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He Nabbed It on New Year's Day
Art Shapiro knows where to find the cabbage white butterflies (Pieris rapae).
No sooner had he announced his annual "Beer-for-a-Butterfly" Contest, then he found one. Actually, two.
Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, has sponsored the annual contest since 1972 to draw attention to the butterfly and its first flight. He's been monitoring butterflies for more than three decades.
He awards a pitcher of beer (or its cash equivalent) to the first person who collects the first cabbage white of the year in a three-county area: Yolo, Solano and Sacramento.
Tuesday, Jan. 1 2013 dawned rather cold. Not to worry. That afternoon, at precisely 1:18 p.m., Eureka! Shapiro collected a cabbage white near a railroad embankment in the Yolo County city of West Sacramento and spotted another at the same site.
“At 1:29 p.m., I saw a second rapae there but did not pursue it,” Shapiro said. “I figured that by the time I got near it, it would be somewhere else, so I let it be. The one that I took is unambiguously of the fall brood, based on phenotype--though it appears to have emerged today. Rapae was still flying here Dec. 17 and Dec. 24, so I was not entirely surprised to find it today.”
Of the contest, Shapiro said: “I do not close my beer contest if the fall brood slops over. So the contest is still open and will be until someone gets an actual example of the 2013 brood! Which, I suspect, will not be for 10-14 days...but I'll be looking, especially since the computer models are forecasting the next two weeks ‘dry.’
Shapiro related the details of his find. “Our family traditionally attends a New Year's Day party in Sacramento, regardless of the weather,” Shapiro said. “If the weather is good, I go in the field first--usually to North Sacramento, which is close to the party venue in Boulevard Park. But this year I went to West Sac instead, advisedly, because I was intensely curious whether rapae would indeed be out.”
“The wind was biting and made it feel colder than it was, but West Sac is wind-sheltered (the railroad embankment) and the south-facing slope was 50 degrees when I arrived at 11:45 a.m. It eventually topped out around 55-56 and actually felt warmer."
The cabbage white butterfly inhabits vacant lots, fields and gardens where its host plants, weedy mustards, grow. Shapiro saw some wild radish (Raphanus) in bloom, but no wild mustard (Brassica) in bloom. The first butterfly he saw was a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) flying “from south to north, lickety-split.”
At 1:18 p.m. he spotted a rapae flying rather unsteadily parallel to the service road. “I lost it momentarily, then spotted it body-basking on a wild mustard leaf and caught it easily. It was a male of a typical late-autumn phenotype, heavy black pattern above, underside of hindwing bright yellow with a sprinkling of gray scales.”
“And it was incredibly fresh--the wings seemed soft, and one forewing got outside its corresponding hindwing in the net. This is something that happens occasionally with newly hatched bugs that are not fully ‘hardened’--I was afraid it might break off! I think it must have emerged today, and I got it on its maiden flight."
Shapiro, who usually wins his own contest, snagged the first cabbage white butterfly of 2012 at 11:50 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 8 in West Sacramento. He caught the first cabbage white butterfly of 2011 at 1:21 p.m., Monday, Jan. 31 in Suisun City, Solano County.
Meanwhile, the contest is still under way, pending the declaration of a winner.
The rules state that butterfly must be collected outdoors in one of the three counties and delivered live to the office of the Department of Evolution and Ecology, 2320 Storer Hall, during work hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. All entries must list the exact time, date and location of the capture and the collector’s name, address, phone number and/or email.
“The receptionist will certify that it is alive and refrigerate it,” Shapiro said. “If you collect it on a weekend or holiday, hold it your refrigerator but do not freeze it. A few days in the fridge will not harm it.”
Shapiro, who is in the field more than 200 days a year, has been defeated only three times since 1972. And all were his graduate students, whom he calls “my fiercest competitors.” Adam Porter defeated him in 1983; and Sherri Graves and Rick VanBuskirk each won in the late 1990s.
For more information on the beer-for-a-butterfly contest, contact Art Shapiro at amshapiro@ucdavis.edu, (530) 752-2176
Close-up of cabbage white butterfly in mid-2012. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Beer for a Butterfly
What a deal.
Whoever collects the first live cabbage white butterfly of 2013 in the three-county area of Yolo, Solano and Sacramento, can win a pitcher of beer, compliments of Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis.
If you don't drink beer, not to worry. You can collect the cash equivalent.
Every year since 1972 Shapiro has sponsored his "Beer-for-a-Butterfly" contest to draw attention to Pieris rapae and its first flight. “It is typically one of the first butterflies to emerge in late winter,” he said. “Since 1972, the first flight has varied from Jan. 1 to Feb. 22, averaging about Jan. 20.”
