No, not a butterfly -- a dragonfly

BANANA SPLITS & BUTTERFLIES!

Sunday, Sept. 16th, at 6:30 p.m.
Sojourner Truth Park
(across from and south of Howie’s Recycling)

Join us for our annual ice cream social at Sojourner Truth Park and check out the Butterfly Gar-
den. We will provide the ice cream, dishes,spoons and bananas -- bring your favorite topping or
accompaniment...
P.O. Box 1932, Manhattan, KS 66505-1932
Northern Flint Hills Audubon Society,

prairie falcon
Northern Flint Hills Audubon Society
Newsletter
Vol. 36, No. 1 ~ September 2007

INSIDE Upcoming Events:

pg. 2-2007-08 Events Sept 6 Board Meeting 7 p.m.
Home of Tom & MJ Morgan
250 Summit Ave.
Printed by Claflin Books & Copies

pg. 3-Gargone Checkerspots-Tom Morgan SEPT 16 ANNUAL ICE CREAM SOCIAL

& BUTTERFLY GARDEN 6:30 p.m.
Oct. 4 Board Meeting 7 p.m.
pg. 4-Skylight plus-Pete Cohen Home of Tom & MJ Morgan
250 Summit Ave.
pg. 5-Swallows Oct. 6 Beginning Birding
Manhattan, KS

8 a.m. meet at Sojourner Truth Park

Oct. 20 Birdseed Pickup
Oct. newsletter will have Bird Seed Sale
prices/order form
 There is an effort afoot to find out who you
are and what your interests are.  Please expect
Attention NFHAS Members a phone call this month or next from a fellow
member.  Tom and MJ Morgan are creating
a questionnaire.  We would like to know your
e-mail address if (and only if) you prefer to
be contacted via e-mail.  If you prefer to be
contacted by phone or postcard let us know
when someone calls you.  Send your e-mail
address to pyky@flinthills.com
2007-2008 Schedule of Events:
    
Sept.16 (Sun.) 6:30 p.m.
Ice Cream Social at Sojourner Truth Park (across from and a bit South of Howies Recycling) Meet your fellow members
and check out the butterfly garden and oh yeh, eat some ice cream too. Sojourner Park will be the new meeting place for Beginning
Birding on (second Sat. of month) Saturday morning, so this is a good time to find it when you’re not sleepy.
   
Oct. 27& 28 Spooktacular at Sunset Zoo
Our booth features information about owls and the zoo supplies candy for the trick-or-treaters.  It is mostly about candy
but there are thousands (yes, thousands) of people and we do some good PR with families here.  Besides, it’s lots of fun.  If you
would like to work the booth, 2 hr. time slots are wide open at this time from 12 noon to 5 p.m. on both days. 
   
Nov. 28 - 7:00 p.m. at the Manhattan Public Library, 629 Poyntz.
Dr. David Rintoul will speak.  The title is, “Grassland bird studies on Fort Riley bird-banning and feather-pulling.”
   
Dec. 15  Christmas Bird Count
Coordinator of the count is Dave Rintoul drintoul@ksu.edu .   
Jan.  2008 
We join Eagle Days at Tuttle Creek Lake. The Northern Flint Hills Audubon Society sponsors transportation at this
event. There is an information lecture about Bald Eagles, followed by a field trip to the river pond area where eagles can usually be
seen. This is a good program for kids and adults.  

 Feb. 2008 
Members share their bird feeders in a roving birding tour from home to home.  Would you like to invite members to your
home?  The route and exact date still in planning stages. 

March 2008 
Carla Bishop will organize a group trip to see the Sandhill Cranes gather along the Platte River in Nebraska.  Keep an eye
on the Prairie Falcon for more information. 
   
April 26, 2008  
Birdathon FUN fund raiser.  The object is to see as many bird species as possible in 24 hrs. and get pledges per species
(15 cents per species is usual but more or less is always accepted).  Last year 105 species were identified.  Create a team of your
birding friends or join existing teams.  Knowledge of habitat and listening skills are helpful.  It’s a good day to learn from the
experts in our group. Clyde Ferguson leads us.
 
May 10, 2008 
Spring Migratory bird count is done in the same manner as the Christmas Bird Count as far as the tallying goes.  It is the
time of year when the birds are in colorful mating plumage and since they are migrating you are likely to see species that are not
here other times of the year.  Jim Throne is our coordinator of this count. 

THANK YOU to Margy Stewart for hosting us at your home in the middle of the prairie where the stars are
bright.  Good company, bright stars, multiple falling stars, and a cool breeze made this a truly enchanted evening. 
Thank you Margy. 
 
