Joann Merritt's Essays

Mile High (Or Butterflies Of The Lepidopteran And Avian Orders)
August, 1993

It’s a given that butterflies sally forth to bask in the sunshine, to seek nectar or a mate when the temperature rises. South Texas weather meets their needs but nevertheless some of the south’s butterflies travel northward to Midland’s milder clime. As these emigrants appear, Midnats check off the species that previously only Allen Wemple had seen. Allen has the “Master List” of butterflies for Midland County and it’s a fun challenge to equal his sightings from past years.

On August 21st we even made an addition to Allen’s list when a Mimosa Yellow was found and identified at I-20 Pond by Saturday Morning Birders.

During July and August other South Texas emigrants included the Zebra Longwing, Clytie Hairstreak, Janis Patch and the gorgeous Malachite with its pale jade green and tawny brown underwing pattern. The Malachite roosted in our plum tree and nectared on buddleia and zinnias during its three day visit.

Writing this story has been a difficult task. It’s early morning and I’m sitting in our backyard with sights and sounds of nature surrounding me. Mourning Doves are softly cooing, Upland Sandpipers are bubbling overhead and Rufous and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are flashing their colors in the sunshine showing me why they are so named. The Broad-tailed and Black-chinned Hummers add to the backyard activity. Perhaps if I tarry a while the butterflies will stretch their wings and begin their rounds of our Nectar Pubs.

Tarrying pays off. Pipevine, Tiger and Giant Swallowtail butterflies added beauty to the day as hummers whizzed around our feeders like Christmas Mall shoppers. Speaking of Christmas - “When what to my wondering eyes should appear” but a blue-throated hummingbird. In addition to a blue throat, the bird had a partially red bill, some dark green on its upper breast and sides but had no white spots in its tail. This painstakingly identified Broad-billed Hummingbird was between immature and adult plumage and therefore didn’t match any of our field guide illustrations, but what fun it was sorting all these field marks to finally identify the species.

Is there a Birding Hotline subscriber who can state with a certainty that I was speaking in capital letters as in “Blue-throated Hummingbird” when I called, or was I speaking in lower case letters as in “blue-throated hummingbird”? I confess. I was speaking in CAPITALS. Mea culpa.

Mile High? That’s not a reference to a Nature Conservancy Preserve in Arizona, that refers to the author!