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Butterfly Watchers Take Tour Of New Chinsegut Garden

By DAVE CASEY

From right, Dennis and Jesse Harmon, Devon Urbanowicz and Dalton Hardy examine a salt-marsh caterpillar Saturday held by Marc Minno, biologist and author of “Butterflies through Binoculars” as he leads a group at the butterfly workshop at Chinsegut Nature Center.

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By TONY HOLT

Hernando Today

Published: September 22, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Chinsegut's new butterfly garden won't be christened until Saturday.

There is still a little maintenance left to finish.

The insects don't care. Butterflies already have begun drinking the nectar from all the plants.

That's what they like. The more nectar that is available in a garden, the more zebra longwings, long-tailed skippers and duskywings flutter toward the flowers for a drink.

The Chinsegut Butterfly Workshop took place Saturday, seven days before National Public Lands Day, which will be when volunteers at the nature center officially open the butterfly and hummingbird garden.

"The garden is going to be a magnet for butterflies," said Dr. Marc Minno, an author of several insect books. "It's being redone with a lot of great nectar plants. You can get hundreds of butterflies in here, literally."

Minno led the workshop, which included butterfly enthusiasts young and old. He pointed to caterpillars resting on the leaves as well as the butterflies fluttering overhead.

"I got tired of seeing butterflies and not being able to identify them," said Lin Stearns, a long-time birdwatcher who added butterflies to her hobbies list last year.

She, like a lot of others in the group, sported a fanny pack stuffed with books on butterflies. A pair of binoculars dangled from her neck.

Also among the many insects Minno singled out Saturday were caterpillars that defend themselves by secreting poison and cloudless sulphur butterflies that easily camouflage on top of any yellow flower.

Chad and Victoria Hardy joined the group of more than a dozen butterfly watchers Saturday. Their 7-year-old son is a Cub Scout and was among the five children accompanying the group.

They were fixated on everything pointed out by Minno.

"He wanted to come out to check it out because he loves butterflies," Chad Hardy said of his son. "I think it's great they have this ... I've never looked at (insects) like this before."

The public are invited to complete the work on the butterfly and hummingbird garden this Saturday. They are encouraged to bring their work gloves.

The event will begin at 8 a.m.

For more information, call the Chinsegut Nature Center at 754-6722.

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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