Skipper Atalopedes campestris September 10 November 2 Woodland Skipper Ochlodes sylvanoides May 17 September 12 Umber Skipper Poanes melane May 11 October 7 Unidentified Skipper unknown May 7 November 23
year ’92 ’93 ’94 ’95 ’96 ’97 ’98 ’99 ’00 ’01 ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 ’08 ’09 ’10 ’11 ‘12 # of species sighted 27 26 31 33 21 35 28 33 32 30 32 32 36 38 27 32 32 38 36 33 27 Fifty-nine of California’s 236 native butterfly species are commonly seen in the San Francisco Bay Area. A total of 54 different species have been catalogued visiting at Hallberg Butterfly Gardens over the last 20 years…some just once, or only rarely, and some establishing populations in our enhanced habitat.
Spring 2013 • The Pipevine Page 5 Sebastopol’s Vaux’s Swifts By Kathy Spalding
Since 1989 Vaux’s swifts have used lines. The Royal Society for the the enormous chimney at Rio Lindo Protection of Birds website states Academy in Healdsburg as a roosting that grounded swifts, due to their site during their autumn migration. My long wings and short legs, are friend Donna was enjoying the spectacle unable to fly. This wasn’t the when someone mentioned the swifts on case with these birds. I saw one Sebastopol’s High Street. land on a roof and three others You guessed it. Donna lives on High hit the ground. All remained for Street. many minutes, head up and wings For the next two weeks, we were there stretched out, looking not unlike nearly every evening, treated to an aerial toy bats before flying off. One display of jaw-dropping beauty. landed in the road. I stood about Around dusk, the Vaux’s (rhymes with ten feet away to protect it from hawks) swifts start out flying fairly high vehicles. When almost all the up in a loose group, with no discernable swifts had entered the chimney, I coordination of movement. I wonder if approached the grounded bird. It this served to gather up other swifts in the Vaux’s Swifts flying into a Sebastopol Chimney, exploded into the air and entered September 2012. Photo by Bill Brumgardt. area, alerting them to a potential roosting the chimney quickly. site. Gradually the group became denser The swifts weren’t the only animals orient themselves. Birds have been shown and more organized. Then the birds would on show. Nearly every evening, once the to shut down half their brains, which is become a whirling cylinder of flight. Many swifts were tucked away for the night, a thought to allow for sleep. described it as a vortex. Flying at high tabby cat would come through the house’s These are birds perfectly designed for rate of speed, the swifts created a whirring hedge, cross the street, and return home. what they do. Mouth as wide as the face, sound punctuated with the occasional tap Had he been dining on grounded swifts? maximizing food intake in flight, like of impact when wing met wing. A fat raccoon would often pop down one baleen whales in the sky. Flat forehead This cylinder of swifts would take drain and emerge on the other side of the for an aerodynamic profile. Wings with up a position over the chimney. Then street, using this underground roadway short “arms” and long “fingers” for individuals would peel away from the to make its rounds. One evening a small speedy flight. (Vaux’s cousins, Apus apus, group, hover, and drop into the chimney. hawk flew directly under the gathering holds the level flight speed record at just An onlooker commented that it was like swifts. It swept past the flock, shot under 70 miles per hour.) Tiny feet, toes smoke in reverse. One needn’t be a lover between houses, and turned on its side sideways for grasping rough vertical of nature to marvel at the sight. in flight where pigeons perched. I don’t surfaces. Spiked tailfeather tips for On one occasion the cylinder shifted know who was the intended prey. propping, much like a woodpecker. away from the chimney until positioned Frustrated by butterflies that refuse Swifts are somewhat short-changed over some conifers. We wondered if they to alight and defy identification, my in field guides. “Flying cigars” were going to roost in the trees, but then daughter refers to these uncooperative and “twinkling flight” are standard the flock eased back over the chimney and sorts as Neverlands. This is an apt name descriptors. They are invariably made the descent. Another evening about for some swift species, which remain grouped near swallows, which they 30 swifts split off from the group as it was airborne for months at a stretch. In fact, resemble, but swifts’ closest relatives are circling the chimney. This smaller flock the Common Swift, Apus apus, is said to hummingbirds, with whom they share the flew off to the west, leaving us to ponder spend the first three years of its life flying. ability to enter torpor, dropping their body where they would spend the night. Eating, mating, sleeping, it all takes place temperature to conserve energy. Other Folks in the crowd estimated there during flight. How is that possible? birds do this, but few as dramatically as were a couple hundred swifts at the peak. Whereas Vaux’s swifts rely on hummingbirds and swifts. The fewest I saw was fifteen. Numbers chimneys and old-growth forests for Watching these swifts, Louise did not appear to correlate with weather. nesting and roosting, some species wondered if among them were the birds When numbers were high, the practice aerial roosting. They will ascend which nest or hatched in her chimney. It’s occasional swift would fall, perhaps from to a great height (have been found at exciting to think we might have seen them clipping one another or hitting the power 10,000 feet) and use wind direction to on their way south.
