April for most of us means the exciting return of brightly colored warblers, “the butterflies of the bird world,” who undertake a perilous migration northward every spring from their wintering grounds in Central and South America. These small songbirds are following the “Green Wave” of spring tree leaf-out, which brings with it the insects they depend on as their food source. 

Planting insect-attracting keystone native plants can make your yard into a “re-fueling station" to help warblers and other migrating birds on their long journeys. Check out these simple steps you can take in your own yard.

Photo of male Yellow Warbler by Karalyn Lamb

HEMLOCKS: Our valued native hemlocks, both Eastern and Carolinian (Tsuga canadensis and Tsuga caroliniana), respond very well to treatment. Those treatments options include:

1.    Horticultural oil or insecticidal soap: Horticultural oil or insecticidal soap applications, once or twice annually in May and late June, depending on the level of HWA infestations, are the preferred method of control with the least impact on non-target and beneficial species.

The oils and soaps are sprayed onto the limbs and shoots and are most effective if the adelgids are thoroughly covered. This method can be done by the homeowner for smaller trees; for larger trees a professional should be consulted. Timing is important to avoid affecting any pollinators who may be in the area.

2.    ST Ladybeetles: Also available to the homeowner is a biological control, a tiny ladybeetle known as ST (Sasajiscymnus tsugae). It is the only HWA predator that is reared commercially and is now available to the public from Tree-Savers. This species feeds on all stages of HWA and studies have shown its ability to adapt and overwinter in the northeast. 

3.    Neonics: The use of systemic chemicals (including the neonics imidacloprid and dinotefuran) should be the last treatment method of choice. If your arborist immediately recommends a neonic, you should ask why a less toxic remedy would not work. There may be situations where spraying with oils or soaps would not be effective such as 1) inability to reach all of the of the tree due to its height, 2) the proximity of a building making it difficult to use necessary equipment, and 3) extent of infestation making it unlikely to cover all adelgids with oils or soaps.

Hemlock wooly adelgid infestation. Photo by Steven Katovich, bugwood.org

Check to see if your state requires a licensed applicator to apply a neonic. Ten states have this restriction. The best application method would be the trunk injection method since it minimizes exposures to other species. However, remember that any use of a neonic should be done with careful consideration of timing and following all label directions to protect pollinators, other beneficial insects and adjacent vegetation.

Also, it has been reported that an unwanted outcome of using a neonic is the possible infestation of spider mites, due to killing of the beneficials insects that control spider mites.

ASH TREES: The Emerald Ash Borer is another pest that has already done much damage to ash trees in New England. Trees that are heavily infected should be removed and destroyed by a professional. An ash tree infested with EAB may show the following signs:

• "blonding" or large strips of bark falling off due to increased woodpecker activity;

• tree canopy dieback, yellowing, and browning of leaves;

• distinctive D-shaped exit holes in the bark of the branches and the trunk left by adult beetles emerging from the tree.

A good rule of thumb is to treat a tree that still has half or more of its canopy. The most effective treatment is a chemical called emamectin benzoate. Another practice that may be recommended, but should be a last resort if used at all, is using the neonic imidacloprid as a trunk injection. In either case, caution to protect pollinators and water sources should be taken as both of these chemicals are toxic to bees, fish and aquatic species.

The authoritative publication about pesticide use against EAB is “Insecticide Options for Protecting Ash Trees Against Emerald Ash Borer;” by some of the leading experts on EAB.

BEECH TREES: Another newer pest is a foliar nematode which results in Beech Leaf Disease, defoliating many beech trees in New England. For small trees, 2-4” diameter, drenching the soil around the tree with potassium phosphite, a fertilizer, several times a year may improve the health of the tree. Be careful to drench over a wide area so as not to subject the roots to a high dose of this salt. For details see Beech Leaf Disease Management Options.

Close up of a beech leaf showing symptoms of beech leaf disease. Photo courtesy of CT Agricultural Experiment Station via bugwood.org by Yonghao Li.

In conclusion, have trust in your arborist and ask questions to make sure all options, including non-toxic ones, are considered when making a treatment decision.

Written by Mary Wilson. Mary has lived in Newtown, Connecticut for over 50 years. Her love for the New England landscape has led to advocacy work for the protection of habitats and the wonderful creatures they support. She has degrees in education and chemistry.

