Butterflies like it messy

People who are serious about butterflies and moths are known as lepidopterists, a word that might seem better suited for a spelling bee than a nature walk.

Maybe that’s why Steve Cary is simply called “The Butterfly Guy.”

It’s a title he’s earned after 37 years of living in New Mexico, often in pursuit of some of our tiniest and most beautiful residents.

Cary calls Santa Fe home, but he has traveled the state exhaustively, and spent years as the New Mexico Park Service’s natural resource planner and chief naturalist.

New Mexico is home to more than 300 kinds of butterflies, Cary said, second only to Arizona and Texas when it comes to variety.

Cary was on our side of the state last weekend looking for, in part, the one butterfly almost everyone recognizes — Monarchs — which are in the middle of their northerly migration, trickling up the High Plains.

“Most migrating Monarchs take the most direct route and fly through Texas to get around the Gulf of Mexico,” Cary said. “But New Mexico’s southeastern counties see some Monarchs in autumn too, sometimes just a few, sometimes thousands. The northward re-immigration in spring usually involves far smaller numbers, usually just one here or two there.”

While cold and windy weather hampered Monarch sightings in our immediate area, “I did see one at Sumner Lake and several south of Carlsbad at Rattlesnake Springs,” Cary reported.

We took a morning walk together on my place and spotted several Sleepy Duskywings (how can you not love a species with a name like that?), which the Butterfly Guy said are abundant this time of year in our shinnery oak country.

Other springtime regulars include Checkered Whites, Orange and Clouded Sulphurs, Dainty Sulphurs, Common Checkered-skippers, and Variegated Fritillaries, our expert said.

It’s no secret that butterflies are struggling to keep their miniscule foothold in our ecosystem, and Cary has some advice that is music to my lazy ears.

“A tidy yard is the enemy of habitat,” he said. “It’s OK to let things be a little messy.”

Cary offers a checklist of ideas to make a more welcoming habitat for butterflies.

“Avoid use of insecticides,” he said. “Minimize mowing. In landscaping and gardens, install plants that have conspicuous flowers. Many butterflies prefer white, yellow, pink and purple flowers. Flowers in the daisy family, mint family, verbena family, are popular. Use native plants where you can. Plants with large, simple, artificially bright colors, like petunias, pansies and such, are not much used by butterflies.”

Want to learn more? Cary’s book, “Butterfly Landscapes of New Mexico,” published by New Mexico Magazine in 2009, is a great resource, and the website www.

butterfliesandmoths.org is chock full of information about our small flying friends.

A final helpful tip from Cary’s book: “Birds can drink from open water sources and enjoy birdbaths, but butterflies can drink only by siphoning liquids from porous material such as soil. To attract butterflies, make a sunny, wet spot in your butterfly garden and occasionally add salt and spoiled fruit, the stinkier the better.”

Betty Williamson is stowing her mower and cleaning out her fruit drawer. Reach her at: [email protected]