{"id":17453,"date":"2023-01-14T11:30:43","date_gmt":"2023-01-14T19:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/?p=17453"},"modified":"2023-01-21T16:10:04","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T00:10:04","slug":"2023-january-14-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/?p=17453","title":{"rendered":"2023 January 14 morning"},"content":{"rendered":"
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2023\u00a0 January 14 morning<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0Lymantria dispar
\n<\/em><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>No recent observations or photographs to report.\u00a0 However, writes Jeremy Tatum, I
\nheard the tail-end of a news item on the radio today.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t get all the details, but it was that the Government (fed.\u00a0 or prov.?)\u00a0 is going to engage this spring in a massive and widespread\u00a0 insecticide (Btk?) spraying program this spring to kill this moth.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 In view of the disastrously low numbers of butterflies in the last few years, especially in
\n2022, which was almost a complete butterfly write-off in the spring, this is terrible news.\u00a0 Look at the annual butterfly report posted on this site on January 1 , 2023.\u00a0 See how many species of butterfly were totally missed.\u00a0\u00a0 This spraying program will kill off the last of several species. Think about the Two-banded Grizzled (\u201cCheckered\u201d) Skipper.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 Why is it that, although the Officials see huge outbreaks of L. dispar<\/em> every year, no naturalists that I know of have ever seen this species, in any of its life stages (the ova and larvae are particularly conspicuous) in spite of deliberate targeted searches in locations where large outbreaks have been reported. Nor has the species ever been reported on Invert Alert in the 13 years in which it has been going.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 More…\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Since writing the above, I have seen today\u2019s (January 14) Times-Colonist.
\nThere is an article on page A5. Spraying is to be in specific areas in Greater Victoria, Courtenay, Campbell River and Port Alberni between April 1 and June 30.\u00a0 In Greater Victoria , \u201ctreatments\u201d will be in View Royal, Esquimalt, Colwood.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0\u00a0 The Ministry of Forests says \u201cIt only affects spongy moth caterpillars, and is specific to their digestive systems.\u00a0 Scientific studies have concluded that it does not harm mammals, birds, fish, plants, reptiles, amphibians, bees or other insects<\/u><\/b>\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I think that is a downright lie, and they\u00a0 know full well that it isn\u2019t true.\u00a0 Btk is surely deadly to all caterpillars that feed on leaves.\u00a0 That includes caterpillars that feed on broadleaved trees, such as Lorquin\u2019s Admiral, Tiger Swallowtails, Propertius Duskywing, Polyphemus Moth, Ceanothus Silk Moth \u2013 but of course the spray is bound to land on herbaceous plants, too, where it will be ingested by Two-banded Skippers, and all the rest.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is an interesting and well-informed article about Spraying Btk for Spongy Moths in the Toronto area, which I recommend reading, at<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.returnofthenative.ca\/about\/jaggyblog\/btk-spraying-kills-native-butterflies-mothsandimperilsnestlings#:~:text=It%20kills%20the%20caterpillars%20of,that’s%20on%20its%20host%20foliage\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I believe\u00a0 Lymantria dispar<\/em> does occur in the Toronto area.\u00a0 I have never heard of any being seen here other than by the Forestry Ministry.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2023\u00a0 January 14 morning \u00a0 \u00a0Lymantria dispar \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 No recent observations or photographs to report.\u00a0 However, writes Jeremy Tatum, I heard the tail-end of a news item on the radio today.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t get all the details, but it was that the Government (fed.\u00a0 or prov.?)\u00a0 is going to engage this spring in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-invertebrate-alert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17453"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17482,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17453\/revisions\/17482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicnhs.bc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}