Resources

NYS DEC Hemlock Wooly Adelgid Factsheet

NYS DEC Emerald Ash Borer Factsheet

NYS DEC Beech Leaf Disease Factsheet

Hemlock Woolly Adelgid

Fact Sheet EAB January 2021

Beech Leaf Disease Management Options

Many hollow or pithy plant stems provide excellent homes for cavity nesting insects like the small carpenter bee in the photo above.  Simply cutting back dead flower stalks in varying heights of 8-12 inches will provide valuable habitat to these tiny but important pollinators.

Check out this Xerces brochure, How to Create Habitat for Stem-nesting Bees, for advice on when and how to cut your plant stems for maximum benefit to cavity-nesting bees. 

Photo of small carpenter bee by Heather Holm.

Ground-nesting Cellophane bees have started to emerge in the Northeast! These small fuzzy bees are  not aggressive, so if you find a nesting aggregation on your property, enjoy observing their behavior and rejoice in the fact that you are providing habitat for these important pollinators!  You can attract ground nesting native bees by leaving patches of sunny bare or sparsely vegetated soil in your yard.

Protect nesting areas by not mulching or digging in that area;  and report your sightings to Cornell’s Project Ground Nesting Bee iNaturalist page.

Photo of an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail by Karalyn Lamb

Many butterflies and moths, such as the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail in the photo, overwinter in chrysalids hidden amongst dead leaves and stalks. Waiting until the weather warms up a bit before tidying up your yard allows them to hatch out and thrive. 

Not sure how long to wait? Check out this advice from the Xerces Society

Join Pollinator Pathway for our first hybrid in-person and virtual conference

March 11, 2024, Noon to 5 p.m.

McCook Auditorium

Trinity College, Hartford, CT

Register HERE

What You Need to Know about Pesticides Harming CT's Birds, Bees, Wildlife, & People

Lawn Chemicals Harmful to Pollinators

Reducing Neonic Pesticide Use on Lawns if You Use a Lawn Care Service

Comment below or email us at info@pollinator-pathway.org for updates on what your state is doing to take action on harmful pesticides!

From changes in climate, to widespread use of herbicides, there is a loss of milkweed (the only plant in which the butterflies lay their eggs) and other nectar plants essential to feeding adult monarchs (WWF). Monarchs require a large and healthy forest to protect them from winds, rain, and low temperatures, too.

Though the statistics may seem grim, there are ways we can help! Here’s What you can do:

• Participate in the tri-national International Monarch Monitoring Blitz this summer. Report monarchs any time of year in any country to iNaturalist or another monarch community science program. 

• Discover milkweed and nectar plants native to your region and plant a pollinator garden.

• Reduce your reliance on pesticides and make change in your community, nursery, home, farm, and more.

• Read more about Xerces’ monarch conservation campaign, including efforts to conserve overwintering sites in California and restore breeding habitat in key regions of the United States.

To learn more about creating habitat for our pollinators and to reduce their decline, join the Pollinator Pathway HERE.

To read more, check out the Portland Press Herald and the New York Times.

Leader Barb Rumer calls the Pollinator Pathway “a brilliant program that the City of Bend adopted with great success.” According to Barb, at the outset the urgency in Bend was not to immediately form an organization, but to put plants in the ground as fast as possible.  The group was able to partner with the City of Bend Water Conservation Department as well as the Bend Parks and Recreation District to plant six different demonstration gardens in public locations. 

 The Bend Pathway then successfully pursued grants to save time fundraising and eventually became a non-profit as an expediency, again, to get plants in the ground. Their story is a familiar one--success came from partnering with others. But, according to Barb, instrumental was the Pollinator Pathway’s grant information, brochures, and logo. 

For more about the Eastern Oregon Pathway, check out their website HERE.

To listen to the full webinar recording, click HERE. If you want to tune into Barbs’s~10 minute section, start at 35:51 

Photo: Nestled along the northeast edge of Al Moody park, this pollinator habitat is located near the picnic shelter in a triangle "island" marked with a large boulder. Look for the mass of yarrow!

Licking County Pollinator Pathway hosted a seed collection. After seeds dried and were processed, seed packets were available to the public via the Community Seed Library at Granville Public Library.

For more about the Licking, Ohio Pathway, check out their website HERE. 

To listed to the full webinar recording, click HERE. If you want to tune into Susan’s~10 minute section, start at 24:46  

Native pollinators need habitat for nesting and overwintering. According to the Xerces Society, "The primary habitat features used by pollinators and other insects for shelter include stems and branches of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers; leaf litter; undisturbed ground; bare ground; dead wood; brush piles; and rock piles.” By adding these features to your yard, along with not using pesticides and introducing native plants, you can attract and support native pollinators. 