Shapiro, who usually wins his own contest, snagged the first cabbage white butterfly of 2012 at 11:50 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 8 in West Sacramento, Yolo County.
“This was usually early and was due to the prolonged midwinter dry spell in the winter of 2011-2012,” he said.
He caught the first cabbage white butterfly of 2011 at 1:21 p.m., Monday, Jan. 31 in Suisun City, Solano County.
The cabbage white butterfly inhabits vacant lots, fields and gardens where its host plants, weedy mustards, grow The butterfly must be collected outdoors in Yolo, Solano or Sacramento counties and must be delivered live to the office of the Department of Evolution and Ecology, 2320 Storer Hall, during work hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. All entries must list the exact time, date and location of the capture and the collector’s name, address, phone number and/or email.
“The receptionist will certify that it is alive and refrigerate it,” Shapiro said. “If you collect it on a weekend or holiday, hold it your refrigerator but do not freeze it. A few days in the fridge will not harm it.”
Shapiro, who is in the field more than 200 days a year, has been defeated only three times since 1972. And all were his graduate students, whom he calls “my fiercest competitors.” Adam Porter defeated him in 1983; and Sherri Graves and Rick VanBuskirk each won in the late 1990s.
When he wins, he kindly shares his prize with his graduate students and their significant others.
All in all, the cabbage white butterfly contest “helps us understand biological responses to climate change,” he said. “The cabbage white is now emerging a week or so earlier on average than it did 30 years ago here.”
Shapiro maintains a website on butterflies at http://butterfly.ucdavis.edu/, where he records the population trends he monitors in Central California. He has surveyed fixed routes at 10 sites since as early as 1972. They range from the Sacramento River Delta, through the Sacramento Valley and Sierra Nevada mountains, to the high desert of the western Great Basin. The sites, he said, represent the great biological, geological, and climatological diversity of central California.
Shapiro and biologist/writer/photographer Tim Manolis co-authored A Field Guide to Butterflies of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Valley Regions, published in 2007 by the University of California Press.
Shapiro, a distinguished professor, is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Entomological Society, and the California Academy of Sciences.
For more information on the beer-for-a-butterfly contest, contact Art Shapiro at amshapiro@ucdavis.edu, (530) 752-2176.
In the meantime, you might want to scout out vacant lots, fields and gardens in Yolo, Solano and Sacrament counties to see if you can find a cabbage white butterfly before Shapiro does.
Cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, nectaring on catmint. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Pop Goes the Pieris
Pop goes the Pieris.
So wrote professor Art Shapiro of the UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology from his office in Storer Hall.
Yes, he won his own contest again.
Every year since 1972, the butterfly expert has sponsored a beer-for-a-butterfly contest to see who can find the first cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae) of 2012 in the three-county area of Sacramento, Yolo and Solano.
He netted a newly emerged male at 11:50 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 8 in in West Sacramento, Yolo County, to claim his own prize.
Shapiro immediately announced he would take his graduate students and their significant others out for a beer in a few days to celebrate. His students are typically his fiercest competitors in the contest, which is designed to aid in his studies of biological response to climate change.
Sunday’s capture date is the second earliest of record in 40 years, the earliest being Jan. 4, 1990. Shapiro said it reflects “the extraordinary sunny and dry weather that has persisted all winter, with warm afternoons, frosty nights, and little cloudiness or fog.”
“There have been numerous high-temperature records set in northern California, both in the valleys and in the Sierra Nevada, “ Shapiro said. “The abnormal conditions cannot be linked causally to global warming but are related somehow to the current La Nina, now in its second year.”
Shapiro noted that many regional first-flight records for butterflies were set during the severe drought of 1975-76, before “ the signature of global warming was observed.”
“In 1976 we had species flying at the end of January that normally come out in March,” Shapiro observed. “If the current weather pattern continues another two weeks, all those records will be at risk.”
He also pointed out that due to the lack of rainfall, germination of herbaceous plants has been very poor. “If butterflies and other insects are tricked by the weather into emerging early, the resources they need will simply not be there!”
Showing his keen sense of humor, Shapiro joked that politicians of a certain persuasion had something to say about the contest. "Despite my willingness to share the prize, news that I had won again drew harsh criticism" from them, he said. "Despite their own differences, they unanimously pointed out that I teach evolution and study climate change, both of which they consider to be hoaxes."
Shapiro, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Entomological Society and the California Academy of Sciences, maintains a website on butterflies at http://butterfly.ucdavis.edu/, where he monitors butterfly population trends in Central California. He has surveyed fixed routes at 10 sites since as early as 1972. They range from the Sacramento River delta, through the Sacramento Valley and Sierra Nevada mountains, to the high desert of the western Great Basin. The sites, he said, represent the great biological, geological, and climatological diversity of central California.
