Confessions of an Ex-Lawn Mower

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Kristin S.

I blame it on the butterflies.

We used to dutifully mow our little lawn in a suburban neighborhood where neat, clean landscapes are highly valued.

Then I fell in love with butterflies and everything changed.

It started with the gorgeous orange and black butterflies that float in my butterfly garden and nectar on my butterfly bush. Great Spangled Fritillary caterpillars spend the winter in leaf litter and then crawl to the nearest patch of wild violets in spring to munch their way to adulthood. So, we stopped raking out the dead grass for fear of disturbing the fritillary caterpillars. And we mowed around our patches of violets.

Then I noticed that the earliest spring butterflies (Clouded Sulphurs, Red Admirals, and Spring Azures) were drawn to the nectar of the early spring wildflowers (dandelions, ajuga, violets, clover, and Robin’s plantain) blooming naturally in my yard. I forbid my husband to mow the lawn until the very last wildflowers had finished blooming and gone to seed.

Even then, when the yard was knee high and shockingly messy, I considered that my beloved lemon-yellow Clouded Sulphur butterflies lay their eggs on the tiny clover plants that dot my yard and the caterpillars depend upon their hostplant throughout the summer. Could we mow at all?

And so it progressed until our yard was alive with insects and I began to see a lawn as the most sterile spot on earth. Imagine what could happen if every lawn, in every town in Massachusetts, became a haven for butterflies, birds, and other wildlife?

There are all sorts of good reasons to mow a lawn: space for children to toss a ball, cookouts and picnics, the enjoyment of yard work, fear of ticks and poison ivy, and so on. But if we’re just mowing our lawns because we’re supposed to, maybe it’s time to rethink.

How about you? Would you give up mowing your lawn to create habitat for butterflies and other creatures? Could you tolerate neighbors who do?

Want to learn more about creating wildlife habitat in your own backyard? Check out:

A Meadowlark Surprise

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Mass Audubon

Massachusetts is re-foresting in a major way. Lands cleared for agriculture just 100 years ago are now wooded once again. Many more acres are now successional i.e. that brushy, shrubby phase between meadow or field and forest.

That’s a good thing, right? Well, widescale changes like this can cause problems for birds reliant on specific habitat types. The statewide reforestation was never more apparent to birders in Massachusetts than when Mass Audubon released the 2011 State of the Birds Report.

It stated: “Breeding birds of forests and urban/suburban landscapes are prospering across the state. Conversely, birds of early-successional habitats (such as grasslands and shrublands) are, by and large, declining—some of them precipitously so.” In other words, as the woods expand and the fields vanish, woodpeckers are up, meadowlarks are down.

So, what can and should be done? Nobody in Massachusetts is prepared to clear forests to create grasslands, but the grasslands that are intact can be taken care of for the sake of their dependent birds, like upland sandpipers, grasshopper sparrows, bobolinks, and more.

Here’s a quick comparative study. During the first Breeding Bird Atlas project in the 1970s, “atlasers” (volunteer birders who gave their time over a five-year period to find the state’s nesters) found eastern meadowlarks in 44 percent of the state. During the second atlas, completed last year, eastern meadowlarks were found in just 10 percent of the state. The reason for the decline was obvious. Their habitat was disappearing.

Among its thousands of acres of protected lands, Mass Audubon owns several grasslands, including one at the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary in Marshfield. For the past several years, the staff at the sanctuary has been working hard at invasive plant species removal, eradicating brown knapweed that was choking the native grasses. The hope was that should the grasses be more natural, the fields would provide better nesting habitat for endemic birds.

In June of this year, the staff was rewarded when they noticed two eastern meadowlarks, at the height of breeding season, flying around a specific area. The following morning, while leading a bird walk, they noticed an adult bird carrying food to a spot in the grasses, a sure sign of breeding activity.

For longtime birders of Daniel Webster, the sight of meadowlarks in summer was a return to the way things used to be, decades ago. Hopefully the meadowlarks and their youngsters will survive their migrations and will find Daniel Webster again, so that past becomes part of the future.

It just goes to show: a little management can go a long way, especially when the life of one of earth’s creatures is at stake. Did you see any eastern meadowlarks this year? If so, tell us where and when in the comments.