A Swarm Of Butterflies In The Arctic Icy Waters

Scientists on the Norwegian research ship "Johan Hjort" in the Barents Sea made big eyes last Saturday morning between 7 and 8 am. A swarm of butterflies, more than a thousand, came flying out of nowhere. But the scientists were not hallucinating and they took pictures of this as well. Just before the butterflies showed up, they had a sudden temperature rise from 7 to 12 degrees celsius. The winds increased as well and the butterflies came with the wind. The experienced scientists have never seen anything like this happen in this area before. This happened in the waters east of the arctic island of Bjornoya which you can see near the bottom at the picture below. Yup, we live in times of great climactic changes. We haven´t seen nothing yet...



Source to story:
Aftenposten: Sommerfugler svermet i ishavet (in norwegian...)

I can't do a thing with Norwegian, so any help on a translation would be great.
Anyone using a good translation service? Mine will only do English to Norwegian, not the other way...

I did a quick weather search for the area just to see the temps.
www.weatherunderground.com...

It seems strange to have butterflies under these circumstances and I would like to find out what species this was if you can get that from the original article.

Here's my favorite translator site:

www.mezzofanti.org...

Skip down to InterTran, as they have a Norwegian to English translator for URLs. Unfortunately, more often than not (like now), the site is too busy...

The source site (Aftenposten) has now updated their english section with an english version of the story.

Butterflies in the Barents

They just call them "over 1,000 gray-brown butterflies"

In the norwegian article they say there is no doubt they were butterflies but they didn´t know what species.

I can't find a link that says what species of butterfly this was but it seems that they were blown in with a mass of warm air. In that respect, it does not seem very strange. The insects moved into an area that they didn't belong because of a weather system that carried them outside their normal habitat but maintained temperatures high enough to keep them alive for the trip.

I bet that many didn't survive long after the tempurature dropped back to normal.

Originally posted by Gazrok
Here's my favorite translator site:

www.mezzofanti.org...

I'm going to keep that link, I'm always looking for translations and can use all the help I can get........

this is truly fascinating, somehow it makes me feel better in strange way to have butterflies in the artic. wierd eh...

It used to be so common to see Monarchs in southern Ontario, but I guess that is history.
I have flower boxes outside and about a dozen of us sitting around today were amazed to see several Monarchs land this afternoon.
This would have been normal a few years ago, but not anymore, sad really.......

anxietydisorder,
Maybe this might help?

There are two geographically distinct Monarch populations in North America. The eastern population spends summers breeding east of the Rocky Mountains, primarily in eastern Canada, and spends the winter in Mexico. The western population spends the summer breeding in areas west of the Rockies and overwinters along the California coast.

After summering in northern regions, millions of Monarchs will be spending the next couple of months flying several thousand miles down to either Mexico or our Pacific coastline before the first frost hits.

A Butterfly's Ways

And here:

Monarchs have been known to migrate over 3000km. In fact a Monarch tagged at Presqu'ile, here in southern Ontario, was recovered in Mexico and is on record as being the longest insect migration.

Butterfly Facts





seekerof

[edit on 1-9-2005 by Seekerof]

Originally posted by Seekerof
anxietydisorder,
Maybe this might help?

A Butterfly's Ways

And here:

Butterfly Facts

seekerof

I've been interested in Monarchs since I was a kid growing up in British Colombia, and have lived all along the Pacific Coast from Los Angeles and San Fransico, up into Portland. So I've been able to watch that migration almost every year.
Now I live in Ontario and I still watch butterflies, but it's a different population that migrates from Canada at this time of year down through the middle of the United States than the West Coast Monarchs.

One thing that I can say from all my travels and a lifetime of watching these amazing insects...... There are a lot less now then there used to be.......

What's happening in your area??? Do you see very many butterflies, or are they mostly gone???

Originally posted by anxietydisorder
What's happening in your area??? Do you see very many butterflies, or are they mostly gone???

I live about an hour away from Langley AFB, an hour from NewportNews ShipBuilding, an hour from Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and an hour away from the ocean.