Page 6 Spring 2013 • The Pipevine Update on Vaux’s Swifts at the Gardens By Louise Hallberg
2012 will be remembered as the year June 27: Chicks heard chirping all the chicks chirping Vaux’s I stood by the tankhouse at sundown day. Had not been heard when they were for feed to the Swift and looked up at the chimney for 90 tiny; probably hatched a week or more summer visitors. consecutive days, April 27 to July 28, before. Swifts are losing to watch for the valuable, fantastic little the tree cavities July 5: Chicks fed five times between swifts suddenly appear from nowhere and open chimneys 7:00 and 7:30 a.m. It is said they can and drop into the little open chimney. It that they use for nesting. I hope this be fed 5,000 insects a day! How many was very encouraging to see four of them little chimney will always be available chicks? Three or four? Or five? on April 27, two regularly until May 20, for these little birds when they migrate and then just one at a time until June 24. July 9: Until this date chicks were back after the long journey from South We knew they had to make a new nest heard from every room in the house and America each spring and use their tiny because the old nests had been removed out on the front porch. During this period brains to remember the chimney where for the first time since their annual visits we made a good recording of the bird they hatched! began in 1997. sounds. Chicks can leave the nest at 20 From books and from my daily notes to 21 days of age, but remain higher up an estimated schedule of the 2012 nesting in the chimney seven days to train wings We are very grateful for recent is as follows. for flying. When I walked into the living gifts from photographer Sharon room at night and turned on the light, April 27: First see four swifts drop the chicks must have seen a little light or Beals; a beautiful framed into the chimney. A few seen each night heard me and they would chirp loudly. until there were just 2 swifts, more or less picture of our Swift nest which regularly, until May 20. July 16: Bird sounds were fainter, so is now hunging by the fireplace, up higher in the chimney. Gay thought May 5: Two little twigs seen on paper and for her new book, Nests, she heard wings flapping in preparation towel in the fireplace. from Chronicle Books. for flying. It seems quiet now after May 5 – 20: The swifts made a nest hearing chicks for so many days. They of little twigs glued together with saliva are missed. which is special during breeding season. July 17: At 8:50 – 8:55 p.m. Because Vaux’s swifts have no hind toe Activity Statistics 2012 2 flew into chimney. A little (Number of guests shown in parentheses) they cannot perch on a branch or wire, so later four flew in and after a twigs are broken off while birds are in the Total Children’s Open little gap one flew in for a total Month Tours Groups Tours Gardens air. A half-cup nest is glued with saliva of seven, probably two parents to brick chimney, about five feet up from JAN 1 1 (3) and five babies. I was glad and the bottom of the fireplace. FEB 1 1 (4) stayed out in the dark. MAR May 20 – June 9: 18 to 20 days of July 18 – 28: The swifts APR 7 3 (5) 4 (162) incubating by both sexes. During this stayed around about two period I saw a bird fly in and one bird MAY 23 18 (108) 5 (161) weeks and then left the area. fly out and return five to 15 minutes later JUN 17 17 (106) (1200) Various numbers dropped in the quite regularly. My question: Is this bird JUL 37 36 (171) 1 (40) chimney during this period; so the same bird flying in and out or a bird AUG 21 20 (52) 1 (13) glad I saw the seven on the one sitting on the nest and being relieved night. SEP 10 8 (37) 2 (48) to fly out? My question has not been OCT 5 5 (10) answered. Was the one flying in feeding July 28: Last swifts seen. NOV the bird sitting on the nest or letting that DEC bird fly out? The experience was enjoyable because I was able Total 122 109 13 June 24: Birds seen flying into the to give information about these Tours chimney during the day. birds and play the recording of Total (2120) (496) (424) (1200) Guests
Spring 2013 • The Pipevine Page 7 Bees — Solitary to Social By Frederique Lavoipierre
