CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT THEM, Pollinators in Rocky Mountain National Park

CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT THEM

Adopt the pace

of nature:

her secret

is patience.
​
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dreaming is okay while “Staying in Place.”  I am dreaming of long hikes with meadows chocked full of wildflowers, a slope of  yellow avalanche  lilies, and a  massive clump of calypso orchids thrown in for good measure. I‘m learning patience, knowing these gifts are weeks away and that maybe my favorite spots will be inaccessible. For those who know me well, understand I have not always had a passionate relationship with Colorado native plants.

​Forty some years ago  I was focused (some say “obsessed”) with reaching high mountain summits. My mentor at the YMCA of the Rockies taught me to go fast and light when peak-bagging. Sure, I knew common names of many wildflowers, but it was not until  years later that I started to really see them. The rest of that story is for another time. My point here is that life gives you the opportunity to learn until the end. My studies of native plants have steered me to learning more about pollinators. One can’t live without the other.  

​I find great satisfaction in the wonder of amazing colors and unique petal shapes, but have you ever thought about the main purpose of a flower? The flower must attract pollinators for reproduction: you know, survival. The pollinator needs flowers for food, shelter to lay eggs and feed offspring—survival.

Avalanche Lilies. Photo D. Rusk

Wildflowers attract pollinators by boasting strong fragrances, bright colors, and convenient landing platforms. Bees, butterflies, flies, beetles, other insects, as well as hummingbirds come to mind. Colorado is home to 947 species of bees, most of which are native to the state. Colorado has 250 species of butterflies and over one thousand species of moths. And don’t forget eleven species of hummingbirds!
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Do you know how to distinguish a moth from a butterfly? Looking carefully at the antennae structure is a good start. Butterfly antennae have a ball or club shape swelling at the tips. Moth antenna lack the swelling at the tips and instead have feather-like structures along the antennas.

A Checkerspot Butterfly resting on a rock, notice the swollen ball-like tips. Photo M. Borneman

Butterflies usually rest with wings folded and only for short periods spread their wings open. Incidentally, that makes it quite difficult to get a good photograph! Moths hover in front of a flower as they drink in nectar, butterflies drink sitting on a flower’s petals. Moths can see very well at night and therefore are more active then.  ​
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​Butterflies sport bright colors and intricate patterns where moths usually are cloaked in muted colors like browns or grey with subdued patterns. Of course, like wildflowers, there are exceptions to what the books say. Neither wildflowers nor pollinators read books.

Police Car Moth, notice the feather-like structures on the antennas. Photo M. Borneman

Police Car Moth caterpillar. Photo M. Borneman

​A few pollinators have only one host plant on which to lay eggs that hatch as caterpillars. One amazing example is the interdependence between the  Soapweed Yucca, Yucca glauca,  and the pronuba moth, Pronuba yuccasella, commonly called the yucca moth. Soapweed yucca is a common species of yucca along the Front Range. Pollination of soapweed yucca is dependent upon the yucca moth and the yucca moth is dependent on the plant as a food source.

Soapweed Yucca. Photo M. Borneman

The beautiful white-cream yucca flower only opens fully at night giving forth a strong fragrance. The yucca moth is only active at night and is led by the strong fragrance to the yucca flower where it gathers loads of pollen. The moth then flies to another yucca flower depositing the pollen deep into the tube-like structure (style) where it lands in the ovary where seeds will develop. The seeds mature just about the time the larvae hatch into caterpillars; the mother yucca moth has just secured food for her offspring.  The caterpillars only eat a small amount of the seeds; the rest of the seeds gets scattered to grow more yucca plants that in turn will feed more pronuba moth caterpillars. Only Mother nature could figure out this complex timing.

Caterpillar of the Rocky Mountain Parnassian. Photo M. Borneman

Rocky Mountain Parnassian Butterfly resting on the ground of rocks. Photo M. Borneman

The familiar yellow stonecrop (Sedum lanceolatum) is the host plant for the Rocky Mountain Parnassian Butterfly (Parnassius smintheus). Yellow stonecrop grows profusely in Hollowell Park making it a reliable place to spot the parnassian butterfly. I find the best time to photograph this butterfly is in the early cool morning hours before the butterflies are warmed by the sun.  ​​

The American Bistort, Bistorta bistortoides, is a common flower found in Rocky’s montane, sub-alpine and alpine life zones.  Have you ever taken the time to smell a bistort? The bistort’s nickname is “Miner’s Socks” taken from the miner’s smelly socks after working all day in the mines.  I rather say bistorts have a “pungent” fragrance.  In higher elevations bees are scarce, however flies are common.   What better way to attract your pollinator if it happens to be a fly than with a stinky fragrance—another fine example of adaptation.

American Bistort in RMNP pollinated by flies. Photo M. Borneman

Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on milkweed plants, no other plant. Monarch caterpillars only eat milkweeds. Monarch caterpillars have adapted to tolerate and use toxins from the milkweed as a defense from their predators—an advantageous survival skill.  ​​

Showy Milkweed. Photo D. Rusk

For those of you with native plant gardens, please leave dandelions. They are an early food source for pollinators.  To attract native pollinators, plant a variety of bright colored flowers and consider flowers that bloom at different times throughout our short growing season. Penstemons, iris and any flower in the sunflower family all provide good landing platforms. Don’t forget milkweeds for the monarchs. There are many species of milkweed; showy milkweed, Asclepias speciose, is the most common in this area. Remember, milkweed plants are poisonous so avoid getting milkweed sap on your hands and of course do not eat any part. It is okay for gardens to be a little messy. Butterflies love to “puddle” in wet muddy areas that provide water and minerals. They even eat rotten fruit and bird dung! Leave some bare spots and rocks for butterflies and moths to rest.   Limit or omit pesticide use. ​​

Picking or digging up wildflowers can harmfully affect pollinators that depend on a species for food and/or shelter. Certainly, picking wildflowers will affect its ability to reproduce and subsist.  Besides wildflowers usually wilt soon after picking and do not transplant well, especially native wild orchids and lilies.  It is illegal to pick or damage native plants in RMNP. I often use this quote by Al Schneider, a knowledgeable lover of native plants, “Admire them in the wild and let them live.”

Western Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly feeding on a Wood Lily. Photo M. Bornemen

It has been so satisfying for me to discover where plants grow, when they bloom, and how they are related to each other. Often a new sighting leads to more questions than answers giving me motivation to seek more time in the field.   Rocky Mountain National Park offers countless free learning opportunities.  Don’t let them pass you by…get out explore, observe, and learn.   ​

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Marlene Borneman is the author of Rocky Mountain Wildflowers 2Ed. and The Best Front Range Wildflower Hikes, and Rocky Mountain Alpine Flowers,  published by CMC Press.  
They can be purchased Here

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