Let's Save Winged Creatures Together

Behren's silverspot butterfly perched on coastal gumweed beside the Pacific Ocean. Photo credit Clint Pogue/USFWS

Let's Save Winged Creatures Together 

Winged Creatures - the butterflies, moths, and birds that flit and flutter through the air - are not only beautiful to look at but play important ecological roles too. 

Moths are essential in the food web and act as pollinators of night-blooming plants, which bloom when bees and butterflies are tucked in for the night. While adult moths feed bats and birds, their caterpillars are an important food source for nestlings since they are soft and juicy. Doug Tallamy, in his book "Bringing Nature Home" shares that it takes 1200 caterpillars to raise a songbird chick to adulthood. 

Butterflies act as pollinators and indicators of a healthy environment,  as and can be sensitive to insecticides and chemicals. Because they need certain host plants for their caterpillar stage as well as nectar plants for their adult stage, they show the importance of connectivity within plant communities. Consider both types of plants (caterpillar and nectar) when choosing for your pollinator garden. 

Birds, besides being beautiful to see and hear, contribute to the environment in a number of ways. For example, owls catch gophers and mice, while barn swallows and bluebirds get insects providing pest control. Seabirds bring nutrients from the ocean and deposit them on land in the form of guano. Scavengers such as vultures and condors clean up carcasses and seeds and berry-eating birds disperse seeds in their droppings and caches that help regenerate plant communities. 

Here at Conservation Works, we recognize the urgency of helping our winged creatures.  For over a decade we have been building up their resiliency by building community habitat gardens along tribal lands, farms, vineyards, schools, and community gardens.  This next year we will be bringing more habitat projects to our neighborhoods and will be focusing on helping to recover Monarch and Behren's Silverspot Butterflies.

Even small efforts can cumulatively result in significant benefits saving monarchs, bees, birds and more.  Here are a few resources to help you take action as a community scientist to help the winged creatures in your region.  

Help save Monarch Butterflies:  Integrated Monarch Monitoring Program 
Help save Bumble Bees:  Bumble Bee Watch
Join a community of naturalists or birders:  iNaturalist , Seek  eBird

Find more community science projects at SciStarter or CitizenScience