BEES I: Solitary with a variety of woes, an increasing amount of attention is being paid to native According to one of my favorite books, bees. As opposed to honey bees, which Evolution of the Insects, if we eliminated have a highly developed social structure, bees, ants and termites from the planet, all native bees are often solitary. Social bees terrestrial life would collapse. Whenever exhibit a division of labor, with only some someone expresses a horror of insects, I females reproducing. Solitary bees may pull this astonishing assertion from my occasionally live in aggregations, but do bag of tricks. Without bees (and a few Syrphid fly visiting Epipactis gigantea, with not help each other in reproduction. Each pollinia on its back. Photo by Phil Van Solen. other 6-legged pollinators), I follow up, solitary female bee builds her own nest our diet would become horribly bland; we (there are no worker bees), and provisions resemble small wasps. Colletid bees would be living on potatoes, corn, wheat it with the food necessary for the larva characteristically line their nests with a and a few other crops. No apples, berries, to develop. Solitary bees do not produce cellophane-like material. Megachilidae oranges, zucchini, or tomatoes. No mint, either honey or wax. (mason, leaf-cutters and carder bees) are thyme, oregano, or parsley. No chocolate In temperate zones, especially where primarily solitary species; some species (midge-pollinated), tea or coffee. Many of it freezes in the winter, solitary bees may nest in aggregations. Megachilids nest the beautiful flowering plants that we take have short life spans. Some species come mainly in hollow stems and cavities in for granted would also disappear. Insects out at the first hint of warmth, and rely wood, while a few are ground nesters. and flowering plants coevolved, leading to on early flowering plants for sustenance. Mason bees use mud as a nesting material, an explosion of species, and the creation Bees may be oligolectic, specializing on while leaf-cutters build nests lined with of multitudes of niches for other animals. just a few, or rarely a single species, of leaves (and sometimes rose petals). Carder Bees played a central role in increasing flowering plants, or polylectic, with a bees line their nests with animal or plant this biodiversity. broader, more generalist diet. Oligolectic fibers. Some species, such as orchard and It may come as a shock to discover bees may be far less discriminate when alfalfa bees, are managed for pollination. that honey bees are not native to the seeking nectar than pollen. Many of the Andrenidae (mining bees) are solitary United States, but originated in the solitary bees are oligolectic, and are found ground dwellers. Although some species Mediterranean. Yet flowering plants were flying only during the season of the plants use a common entrance to the nest, each being pollinated long before the first that they pollinate. All bees require protein female still provisions her own offspring. European settlers brought hives to the (pollen) and sugar (nectar); with a few rare Scopae are usually present on the entire eastern seaboard. As honey bees struggle exceptions, only females gather pollen length of the hind legs; many species of and nectar for nests. Although a few bees andrenids are oligolectic. This very large Frederique Lavoipierre is the volunteer carry pollen internally, most bees have family of bees contributes much of the bee manager at Santa Barbara Botanic scopae, external structures for carrying diversity of temperate zones of the Pacific Garden. She also teaches classes pollen. These pollen baskets or brushes, coast. Melittidae (mellitid bees) is a very and workshops on many aspects of as they are also known, are often on the small family of mostly ground-nesting sustainable landscaping, including hind pair of legs, but in the Megachilidae, solitary bees with restricted distribution, ecological principles, habitat gardens, the leaf-cutting bees, they are found on the often with shaggy scopae. It includes the beneficial insects, soil ecology, abdomen, a distinguishing character for oligolectic Clarkia bee. fresh-water ecology, and aquatic the family. In addition to how they gather BEES II: Solitary to Social invertebrates.She has been writing pollen, or social structure, bees can also the Garden Allies column in Pacific be divided according to nesting ecology. Strolling through my garden, early in Horticulture Magazine for seven Many solitary bees are ground-nesting, the morning, dew heavy on the flowers, I years. www.pacifichorticulture.org. while others seek out hollow stems or sometimes pause to gently pet a velvety Editor’s Note: We are delighted cavities in wood. sleeping bumble bee. Although it may to have Frederique Lavoipierre’s Colletidae (plasterer bees) are seem a strange activity to some, for me permission to reprint this article solitary species, although some nest in it embodies the ephemeral magic of which also appeared in Pacific aggregations, and build their nests in the the garden at dawn. I can safely pet the Horticulture Magazine, 2009–2011. ground. They are relatively hairless, and slumbering bumble bee because of an those that carry pollen internally may Continued on page 9.
