Hikers in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve can see a sight that hikers 20 years ago considered rare—small blue figures flitting through the trees.
The sight of adult Karner blue butterflies is one that lasts for a short time, about three to five days. Although the opportunity to see the insects may be longer depending on hatching rates, the Karner blues can now be spotted in the Albany Pine Bush until Monday, July 20.
According to Neil Gifford, the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission’s conservation director, the butterflies are much easier to see today than they were 20, even 10 years ago, before conversation efforts began in 2008.
“You could look out across the barrens and see these little blue dots flying all over the place,” said Gifford.
He said the preserve commission used to carefully plan ahead to take people out and view the butterflies. The best time to see active Karner blues was on clear, sunny and calm days, which is still true of today.
“Make sure it’s a good weather day,” said Erin Kinal, the commission’s educational program director. “If it’s cloudy and windy, your chances for seeing them are not good.”
The careful planning, however, is not needed as much anymore, since the butterflies are easy to spot.
So easy, in fact, the commission expects this year to be the last of the Accelerated Colonization program. Since 2008, adult female butterflies have been released into 21 sites around the pine bush to lay eggs. Now there are about 14,000 butterflies at each site, and Gifford said that number is conservative.
Each time butterflies are released into a site, commission staff lets natural colonization take over, so each site only gets one group of the insects only once.
“They’ve been carrying out ever since. We only release butterflies in new habitats that don’t have them,” said Gifford.
By the United States Fish and Wildlife Service recovery plan standards, endangered species need a population of at least 3,000 for four or five years to be considered recovered.
If the pine bush has over 3,000 this year and the next, “We can effectively say the Karner blue is restored in the pine bush,” said Gifford.
Karner blues were named by Vladimir Nabokov, author of “Lolita,” in 1944 after a rail station that ran through the Albany Pine Bush. It was first listed as an endangered species in New York in 1977 and then federally in 1992. The insects had seen a 90 percent decline in population by then, due mostly, Gifford said, to lack of available habitat.
Karners only exist in habitats that burn frequently, which is pitch pine-scrub oak barrens in the northeast. As well, the species only feeds on wild blue lupine.
The first step to resorting the species’ numbers was restoring the habitat by prescribed fires, mowing and planting more lupine. The second was accelerated colonization by bringing female butterflies hatched in June after the winter months to a New Hampshire lab. The butterflies would lay eggs in the lab, where 90 percent survived as opposed to about 20 percent in the wild.
Gifford said on average, each of the 21 females laid about 200 eggs. About 1,355 butterflies were hatched. A majority, 77 percent, was returned to the Albany Pine Bush and the rest stayed in New Hampshire to help with its population.
“And that’s been hugely successful,” said Gifford. The population went from only a few hundred in the pine bush at its lowest in the early ‘90s to over 14,000.
The Karner blue butterfly endangerment was a “symptom of a problem” in regards to habitat, according to Gifford. The Albany Pine Bush supports over 50 rare wildlife species whose habitat was in danger with the decline of environments like the pine bush.
As the commission restores the butterfly habitat, Gifford said it is seeing many other species grow in turn. “Ultimately, that’s what we want. Our ultimate goal is maintaining healthy pine barrens. We let the wildlife tell us if we’re succeeding,” said Gifford.
For people who want to see the Karner blues, Kinal said there are many chances, including a Karner blue butterfly walk from the Pine Bush Discovery Center and in the Animal Care room where captive Karners can be seen.
But if hikers want to see them for the brief week in July, Kinal advised to go where wild blue lupine grows, since Karners don’t move far from the food source, where they also hatch. She said to scan the plants and look for movement. Once the butterfly is spotted, wait for it to land, then look for a row of orange on the underside of the wings.
“Really, you don’t have to go far from the Discovery Center,” said Kinal. People can walk on the main Discovery Center trail and see the butterflies, though hikers should be careful not to leave the trail and disturb the habitat.
For more information about Karner blue butterflies and the Albany Pine Bush, go to www.albanypinebush.org, or visit the preserve at 195 New Karner Road.
