Prairie Lakes Audubon Chapter 8th Anniversary Event & Meeting

When:  Tuesday, September 20, 2022 at 7 p.m.

 

Where:  Calvary Lutheran Church, 605 Douglas St., Alexandria, MN    Enter at Door 2

 

What:  “Latin America’s Tropical Butterflies and Moths”

with Carrol Henderson

 

To celebrate Prairie Lakes Audubon Chapter’s 8^th anniversary, our guest speaker will be Carrol Henderson.  Carrol retired from the Minnesota DNR in 2018 after 44 years of service both at the Lac qui Parle Wildlife Refuge from 1974 through 1976 and as the statewide Nongame Wildlife Program supervisor from 1977 through 2018. Carrol is best-known for his work with Minnesota birdlife-trumpeter swans, peregrine falcons, bluebirds, pelicans, and loons and other projects funded through the Nongame Wildlife Checkoff.

Carrol and his wife Ethelle have led over 60 wildlife watching tours throughout Latin America since 1985. Carrol has had a longstanding interest in butterflies and moths since childhood when he got a blue ribbon for a 4-H insect collection he displayed at the Iowa State Fair in 1963. He is also the author of the book ” Butterflies, Moths, and Other Invertebrates of Costa Rica” which was published by the University of Texas Press in 2009. On their wildlife tours Carrol never passed up the opportunity to photograph and study the butterflies and moths observed on their tropical travels and the plants that serve both as host plants and nectar sources. Since last spring he has organized and identified his collection of over 5,000 slides and digital images of butterflies and moths taken in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Cuba, Peru, Colombia, Trinidad, Venezuela, and Brazil. His program represents the “best of the best” photos taken over the past 38 years from his tropical travels.

You will be Carrol’s first audience to preview this unique presentation featuring some of the most stunning butterflies and moths of the American tropics. You will see some of the most iconic family groups of tropical butterflies and moths. Carrol has included intriguing ecological characteristics about those species including camouflage, warning coloration, chemical warfare to prevent predation by birds, mimicry complexes of toxic butterflies, familiar species like tropical monarchs and painted ladies, and adaptations of caterpillars to fool birds into thinking they look like scary eyeballs, bird poop and mammal droppings. There are also images of the tropical plants that give brightly-colored butterflies toxic qualities that make bird predators so sick that they learn to avoid eating colorful butterflies. You can also look forward to learning some quirky facts like why some tropical butterflies have a taste for turtle tears, tourist sweat, peccary pee, and sloths with runny noses.

Carrol hopes this will be a memorable lesson in tropical ecology and species diversity. He will also share his suggestions for the very best places to enjoy and photograph butterflies and moths in Latin America.

Come join us to hear this intriguing presentation!

 

There is no cost to attend this meeting.

 

ALL ARE WELCOME!

 

Prairie Lakes Audubon Chapter is the local Chapter of National Audubon Society for ANYONE interested in birds and nature. We have regular meetings and birding field trips. Please join us to support the Chapter and meet fellow birders.