Page 8 Spring 2013 • The Pipevine unusual behavior found in some members gathered by other bees, generally by Carpenter Bee of the Apidae family of bees. Males laying their own egg in the nest. When the may sleep on vegetation, sometimes in cuckoo bee larva hatches, it eats the host a slit at the base of a aggregations, clasping stems or petals with larva’s pollen ball. Cleptoparasitoids occur flower and stealing their mandibles and spending the night at in several families, most notably, the entire nectar without rest. Bumblebees are one common group apid subfamily Nomadinae. Social bees providing a pollination service. There are in the family Apidae, along with squash that act as cuckoos, living and reproducing also small solitary metallic black carpenter bees, long-horned bees, carpenter bees, in other social bees’ colonies, are known bees, which nest in stems of woody plants. honey bees, and several lesser known as brood parasites. Digger and squash bees were also once groups. Apidae have the broadest range Some of my favorite garden bees are included in the family Anthophoridae with of social behaviors of any bee family, the bright green metallic halictid bees in the carpenter bees. Many are specialist exhibiting the full gamut from solitary the genus Agapostemon. The female is pollinators. In gardens, the solitary squash to eusocial. They are closely followed in uniformly green, while the male sports bees are commonly found wherever social diversity by the family Halictidae. a handsome black and yellow striped curcurbits are grown. They arrive early Eusocial (true social) bees exhibit abdomen. Halictids are sometimes called in the morning before the honeybees three traits: a division of reproductive sweat bees, as some genera include species which they resemble. Most are soil labor (only the queens reproduce), bees that appear to be attracted to perspiration. nesting; sometimes in aggregations. The cooperate in caring for immatures, and Some nest in decaying wood, but most commonly encountered Melissodes (long- there is an overlap of generations within are soil dwellers, digging their own nest. horned) species are included in this group. colonies (daughters are workers). In Some solitary species form aggregations, Bumblebees are eusocial, establishing advanced eusocial bees, there are also and some are known to construct nests annual colonies in old rodent burrows morphological differences between queen with dozens of cells. Halictid bees include and other ready-made homes; only the and workers. Only a single group of many solitary species, but also communal, new queens overwinter. Like honeybees, Apidae, the corbiculate bees, named for semisocial and primitively eusocial bees they are generalist feeders, and they are the pollen ‘baskets’ on the hind tibias, (the vast majority of primitively eusocial great pollinators of solanaceaous plants, exhibit advanced eusocial behavior. bees are halictids), cleptoparasitoids and dislodging pollen by vibration. They are Corbiculate bees include four tribes; brood parasitoids. The type of social more active in low light levels and cool bumble bees, honey bees and the orchid interaction can vary even within the same weather than honey bees. Soon after dawn, and stingless bees (the last two are found species. Some halictids have colonies bumblebees awaken, and another day’s only south of the US border). with several queens, and have overlapping activity has begun. generations (a key factor in eusociality). Between solitary and advanced BEE III: Social Bees eusocial bees there are many variations Colonies are usually small—less than a on the theme of social behavior. Members dozen workers. In the late 1600s, Johannes of the same generation may cooperate in Apidae often brings to mind the Swammerdam meticulously dissected brood care to varying degrees. Communal social bumble and honey bees, but the a honey bee with home made tools and bees share a common nest, but each apid family includes the gamut of social a microscope so primitive, it would female provisions her own cells with food behaviors. Two important groups, the be difficult to recognize it as such for larvae. Among quasisocial bees, all stingless bees (entirely eusocial) and the today. In doing so, he discovered that females can reproduce, but cooperate in orchid bees, are only found south of the the ‘king’ bee possessed ovaries, and brood care, while in semisocial species, US border. Several other important groups was in fact a ‘queen’. His remarkable there is division of reproduction, with are commonly found in gardens. Carpenter drawings remain unparalleled. Among some bees laying eggs, and sisters acting bees, both small and large, used to be in Swammerdam’s many other discoveries, as workers. In all these variants, colonies their own family, but as modern molecular he demonstrated that insects had systems only last one year. Distinctions are techniques are leading to revisions of as complex as any other animal. He was difficult and sometimes intergrade. taxonomic relationships, are now included also the first to elucidate the process Cleptoparasitoids, or cuckoo bees, with apids. Most are solitary species, but of metamorphosis— determining that use a unique strategy. in some cases mothers and daughters may caterpillars and other holometabolous Some solitary bees occupy the same nest; some may even larvae did not mysteriously change into a such as some digger divide labor. Even solitary species are completely different animal, but gradually and squash bee species found in aggregations. Large carpenter transformed into adult form. steal provisions bees are familiar to most gardeners; these Honey bees have long fascinated look like shiny black bumble bees, and humankind. No one, for example, finds it Bumble Bee often behave as nectar robbers, cutting Continued on page 10.