About 35 people attended Ken Barnard’s talk on Climate Change at the Manhattan Public Library on June 20th. 
We are now better informed with good practical information

p.  Sept 2007 Prairie Falcon Newsletter

 Gorgone Checkerspots
tom morgan

On Aug. 14th, I admired a gorgone checkerspot
butterfly (Chlosyne gorgone) that flexed its wings as it
perched on one of my fingertips. It had emerged
through a split in the front of its chrysalis which hung
from a white, silken pad. Then it
willfully expanded its wingspan
to four centimeters, nearly two
inches. The upper surfaces of the
wings had warm orange markings
on dark chocolate scalloped with
white on the edges. When these
wings closed, as they often did,
exposing the undersurfaces, I
saw a distinctive zigzag pattern
of silver chevrons as if some
calligrapher had inscribed
many letter v’s, showing that
this butterfly was the gorgone
checkerspot.
Although the caterpillars
of this chekerspot are usually
orange, they may be black banded to nearly black. And
the ones in my yard were black. These black caterpillars
had devoured some of the leaf tissue of the Black-Eyed
Susans in my yard. My wife had nurtured Black-Eyed
Susans (Rudbeckia) the previous year. They had reseeded
wildly, spreading their domain beyond the planting bed
to other areas that my wife mowed around with hopes
of seeing a lavish floral display.
The female had deposited a large cluster of
eggs, and the appetite of the 40 to 70 caterpillars
drew my attention. It is unclear, at least to me, why
the female butterfly will lay a cluster of many eggs,
encouraging the spiny larvae to remain in a group
that may increase their chance
of survival in some manner.
Regardless of this fascinating
mystery, my wife was not pleased
with the group’s appetite.
The caterpillars are
gregarious until after the last
larval molt, when they begin
scattering. I watched them,
hoping to see one begin its
metamorphosis, but the larger
individuals seemed to disappear
from view. I put a caterpillar in
a cage and saw a mottled gray
chrysalis on the next day.
They can have four broods,
flying from April to September. These generations have
marched through my boyhood, when this butterfly first
entranced me, and have captured my attention now,
when I’m middle-aged, and will march triumphantly
through spans of time I can’t even imagine. I have
been captured by dainty flutterings of a butterfly that
can be described as a survivor.
© 2007 Tom Morgan

BIRD TALES
Tales from our readers
What’s your tale? Got a good birding story/encounter? Please share it with us - in “Bird
Tales” WAITING TO HEAR FROM YOU!
Send me your “tales” photos welcome!
e-mail cinraney@ksu.edu, or mail them to me at 15850 Galilee Rd., Olsburg, KS 66520

Sept 2007 Prairie Falcon Newsletter p. 

 skylight plus
pete cohen

A late prof of mine, John

Senior, once offered a lecture
suggestion of the Northern Lights, and something with
that got his audience’s attention
a three dimensional perspective apparently
from git-go with its title: “The
a-swirl
in the middle, the whole picture rather like that of a
Disrealization of Culture.” What
was that? carnival midway seen from a nearby hill.
Modern technology can show us that the cosmic
Early on (this was decades before the steroid reality of the Milky Way is an almost infinite barrage
scandals) he noted that baseball was becoming less of fiery fulminations of toxic (to us) substances in
an entertainment sport and more a process for various stages of enlarging and decaying. But that’s
producing statistics that some people regarded as not the reality of the Milky Way my eyes see above the
the most important data in the news. Further on Flint Hills, and the pictures in the exhibit purport, as
he pointed out that food retailers were being forced I understand it, to celebrate the natural beauty of the
to alter their meats and vegetables to make them area. The other sky photo has moonlight distantly
resemble the slick 4-color photos in advertisements. glowing through an overcast, while some foliage in the
This, he warned, was the road to madness, for he foreground is selectively lit with bright golden edges.
suggested we would next do Pavlov one better and Whether such technical manipulations of the natural are
create photos that didn’t merely bring on salivation, pleasing or not is a matter of taste. I was reminded of
but would induce a sensation of fullness, a feeling John Senior’s lecture.
that one had already eaten what was pictured, thus September reminds of the Harvest
saving the bother of shopping and cooking. And Moon – the time when the Moon’s orbit is nearly parallel
when our empty stomachs complained enough we to our horizon so that it’s available large and early in the
would go not to the grocer’s, but to the newsstand for evenings four or so nights in a row, being fullest this
more effective pictures. year on the 26th. As usual the Great (vacant) Square
I was reminded of that lecture when viewing of Pegasus should be up in the east in the evenings.
the much touted National Geographic photos of The lack of competition lets the widely separated four
the Flint Hills that are now continuing their tour in corner points stand out. So too the single arc of stars to
the state, in Wamego till Sept. 2 . (For the schedule
nd the right (being the upside-down Flying Horse’s head),
contact the Kansas Dept. of Commerce Travel and and the diverging arcs to the left being his hindlegs.
Tourism Div.). Two of the photos I saw focused on The upper most arc doubles as part of Andromeda’s
the sky. One was a multi-panel triptych said to be of gown swooping northeastward toward the pi-shaped
the Milky Way. Perseus in the Milky Way, where Algol, even though
To me the Milky Way has always been a its luminosity varies, shines brighter than any other
two-dimensional stream, barely a misty presence, star in that three-constellation combo. Cassiopeia,
or a sparkling array, depending on atmospheric Andromeda’s mythic mother, will be looking rather like a
conditions. A few of the pinpoints or pinheads-- lounge chair north of Perseus. Those are the regulars.
stars of overlapping constellations--have been a little This time round Venus, so bright spring into
bigger than the most. But even as a mist it’s been summer eves, will be back but in the morning sky and
indeed path-like, with its irregular edges and the at her brightest, greeting the dawn from a little higher
blurry dark places (caused by cosmic dust) definable. up in the west as the month ages. Saturn, close to
Sharp looking could discern tiny pieces that had a Leo’s Regulus, will be below her. Earlier, Mars will rise
tinge of color while the overall appearance has been in Taurus from just past midnight to just past eleven.
a monochrome speckling of silvery white. But the Notable Jupiter will be setting just after Antares of
Milky Way of the triptych is to my eyes an exhibit Scorpio in the evenings. Mercury low WSW after
of multicolored bright gleams here and there, plus a sunset the 29th will be hard to see. Moon new the 11th
7a44; full 26th 2p45. © 2007 Peter Zachary Cohen