No butterflys in significant quantities around my neighborhood.





seekerof

Originally posted by Seekerof

No butterflys in significant quantities around my neighborhood.

Plant more flowers

Sri Oracle

Originally posted by worldwatcher
somehow it makes me feel better in strange way to have butterflies in the artic...

I think I know what you mean....

For some reason the last post I wrote up vanished when I hit "post reply".

I'll give you the salient points; I sent an e-mail to Paolo Mazzei, he has a web-site www.leps.it... called "Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa". Hopefully he will have more information on this topic.

I also came across another wayward group:

Gibo, David. March 29, 1998.
There is an interesting report by an observer, Francis Harvey, in the March 24 update by Journey North on the northward migration of monarch butterflies. About 50 butterflies were reported coming in off the Ocean on the 15 of March and flying against the wind.

www.erin.utoronto.ca...

I just received an e-mail back from Paolo Mazzei and he wasn't able to add any more info on this.

I've just taken a look at the post on AboveTopSecret, where they
say "they took pictures of this as well"; so, it seems that some picture
exists, and this would help greatly in the id of the species (well,
gray-brown butterflies applies to many species...). Do you know anything
about that?

Ciao from Rome

Paolo Mazzei

Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa
www.leps.it
Amphibians and Reptiles of Europe
www.herp.it

If anyone has a picture from this, it would help.

Monarchs used to be a common sight in Toronto. Not anymore. I saw one a few years back and it was a bit novel but none since. I've heard that quite alot of thier habitat was destroyed which caused a dieoff in the 90s.

Originally posted by sardion2000
Monarchs used to be a common sight in Toronto. Not anymore. I saw one a few years back and it was a bit novel but none since. I've heard that quite alot of thier habitat was destroyed which caused a dieoff in the 90s.

I couldn't tell you why they're avoiding Hogtown, Sardion...but here, 100 miles due west of you, we're seeing lots of monarchs. So many, in fact, that my garden usually has several fluttering around continually. My wife mentioned just yesterday at the numbers in this area on Lake Hurons' shores.
I remember the die-off you mentioned, though, when millions seemed to litter the ground after a frosty spell in Mexico.

I'm thinking of making the trip to Point Pelee this year to watch the migration start (timing is everything) and if we're lucky, I'll have lots of good pics as they gather to wait for the good winds.

I used to make a weekly run between Hamilton and Chatham in a GMC cabover. This truck has a very large windshield and at a certain time of the year it would just break my heart as I watched monarchs splat on the glass in front of me.

If I recall correctly, it was around this time of year that they were most abundant in that section of the 401 outside of London and along the 403 between Brantford and London.

Hey masqua, any idea when the migration takes place??? I might make that trek to Point Pelee myself. I love these critters and there are none in my area this year.




Nothing in nature can compare to thousands of Monarchs on the move.

EDIT: Just after saying that I have no Monarchs in my area this year, one just landed to check out my Marigolds. (They're plotting against me, trying to prove me wrong. Damn those insects......)

[edit on 10/9/2005 by anxietydisorder]

www.pelee.com...

This is the best time to start asking @
519 322 2365

These little beauts pick their time according to the weather, so call frequently for updates

I have seen more butterflies this year than I have in many summers. Most are a black with brilliant blue markings, also a good many that are orange with grayish undersides, plus a number of the Monarch and some that are bright yellow.

One reason might be that we have a four acre pasture that has gone fallow, and the blooming weeds have taken over. Another thing they seem to like is our bumper crop of brown turkey figs, many of which have gotten over ripe and ooze a sort of honey dew. (the humming birds are going for this as well).

When I was a kid, (in the 60's) my Grandmother had a lilac bush that was covered with butterflies when it bloomed. Not just a few, but maybe hundreds....mostly the yellow and black, tiger swallowtails I believe. It is nice to see them return is similar numbers, after such a long absence.

(I believe the problem has been strong insecticides which may no longer be on the market.)