Meanwhile, we're waiting for the 2013 beer-for-a-butterfly contest. We think we know who will win it! The winner's name starts with an "A."
Professor Art Shapiro with his newly found cabbage white butterfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This is the first cabbage white butterfly found this year in the three-county area of Solano, Sacramento and Yolo. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
On the Fly
We've been waiting with bated breath for butterfly expert Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, to announce he's found the first Pieris rapae of the year.
Not so.
Not yet.
Every year since 1972 Shapiro has challenged the residents of Sacramento, Yolo and Solano to find the first cabbage white butterfly and bring it to him. First one to capture the butterfly in one of the three counties gets a pitcher of beer (or its cash equivalent).
Shapiro sponsors the annual contest to draw attention to Pieris rapae and its first flight. "I am doing long-term studies of butterfly life cycles and climate. Such studies are especially important to help us understand biological responses to climate change. The cabbage white is now emerging a week or so earlier on average than it did 30 years ago here."
Shapiro usually wins his own contest. He's lost only three times since 1972.
If you want to compete, be sure to check the rules.
Today he went a'hunting in West Sacramento. "What a grand and glorious April day it was!" he said. "Sixty-five degrees in West Sacramento, sunny, light and variable wind...a perfect day to get the first Pieris rapae of 2012. But I didn't. I spent 3-1/2 hours in West Sacramento checking every one of the more than 20 wild radish plants in bloom at least 3 times. If there had been a rapae there, I would have seen it! All I saw was two Vanessa annabella. The drama continues."
I looked through my Solano County photos of cabbage whites and noticed a two-at-a-time image, taken Sept. 7, 2008 in our backyard.
My camera, which can shoot eight frames a second, caught the images on the fly.
Art Shapiro can catch them with his hands. And does.
Two cabbage whites (Pieris rapae) on catmint in Vacaville, Calif., on Sept. 7, 2008. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Beer for a Butterfly
Beer for a butterfly.
Now that's an interesting concept.
That’s what you’ll get—or the cash equivalent—if you collect the first cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae) of 2012 in an area encompassing Yolo, Solano or Sacramento counties.
Professor Art Shapiro of the UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology has issued the first call for his annual “Catch-a-Cabbage-White-Butterfly-Win-a-Pitcher-of-Beer” contest, which he launched in 1972.
The butterfly must be delivered live to the office of the Department of Evolution and Ecology, 2320 Storer Hall.
Since 1972 the first flight has varied from Jan.1 to Feb.22, averaging about Jan.20. The 2011 find was on Jan. 31.
Shapiro, a noted butterfly expert who maintains a website on butterflies, usually wins the contest. He caught the first cabbage white butterfly of 2011 at 1:21 p.m., Monday, Jan. 31 in Suisun City, Solano County.
The rules:
1. The butterfly must be captured in one of three California counties: Yolo, Solano or Sacramento on or after Jan. 1, 2012
2. It must be an adult (no caterpillars or pupae) and be captured outdoors.
3. It must be brought in alive to the department office, 2320 Storer Hall, UC Davis, during work hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, with the full data (exact time, date and location of the capture) and your name, address, phone number and/or e-mail. The receptionist will certify that it is alive and refrigerate it. (If you collect it on a weekend or holiday, keep it in a refrigerator; do not freeze. A few days in the fridge will not harm it.
4. Other species are ineligible.
5. Professor Shapiro’s judgment is final. All butterflies submitted may be retained as vouchers.
The white butterfly, with black dots on the upperside (which may be faint or not visible in the early season), inhabits vacant lots, fields and gardens where its host plants, weedy mustards, grow. It is typically one of the first butterflies to emerge in late winter.
The male is white. The female is often slightly buffy; the "underside of the hindwing and apex of the forewing may be distinctly yellow and normally have a gray cast,” Shapiro says. “The black dots and apical spot on the upperside tend to be faint or even to disappear really early in the season.”
Shapiro sponsors the annual contest to draw attention to Pieris rapae and its first flight. "I am doing long-term studies of butterfly life cycles and climate. Such studies are especially important to help us understand biological responses to climate change. The cabbage white is now emerging a week or so earlier on average than it did 30 years ago here."
Shapiro, who is in the field more than 200 days a year, has been defeated only three times since 1972. And all were by his graduate students. Adam Porter defeated him in 1983; and Sherri Graves and Rick VanBuskirk each won in the late 1990s.
For more information, contact Art Shapiro at amshapiro@ucdavis.edu, (530) 752-2176.
Cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae) on catmint. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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