{"id":4993,"date":"2015-07-13T11:59:48","date_gmt":"2015-07-13T15:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/?p=4993"},"modified":"2015-07-13T11:59:48","modified_gmt":"2015-07-13T15:59:48","slug":"adirondack-chronicles-2015-5-birds-and-bees-bears-and-butterflies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/2015\/07\/adirondack-chronicles-2015-5-birds-and-bees-bears-and-butterflies\/","title":{"rendered":"Adirondack Chronicles 2015.5: Birds and Bees, Bears and Butterflies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"raquette<\/a><\/p>\n

I’ve seen more bears than monarch butterflies on this trip.<\/p>\n

Bears: 5\u00a0 Monarch Butterflies:\u00a0 0<\/p>\n

Where have all the monarchs gone?<\/p>\n

Destruction of the primary breeding plants <\/a>for monarchs — milkweed <\/a>— is\u00a0a primary\u00a0source of the decline in the monarch population all over the country.\u00a0 Pesticides and mowing account for the destruction of millions of monarch larvae.\u00a0 While milkweed is still abundant in the north country, the monarchs are missing this year.\u00a0 Usually at this time of year I have seen scores of monarchs alighting on the big flowers of the milkweed, but this year, passing stand after stand of milkweed along the roads in the back country, I have not seen one of the big orange beauties.\u00a0 This photo is from last year:<\/p>\n

\"MONARCH-Medium-480x400\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I have seen other kinds of butterflies and\u00a0winged creatures feasting on the milkweed:<\/p>\n

\"yellow<\/a><\/p>\n

\"blue<\/a>\"black<\/a><\/p>\n

\"hummoth<\/a><\/p>\n

What’s that strange looking creature?\u00a0 Another example of a hummoth, sort of a cross between a hummingbird and a moth.<\/p>\n

Feathered and winged creatures are certainly all over the place in these summer months.\u00a0 The birds are out in force in many varieties:<\/p>\n

\"red<\/a>\"gray<\/a>\"hawk<\/a><\/p>\n

\"tupper<\/a><\/p>\n

Bees are also doing their part to pollinate plants and ensure the health of the ecosystem:<\/p>\n

\"bee<\/a>\"durant<\/a>\"bumblebee<\/a><\/p>\n

Recognizing that every living creature has a part to play in sustaining the health of the planet, Pope Francis writes in his encyclical on the environment:<\/p>\n

“Caring for ecosystems demands far-sightedness since no one looking for quick and easy profit is truly interested in their preservation.\u00a0 But the cost of the damage caused by such selfish lack of concern is much greater than the economic benefits to be obtained.\u00a0 Where certain species are destroyed or seriously harmed, the values involved are incalculable.”\u00a0 (Laudato Si #36)<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m thinking of those missing monarch butterflies.\u00a0 Pope Francis goes on:<\/p>\n

“Greater investment needs to be made in research aimed at understanding more fully the functioning of ecosystems and adequately analyzing the different variables associated with any significant modification of the environment.\u00a0 Because all creatures are connected, each must be cherished with love and respect, for all of us as living creatures are dependent on one another.\u00a0 Each area is responsible for care of this family.\u00a0 This will require undertaking a careful inventory of the species which it hosts, with a view to developing programmes and strategies of protection with particular care for safeguarding species heading toward extinction.”\u00a0 (Laudato Si #42)<\/em><\/p>\n

And where are my photos of the bears?\u00a0 Right here:<\/p>\n

\"bear<\/a><\/p>\n

Can’t see it?\u00a0 Somewhere in the shadows is a black bear that just ran across the road in front of me…. but bears move very fast so getting the picture is a challenge!\u00a0\u00a0And I’m too busy taking cover!\u00a0 Trust me, they’re all over the place!<\/p>\n

\"bird<\/a><\/p>\n

Next:\u00a0 Educators and the Ecosystem<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monarch butterflies are absent this year. Declines in species should set off alarm bells for the health of the ecosystem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,688,15,23,24],"tags":[40,1511,1512,1500,1497,1510,1165],"class_list":["post-4993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adirondack-chronicles","category-catholic-issues","category-environment","category-social-issues","category-social-justice-issues","tag-adirondacks","tag-decline-of-species","tag-ecosystem","tag-environmental-encyclical","tag-laudato-si","tag-monarch-butterflies","tag-pope-francis"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trinitydc.edu\/president\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}