Spring 2013 • The Pipevine Page 9 The adult bushtit is a small brownish Bushtits in the Gardens gray bird with a longish tail and short By Louise Hallberg rounded wings. They often travel in large mixed flocks of active foragers. On a sunny March 15th morning twigs. It is elongated They are led by a single bird or set of a regular volunteer was transplanting with an entrance hole leaders and often stay together for several wildflower seedlings and pruning in to one side at the top. It can be six to 12 years. When flocks meet the males make an area by the office/tractor barn and inches long and widens to the base to territorial displays including agitated noticed two little birds chattering and three or four inches. The whole nest is calling, tail chasing and sometimes flying back and forth between a nearby held together with spider webs. Materials fighting. Bushtits pick insects from manzanita bush and a Buddleia bush. in the nest can be lichens, moss, grasses, leaves and twigs and an occasional berry Their beaks were stuffed full of moss and blossoms, plant down, small dry leaves when they can hang upside down. When lichen. Buddleia asiatica is a variety that and spider cocoons. The inside of the feeding on bushes, they generally fly blossoms in February. The birds seemed nest is lined with feathers, fur and plant singly following the one ahead. They to pick something off the blossoms. After down. Eggs usually number five to seven. keep constant contact with light high watching all the activity, the volunteer Two females can share the same nest so pitched call notes. On cold winter nights crossed the driveway to look closer. number of eggs is upward to 15. Eggs they huddle together. During breeding Under a hanging branch of the Buddleia are white, smooth and non glossy. Both season they pair off but return to flocks there was a large hanging nest being parents rear the young from incubation to until nest is completed. Pairs sometimes built. feeding. Other bushtits have been known remain together several years. The A book reports that bushtits breed in to help. Chicks hatch naked in 12 to 13 longest paired adults on record are eight open woodlands, shrubs and scattered days, eyes open in eight days. They grow years. Because of variable habitat and trees in late February in California. The a grayish white down and are tended for flock protection the bushtit population is nest is usually four to five feet off the 14 to 15 days and are dependent about probably safe. ground suspended from two adjacent eight more days after leaving the nest.
