Miraculous Resilience

Dear Friend in Peace,

Mother Nature is a powerful source of joy and inspiration.  She also teaches us many important lessons including that of resilience.

While at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, Ernie and I first saw Atala butterflies.  Their small size and profound beauty intrigued us. To see a wee flying insect with colors of black, red, and iridescent blue (female) beside other wee beings with colors of black, red, and iridescent green (male) is to experience joy in motion!  It is also to see persistence in motion.

We learned this magnificent butterfly had been assumed to be extinct in Florida in the 1930’s because the one and only food source for its caterpillars is coontie (Zamia integrifolia)  and coontie was commercially exploited as a food source (arrowroot) in Florida in the 1920’s. Mother Nature’s resilience in the face of man’s overharvesting became apparent in 1979 when naturalist and author Roger Hammer discovered a colony of Atala butterflies on Virginia Key in Biscayne Bay.

From here the story gets more and more exciting as individuals and communities have come together to assist the recovery of Atala butterflies in Florida through planting coontie and sharing Atala caterpillars.  This human assistance began on the east coast of Florida and has spread to the west coast where we live.  Ernie discovered Sean Patton was selling coontie plants with Atala eggs and caterpillars on them and so we too soon had a coontie complete with eggs and caterpillars.  The photos that follow tell the story.

May these precious faces of resilience inspire us to connect with our innate perseverance and determination as we choose to nurture and sustain peace in our hearts.

Yours in peace and love,

Donna

Here is the original coontie we purchased from Sean. I already had two large coontie plants in my yard so this small one was a vehicle for transferring the eggs and caterpillars to my plants and this one will go to my dear Debbie.
I love this photo showing Atala eggs and wee caterpillars! So tiny and so powerfully resilient!
Before long, the wee caterpillars began to grow and grow and grow! Their brilliant colors are very helpful when trying to find them hidden away in the coontie.
For a while, everywhere I looked there were Atala caterpillars! Mother Nature's commitment to resilience on display!
Fascinating view of the thoroughness of the caterpillars in eating all of the coontie's richness.
As you have seen the Atala has persisted from egg to tiny caterpillar to large caterpillar and now has reached the chrysalis stage. Atala butterflies are tiny ranging from 1.5 inches to 2 inches hence the relatively small chrysalis.
When the chrysalis began turning black I was most concerned until I stopped to realize the Atala is a black butterfly and all was well! Fabulously well.
The next morning I began looking for the chrysalis again and discovered this newly emerged female Atala butterfly! Her wings were not ready to open yet and she sat patiently, peacefully awaiting the right and perfect time for the next step in her resilient emergence.
Within an hour or so, her wings had loosened and she was preparing for her first flight. Persistence, perseverance, and patience were part of her lessons for me.