Posts Tagged: Art Shapiro
Suds for a Bug, or a Pitcher of Beer for a Butterfly
Suds for a bug? A bug for some suds? The annual “Beer for a Butterfly” contest, launched in 1972 by butterfly guru Art Shapiro, now a UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus, gets underway Jan. 1. The first person to find the first live cabbage white butterfly, Pieris...
Cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, on lantana. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Frit and Tithonia: Showstoppers
The Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, and the Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, seem made for one another. Both are a showy orange. Both are show-stoppers. And both attract a photographer's eye. Especially when a Gulf Frit flutters over a Tithonia on a warm sunny day in...
A Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, fluttering over a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Little Cinderella
In its larval stage, it's a pest of cole crops. As an adult, it's like a little Cinderella. That would be the cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae. In the fairy tale, a ragged Cinderella lives with her selfish stepmother and two mean stepsisters. Cinderella wants to attend...
A cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, nectaring on lavender in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Heat. The Butterflies. The Butterfly Guru.
Don't expect to see UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus Art Shapiro monitoring butterflies on the 4th of July. There's a good reason why. Shapiro has monitored the butterfly populations of central California since 1972 and maintains a research site at https://butterfly.ucdavis.edu. "I...
A cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, nectaring on lavender in a Vacaville garden on June 24. Next Wednesday, July 4, promises to be a scorcher at 106 degrees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, flutters its wings, ready to fly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Gulf Fritillaries Doing Well
The Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, is definitely back from a comeback, at least in the Sacramento, Davis and Vacaville-Fairfield areas. In September of 2009, butterfly guru Art Shapiro, now a UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus, excitedly announced the...
Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, foraging on a zinnia in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)