News and Events
Ontario Nature Magazine- Fall 2022
What better way to end the 2022 season then to have the Recovery Team’s work featured in Ontario Nature’s Magazine!
The Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory Prepares for another year of reintroductions- July 2022
It takes a small army of dedicated people in the conservatory’s Conservation Lab to monitor captive females, clean cages, count and sort eggs, and replace food sources for larvae and butterflies. We plan to make a second round of reintroductions to Pinery Provincial Park in July.
Recovery Team Partners with Fixed Gear Brewing Company to Raise Money for Recovery Efforts
Learn more here: Guelph Today, CTV News, CBC News, Guelph Mercury, The Morning Edition with Craig Norris
2022 Update From the Rice Lake Plains
The Rice Lake Plains Mottled Duskywing crew is led by Recovery Team members Emily Trendos, a PhD Candidate in the Norris Lab and Angela Demarse, a recent MSc grad in the Norris Lab. The crew continues its 4th year of a mark re-sighting study on extant populations to collect data on survival, population size, and demography. This program is critical to the Recovery Team’s reintroduction and captive rearing efforts.
Globe and Mail: Sightings of endangered butterfly in southern Ontario electrify species reintroduction effort
June 2022 Update- Pinery Provincial Park
The crew has been able to find and mark many Mottled Duskywing that overwintered at Pinery after our first releases in 2021! Other signs the reintroduction has been successful- observations of mating butterflies, oviposition (egg laying) and larvae!
MEET THE 2022 PINERY MOTTLED DUSKYWING CREW!
Wildlife Preservation Canada has assembled an excellent field crew to carry out our first year of monitoring at Pinery Provincial Park. Stay tuned for more updates on their progress! #teambutterfly
From left to right: Jessica Steiner (Wildlife Preservation Canada- WPC), Jessica Linton (NRSI), Elliot Santoni (WPC), Michelle Polley (WPC), Wajed Shah(WPC), Ethan Quenneville (WPC), Ryan Norris (University of Guelph), Shannon Underwood (WPC).
FIRST OVERWINTERED MOTTLED DUSKYWING SPOTTED AT PINERY- May 16, 2022
As Recovery Team members Jessica Linton and Ryan Norris were setting up the field station for the 2022 field crew they received a message that a Mottled Duskywing had been reported at Pinery Provincial Park on iNaturalist by Nikolett Toth! This was the first confirmation that our released butterflies (at least some!) had survived the winter!
MONITORING MOTTLED DUSKYWING (by Emily Trendos)
NEWS ARTICLES
PINERY RELEASE UPDATES
July 21, 2021- First Mottled Duskywing Reintroduction to Pinery Provincial Park!
Representatives from Natural Resource Solutions Inc., Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory, Ontario Parks, University of Guelph, and Wildlife Preservation Canada gathered at Pinery Provincial Park to release the first batch of captively reared Mottled Duskywing. Adult butterflies and pupae were released in strategically selected habitat which will be monitored by our 4 person crew from Wildlife Preservation Canada: Mitch, Erin, Amber, and Wajed.
Members of the Recovery Team and Pinery crew getting ready for the release!
Mottled Duskywing Pupae
Adrienne Brewster (Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory) and Ryan Norris (University of Guelph) releasing pupae
The first adult butterfly release!
July 23, 2021- Over 120 Larvae and Pupae Released to Pinery
The Recovery Team is completing releases of three different life stages: adults, larvae, and pupae. This approach will help us determine what life stage is most successful at establishing populations at Pinery and will directly inform how Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory approaches captive rearing in 2022. Today we released larvae that are close to pupating so they can choose their own pupation sites, a factor that may be important to survival in the wild. More pupae were also released.
Erin, Amber, Mitch and Wajed getting ready to release larvae
Late instar Mottled Duskywing Larva
Larva in leaf nest
Carefully packaged larvae from the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory
Marked larvae locations
Sorted larvae and pupae at the Conservatory ready for shipment to Pinery
July 28, 2021- Mottled Duskywing already confirmed laying eggs at Pinery!
Recovery Team field crew member, Erin Postenka, confirmed the first Mottled Duskywing oviposition at Pinery today! This is a huge win for the team and a strong indication the butterflies are adapting quickly to their new home. Four females in one day were seen laying eggs!
September 3, 2021- That is a wrap!
The 2021 reintroduction monitoring program has wrapped up for the season. Mottled Duskywing released to Pinery Provincial Park are now in a state of diapause and will overwinter as mature larvae. We can’t wait to see what next spring brings!
PINERY RELEASE UPDATES
July 21, 2021- First Mottled Duskywing Reintroduction to Pinery Provincial Park!
Representatives from Natural Resource Solutions Inc., Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory, Ontario Parks, University of Guelph, and Wildlife Preservation Canada gathered at Pinery Provincial Park to release the first batch of captively reared Mottled Duskywing. Adult butterflies and pupae were released in strategically selected habitat which will be monitored by our 4 person crew from Wildlife Preservation Canada: Mitch, Erin, Amber, and Wajed.
Members of the Recovery Team and Pinery crew getting ready for the release!
Mottled Duskywing Pupae
Adrienne Brewster (Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory) and Ryan Norris (University of Guelph) releasing pupae
The first adult butterfly release!
July 23, 2021- Over 120 Larvae and Pupae Released to Pinery
The Recovery Team is completing releases of three different life stages: adults, larvae, and pupae. This approach will help us determine what life stage is most successful at establishing populations at Pinery and will directly inform how Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory approaches captive rearing in 2022. Today we released larvae that are close to pupating so they can choose their own pupation sites, a factor that may be important to survival in the wild. More pupae were also released.
Erin, Amber, Mitch and Wajed getting ready to release larvae
Late instar Mottled Duskywing Larva
Larva in leaf nest
Carefully packaged larvae from the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory
Marked larvae locations
Sorted larvae and pupae at the Conservatory ready for shipment to Pinery
July 28, 2021- Mottled Duskywing already confirmed laying eggs at Pinery!
Recovery Team field crew member, Erin Postenka, confirmed the first Mottled Duskywing oviposition at Pinery today! This is a huge win for the team and a strong indication the butterflies are adapting quickly to their new home. Four females in one day were seen laying eggs!
September 3, 2021- That is a wrap!
The 2021 reintroduction monitoring program has wrapped up for the season. Mottled Duskywing released to Pinery Provincial Park are now in a state of diapause and will overwinter as mature larvae. We can’t wait to see what next spring brings!
DONATE NOW!
General contributions to the Recovery Team’s work can be made through the
Toronto Entomologist’s Association (https://www.ontarioinsects.org/membership/index.html)
by noting the donation is for the Butterfly Species at Risk Special Project. Tax receipts will be provided.
If you would like to donate to a specific project or initiative the recovery team is working on please contact us.
Funding Resources to date:
• Species at Risk Stewardship Program
• Weston Family Foundation
•Nature Conservancy of Canada
• Lambton Wildlife Inc.
• Wildlife Preservation Canada
• National Research Council of Canada
• Mitacs Internship Program
• Canada Nature Fund