Metallic Green Sweat Bee, nesting in a log laying on the ground

Photo by Heather Holm

“Compared to artificial nesting options such as bee blocks and bee hotels, natural nesting habitat features often better mimic the natural nest site density of insects and also break down naturally with  time, limiting disease and parasite issues.” 

Once you remove all decorations and lights from your Christmas tree, place it in your backyard in a “quiet corner” that is out of the way for wildlife to enjoy. Fallen logs and brush piles offer critical habitat to pollinators, including “hibernation sites for mourning cloak and other butterflies, soil access for ground nesting bees, daytime shelter for fireflies, and food for a diversity of wood-eating beetles and other organisms.” Brush piles also provide great habitat for birds- “chickadees, warblers, and other songbirds enjoy the hiding places provided by the branches and small mammals create warm burrows in the pile that later provide protected spaces for bumble bees to nest.”

Check out Xerces “Nesting & Overwintering Habitat for Pollinators & Other Beneficial Insects” to learn more.

For more about the Cape Cod, MA Pathway, check out their website here.

To listed to the full webinar recording, click here. If you want to tune into Carol's ~10 minute section, start at 14:04.

From Lower Merion and Narbeth, PA. Michelle Detweiler shared her success - A suburban Philadelphia Pathway in the region of the Eastern Northern Piedmont wanted to link the habitats of New England to those of Baltimore and Washington because “wildlife needs a way to cross political boundaries.”

With 175 properties on the map in Lower Merion and Narbeth, let’s make Michelle’s vision a reality by connecting more Pollinator Pathway communities from New England to Washington D.C.!

Now with 175 public and private properties on their Pathway, they attribute their success to strong partnerships with land conservancies, garden clubs, libraries, and civic associations, and from placing their gardens in highly visible locations like dog parks, and train stations. Their mission to educate led to a partnership with the local library whose pollinator garden became a significant teaching tool for children. Local Leader Michelle Detweiler said, “The Pollinator Pathway is so easy--it grows just through word of mouth!”

For more about the Merion and Narbeth Pathway, check out their website here.

To listen to the full webinar recording, click here. If you want to tune into Michelle’s ~10 minute section, start at 2:22.

We’re so grateful you are partnering with us.

In just the first 10 months of 2023, you’ve added 6700 acres along

the Pollinator Pathway, where pollinators can be protected and wildlife

can thrive. You are the communities and individuals that we strive to

inspire, educate, and support.

On this GivingTuesday, a day of unity and giving, please be generous so we

can encourage the establishment of even more Pollinator Pathways that connect even more properties for our bees, birds, and butterflies.

Donate

Ask your neighbors to Join the Pathway.

Add a Pollinator Pathway sign to your property.

Learn more about Planting Natives, Avoiding Pesticides, and

Rethinking Your Lawn.

And please, Spread the word !

“The truth is, everyone one of us, no matter who we are or where we live, can and must play a part in restoring nature… now is the time for action, and together we can save it”

David Attenborough, The Guardian, March 13, 2023

"Hoverflies are efficient pollinators, coming second to bees during pollination studies." Photo by Karalyn Lamb

In an insightful article entitled "Everything You Wanted to Know About Bees and Other Pollinators," Nick Dorian, a founder of the Tufts Pollinator Initiative, encourages us to appreciate the beauty and diversity of our native pollinators.

According to Nick, " Pollinating insects are the backbone of the ecosystem. They help wild plants reproduce. They make sure that there’s food for other critters, and that cascades throughout the ecosystem. For example, many songbirds depend on bee-pollinated plants to migrate. Bees are by far the most important crop pollinators, but many animals that visit flowers are capable of helping plants reproduce. Some wasps are pollinators, as are hover flies, houseflies, moths, and hummingbirds."

How can we help pollinators? Nick uses a helpful mnemonic: SEEDS:

S stands for Spread native flowers

E is for Employ a life-cycle approach

E is also for Eliminate Pesticides

D is for Discover what’s around you, and

S is for Spread the word

Read the full article HERE.

Many butterflies and moths overwinter as chrysalis or cocoons disguised as dead leaves. Don't blow away their cover.

Photo by Karalyn Lamb

Think twice before you rake, mow, and blow this year. Invertebrates rely on fallen leaves and other organic debris to cover and insulate them from the elements. Whatever your landscape, you can ensure that resources for nests and overwintering habitat are available.”

Your backyard provides a plethora of habitat in the winter, just as it does in the spring if you maintain it correctly! From leaves and hollow stems, to brush piles and soil, pollinators use these habitats to overwinter in.