p.  Sept 2007 Prairie Falcon Newsletter

 This year’s
Barn Swallows

Sept 2007 Prairie Falcon Newsletter p. 

 Northern Flint HIlls Non-profit Organization
Printed on 100% post-consumer U.S. Postage Paid
Audubon Society
recycled paper Permit No. 662
P.O. Box 1932
Manhattan, KS Manhattan, KS 66502
66505-1932

Return Service Requested

Published monthly (except August) by the Northern Flint Hills Audubon Society, a chapter of the National Audubon Society.
Edited by Cindy Jeffrey, 15850 Galilee Rd., Olsburg, KS 66520. (cinraney@ksu.edu)
Also available on-line at www.ksu.edu/audubon/falcon.html

Subscription Information: Introductory memberships - $20/ NFHAS Board

yr., then basic membership is $35/yr. When you join the Northern President: Patricia Yeager 776-9593
Flint Hills Audubon Society, you automatically become a member Vice Pres. Cindy Jeffrey cinraney@ksu.edu 468-3587
of the National Audubon Society and receive the bimonthly Audu- Secretary: MJ Morgan
bon magazine in addition to the Prairie Falcon newsletter. New Treasurer: Carla Bishop 539-5129
membership applications may be sent to Treasurer, NFHAS, P.O.
Box 1932, Manhattan, KS 66505-1932. Make checks payable to COMMITTEE chairs:
the National Audubon Society. Membership renewals are handled Membership: Jacque Staats
by the National Audubon Society and should not be sent to the Programs:
NFHAS. Questions about membership? Call 1-800-274-4201 or Conservation:
email the National Audubon Society join@audubon.org. Northeast Park Jacque Staats
If you do not want to receive the national magazine, but Butterfly Garden Susan Blackford
still want to be involved in our local activities, you may subscribe Education:
to the Prairie Falcon newsletter for $15/yr. Make checks payable to Land Preservatin Jan Garton
the Northern Flint Hills Audubon Society, and mail to: Treasurer, Newsletter Cindy Jeffrey cinraney@ksu.edu 468-3587
NFHAS, P.O. Box 1932, Manhattan, KS, 66502-1932. Fieldtrips: Patricia Yeager, Hoogy Hoogheem 776-9593
RARE BIRD HOTLINE: For information on Kansas Birds, sub- At-large: Tom Morgan, Paul Weidhaas
scribe to the Kansas Bird Listserve. Send this message <subscribe
KSBIRD-L> to <list serve@ksu.edu>and join in the discussions. Audubon of Kansas Trustee: Hoogy Hoogheem

Contacts for Your Elected Representatives ( anytime) Write, call or email @

Governor Kathleen Sebelius: 2nd Floor, State Capital Bldg., Topeka , KS 66612. Kansas Senator or Representative _________: State
Capital Bldg., Topeka, KS 66612. Ph# (during session only) Senate - 785-296-7300. House - 785-296-7500. U.S. Senator Roberts <Rob-
erts@senate.gov> U.S. Senate, Washington DC 20510. or Brownback <Brownback@senate.gov> U.S. Capital Switchboard 202-224-
3121. President G.W. Bush - The White House, Washington, DC 20500.