crops rely on pollination by honey bees. bees live in hives. The familiar honey bee Bees Continued from page 9. Of course, humans also appreciate the and other Apis species are not native to the taste of honey, and have sometimes gone Americas, but several species of ‘stingless’ odd that we devote entire shops to a single to great lengths to acquire it; Himalayan meliponine bees in South America also species of insect and its products. Honey honey hunters, for instance, cling to sheer produce harvestable honey. Once honey bees are an ageless and enduring motif in cliffs to gather honey, an ancient practice bees arrived in eastern North America, human cultures around the world. They that continues today. With the advent of they quickly spread, but did not cross were important in Greek mythology, in paraffin, we take candles for granted, but the Rockies, and were not introduced to which priestesses of Demeter and Artemis bees were once the principal source of the west until the mid 1800’s, when they were known as the ‘Melissae’, or Bees. household candles. Other bee products arrived by ship. There was no Native They are featured in creation myth of the include propolis, a mixture of resins American word for honey bees, and they San people of the Kalahari Desert, and gathered and used by bees as a sealant, were known as the white man’s fly. appear as Freemason, Hindu and Christian and valued for medicinal and antibacterial Hives are often moved long distances symbols. The Mayans were known to properties. Royal jelly, a glandular to provide pollination services for crops; worship a bee god, and the Egyptians secretion fed to larvae and queen bees, about one third of all the hives in the US, revered bees as a symbol of the sun god Ra. has a long history as a health and beauty for instance, are trucked in to pollinate Honey bees are viewed as hard-working, treatment. Allergy sufferers sometimes almonds. Such movement of hives is industrious, and cooperative; their social eat regionally produced pollen to better undoubtedly a factor in the many health structure universally admired and emulated. tolerate the effects of local flora when it is problems honey bees face today, as it It is no accident that honey bees in bloom. Even bees themselves have been contributes to the spread of diseases and have our respect; historians note that enlisted; a longtime folk remedy (supported parasites. Another factor may be the domestication of honey by a recent study) is bee sting therapy corn syrup that is often fed to bees as an bees is associated with the to reduce the pain and inflammation of overwintering nutrient in commercial rise of early civilizations, arthritis. operations. Pesticides, especially and well over 30% of our In the wild, bees live in colonies in neonicotinoids, are increasingly implicated Queen Honey Bee trees and other hollows, while domesticated Continued on page 12.
Page 10 Spring 2013 • The Pipevine 2012 Friends of the Gardens... Donors Kathy Spalding Patricia Dervin I’m a Friend *Major Donors Gail Dubinsky Mary Ely Spielman of the Gardens too! Carol Benfell Rich Fashbinder Kathleen & Helen Tom Borowicz Jean Feretti Stewart Britton Tree Service Peggy Fuchs q I wish to become a Friend of the Gardens Linda & Walter Bill Brumgardt Stewart Norma Halbersma q I wish to renew my Friendship Alessandra Judith Teves Susan Harris Chargorodsky q $250 Pipevine Swallowtail Winter Family Jeff Herr Patricia & John Dervin q $150 West Coast Lady Paul Wycoff Billie Herring Lynn Eikenberry q $100 Monarch Judith Zuckerman Garth Hokansan June England q Nick Irizary $50 Buckeye Mary Ely q Organizations Kathi Jacobs $25 Woodland Skipper Louis & Lois Faverio General Hydroponics Linda & Jerry q $ Jean Ferretti Johnston Petaluma Seed Bank - in honor of John and q I wish to make a gift in HONOR of: Patricia Dervin Baker Creek Heirloom Nancy Kissam Seeds Angela Ford Judy Krist Press Democrat Name Louise Hallberg* Frederique Rotary Club of Lavoipierre & SSU Kathi Jacobs Sebastopol Students q I wish to make a gift in MEMORY of: Diane Jacobsen Shooting Star Linda Lebovics Stanley & Mary Jones Propagation Wintress Lovering Name Geri & Renee Kientz Sonoma West Don Mahoney Times & News Charles Lahm* Mickey Marshall West County Gazette Christy Lubin Alexandra McDonald Your Name Don Mahoney* Volunteers Pat Muscat Kathy Matteri Kathy Oetinger in memory of Sarah Barnett Karen Nagel Dolores Mary, Mother Sharon Beals Address Kathy & Gene Pearson Monica McCabe Julie Bennett Phil Persons Mary McLain Haven Best Wendy Peterson City/State/Zip Mary Miller Loretta Bentancourt Lisa Pierce Karen Nagel Jo Benz Jean Powers Jane Nielson