“Leaving the leaves and other plant debris doesn’t have to mean sacrificing your yard to the wilderness. The leaves don’t need to be left exactly where they fall. You can rake them into garden beds, around tree bases, or into other designated areas. Too many leaves can kill grass, but in soil they can suppress weeds, retain moisture, and boost nutrition.

Avoid shredding leaves with a mower. Raking or blowing (electric) are alternatives that will keep leaves whole for the best cover and protect the insects and eggs already living there.

If you decide you need to clean up the leaves and debris in spring, make sure you wait until late in the season so as not to destroy all the life you’ve worked to protect.”

Check out the Xerces blog on Leave the Leaves and for more resources.

Netting can trap insects, birds, and bats in the webbing and can cause injury and death as they try to escape. Fake pumpkins and corn can trick wildlife and they make try to eat it by mistake, causing them to choke.

We recommend staying away from these hazardous decorations, however, “there are still ways to display the spider webs while being conscious of wildlife. Rehabilitation specialists recommend to not place it in places where birds frequently fly such as in between trees. A safer option is to display it in a window, an enclosed entryway, or even hanging it up against something solid” (MyTwinTiers).

HOW CAN YOU HELP KEEP WILDLIFE SAFE THIS HALLOWEEN?

• Please don't use fake spider web or other decorations made of entangling fibers.

• Avoid decorations with loops or closed circles. A foraging animal can inadvertently put his head through a loop or circle and choke himself.

• Avoid decorations with small, dangling, edible-looking parts.

• Don't leave candy out where wildlife may find it and dispose of all candy wrappers properly.

• Dispose of carved pumpkins properly. Pumpkins are very attractive to wildlife as food, so properly dispose of them if you don't want post-holiday trick-or-treaters.

• Be alert for nocturnal wildlife while trick-or-treating. Avoid cutting across lawns and through brushy areas to avoid accidental encounters with your wild neighbors.

• Give wildlife a "brake"! Drivers on Halloween night know to be on the alert for children, but we encourage you to also be aware of wildlife that may be scared out of hiding by all the unusual nighttime activity.

• Avoid hanging lights or decorations in areas where deer pass. Strings of lights can become snare traps for adult male deer who get them caught in their antlers.

HELP PREVENT ENTANGLEMENT INJURIES

• Always properly dispose of string-like objects. This means wrapping them tightly into a ball before throwing them away, and making sure they are contained, even within the garbage can.

• Don't use netting or webbing in your garden. Especially filament-like garden netting is nearly invisible to wildlife, and too many animals get tangled while hunting the very species you're trying to keep out of your garden.

• If you must use netting, always zip-tie it away from ground level to prevent entangling snakes, and check the netting twice a day (morning and night) for potential entangled victims.

• Avoid or properly dispose of anything with loops or closed circles. A foraging animal can inadvertently put his head through a loop or circle and choke himself.

• Always properly dispose of fishing line and hooks. Never leave fishing line on the ground where animals can reach it.

"Have you ever seen a weird bug or plant and thought, “Oh my God. What is THAT?” Then iNaturalist, a Bay Area invention, is the social platform for you. Begun as a graduate school project at UC Berkeley, it now receives hundreds of thousands of monthly submissions from nature enthusiasts across the globe. Users post photos of what they have seen and where they found it, and fellow citizen scientists, and often actual, scientists help identify the flora, fauna and habitat... ow the site is going independent with the help of a $10 million grant. "

Learn more about iNaturalist on their website and check out Pollinator Pathway's very own iNaturalist project here!

Join the Pollinator Pathway for an update on state's efforts to restrict the use of neonicotinoid pesticides. Speakers cover the science behind the threats posed by “neonics” to pollinators, biodiversity, and our own health as well as neonics’ surprising prevalence in our environment. These widely used pesticides contaminate soil, water, and plant life on a nearly unprecedented scale, driving mass losses of birds and bees, and raising alarm bells for a whole host of wildlife, clean water, and human health. The webinar also provides information on pending legislation we can impact.

WATCH THE WEBINAR HERE

Speakers: Dan Raichel, Acting Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Pollinator initiative, and Dr. Kathleen Nolan, President of the Physicians for Social Responsibility, New York Chapter, and Senior Research Director at Catskill Mountainkeeper, who joined us last year for a talk on neonics.

WATCH HERE

Did you know there are now over 325 community Pollinator Pathway projects in 19 states and Canada? In this webinar Donna Merrill, Director of the Pollinator Pathway National Organization, shares some exciting new developments along the Pollinator Pathway, and Pathway Community Organizers from across the country share successes, challenges, and lessons learned.

Email us about what you are doing in your community at info@pollinator-pathway.org.