Once in a blue moon butterfly sighted ISOBEL EWING
Last updated 05:00 04/05/2013
Peter Peckham's wife thought her husband would jump out the window in his excitement at spotting a rare blue moon butterfly.
New Plymouth butterfly expert Mr Peckham was sitting down having his lunch when he spied the Australian butterfly through the window, perching on a red lantana plant in the garden.
"I grabbed the net but I was too bloody slow," Mr Peckham said.
"I thought he was going to jump out the window," wife Joy said.
He contacted Puke Ariki and was told it had received two other reports of sightings, one at Moturoa School and one at Ngamotu Rd.
Mr Peckham's last sighting of a blue moon butterfly was in 2005.
"It damn well doesn't happen every year," he said of the chance sighting.
"I was lucky."
The butterflies, which come across the Tasman on the jet stream, are a rare sight in New Zealand, he said.
But this one showed no signs of having had a rough journey.
"It perched on one of the flowers and was absolutely flawless.
"I see quite a lot of monarchs that are quite battered. This was a perfect specimen."
The bulk of Mr Peckham's butterfly collection was sent to Te Papa Museum of New Zealand four months ago.
Meanwhile, reports of masses of monarch butterflies are coming in from Opunake to Bell Block.
Bell Block resident Donna Murrell said she was taking a stroll along Mangati Walkway when she rounded a corner to see a tree blanketed in monarchs.
"There were enough to cover me."
Ian Smith said he and his wife had seen hundreds of monarch butterflies in the pohutukawa trees near their place in Opunake.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8631634/Once-in-a-blue-moon-butterfly-sightedreports of masses of monarch butterflies are coming in from Opunake to Bell Block.
http://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/Science-Stories/Butterflies/Sci-Media/Images/An-overwintering-swarmAdaptations to life in New Zealand
Monarchs in New Zealand do not follow the same migration pattern as their northern relatives. They have adapted their migration behaviour to suit local conditions. When the air temperature drops to 12.8°C, monarchs flock together in overwintering sites. These sites tend to be in milder coastal locations where the temperature remains at least 10°C. Overwintering monarchs prefer sites that are sheltered from the wind, have trees with a rough bark surface on which to cling and have a nearby source of nectar. The butterflies are mostly inactive, but on warm days, they fly, bask in the sunlight and feed. When the temperatures warm up, butterflies move inland to reproduce.
Swarms form regularly to overwinter at places such as Tauranga Bay in Northland. The Monarch Butterfly New Zealand Trust (MBNZT) was initially formed to protect this site. Other overwintering sites include areas of Hawke’s Bay, Nelson and Christchurch. The MBNZT encourages citizen scientists to tag butterflies so we can learn more about the migration and overwintering habits of monarchs.
http://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/Science-Stories/Butterflies/Monarch-butterflies