Lisa Bernsten Joy Price E-mail Kris Nevius Tricia Boreta Margot Rued Gene & Kathy Pearson Nassu Born in memory of Joan Schwan Dave Snapp Leah Brorstrom Phone Kathy Spalding Phillip Persons Mark & Gay Brorstrom Ingrid Stearns Redwood Empire Pam Brown Charlene Stone Please make checks payable to: California Association & the Redwood of Nurseries & Origami Club Eric Suazo Gardens Centers Margaret & Carl Judy Tanner Hallberg Butterfly Gardens Linda Reichel Brown Joanne Taylor 8687 Oak Grove Road Donna Robles Sarah Brown Kathy Trafton Sebastopol, CA 95472 Margot Rued Bill Brumgardt Alex Weishaar ( ) - Judith Sherwood Caterino Contreras 707 823 3420 Ross Weishaar Sandy and Kim Shirai Pat Costello Kris White Your gift is tax deductible to the extent in honor of Bob Cugini Joanne Taylor Paul Wycoff allowed by law. HBG is a 501(c)(3) Hollynn D’lil Caren Signorelli nonprofit corporation. #91-1767178 Marilyn Deis Art & Judy Slater* Molly Deis
Spring 2013 • The Pipevine Page 11 Hallberg Butterfly Gardens 8687 Oak Grove Road Sebastopol CA 95472
HALLBERG BUTTERFLY GARDENS is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization #91-1767178
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Gay Bishop Brorstrom • Kathy Trafton Kathi Jacobs • Wintress Lovering Art Slater • Frederique Lavoipierre OFFICERS PRESIDENT: Don Mahoney VICE PRESIDENT: Louise Hallberg SECRETARY: Patricia Dervin TREASURER: Joanne Taylor Bees Continued from page 10. The Pipevine Newsletter in the depletion of bee populations. EDITORS: Leah Brorstrom, Louise Hallberg, Honey bees live in perennial colonies, with a generally Jerry Johnston, Linda Johnston solitary queen bee that lays all the eggs. Unfertilized eggs DESIGN: Oetinger Design become drones, while fertilized eggs become workers. A Our full color newsletter is now online at fertilized egg laid in a special cell, and supplied with only royal www.hallbergbutterflygardens.org jelly as larval food, becomes a queen. The queen lays hundreds Receive your newsletter by email! Drop us a line at of eggs a day, especially in the spring, as worker bees only [email protected] live a few weeks and must be replaced. Workers divide labor according to life stages, beginning their adult stage with the The Gardens are open April – October, care of larvae and queen. A few days later, they switch to hive Wednesday – Sunday, by Appointment. Call 707•823•3420 maintenance tasks such as wax work and nectar processing. At about three weeks, most worker bees become foragers, while others take on roles in defense, or disposal of dead bees. Honey bees collect pollen, a valuable source of protein Halberg Butt e y Grdens for larvae, in ‘pollen baskets’ on their hind legs. They are able 16th anul to communicate the direction and distance from the hive of good sources of nectar and pollen with the delightful ‘waggle dance’. Honey bees visit a wide variety of flowering plants but Ope Grdens concentrate on a single plant species at a time, making possible the diverse flavors of honey, such as the clear flavor of clover, Clratio the floral note of orange blossom, and the deep richness of chestnut. Providing bee habitat is quite easy. Bee plant lists are readily available; choose plants blooming over a long season Pant, Boo, Br an Butt er y & Handcraft e Item Sihng for best results. Select plants that will attract native bees in fr Sl Chidren’ Aiie Wlkng Tr Wifl er addition to honeybees. Annual native wildflowers are an Docent Dispay important source of early spring nectar for native bees; many are easily established. Ground-dwelling bees prefer bare ground, and are often found nesting in sun-baked banks, so leave some areas mulch-free for their benefit. Populations of many species of wood-nesting bees can be established using Fre! No resevain neede! readily available nest boxes, or make your own. Different-sized Sny, Jne 23, 2013 holes will accommodate a diversity of species. Solitary bees 10 am to 4 pm are either stingless or highly unlikely to sting. Most bee species Lite weechar aces ~ Pleas, no smokng r et are not aggressive and only sting in self-defense. Surely few 8687 Oak Grove Avenue-off of Hwy 116, across from Oak Grove School things can give more pleasure in the www.hallbergbutterflygardens.org(Please park along the street and walk down driveway or wait (707 for) the823-3420 shuttle) www.hallbergbutter ygardens.org (707) 823-3420 garden than the gentle hum of flower- 501 8687(c)3 non-pro Oak t #91-1767178 Grove ~ your Road, donations Graton/Sebastopol are tax deductible as allowed by law (Off Hwy 116, across from Oak Grove School) visiting bees. Page 12 WorkerSpring Honey 2013 Bee • The Pipevine