Ep 123 Keeping Lighting Pollinator-Friendly
Sun, Aug 27, 2023 6:47AM • 11:04
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
lights, blaine, Rothauser, landscape lighting, lighting, garden, artificial lights, enjoy, butterflies, pollinators, dennis, briede, share, ultraviolet spectrum, meadow, Nature, people, species, birds, dilemmas, mary stone, garden, Nature, inspiration
SPEAKERS
Mary Stone, Blaine Rothauser
Mary Stone 00:00
Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone and welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries. It's not only about gardens. It's about Nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from Mother Nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.
Mary Stone 00:26
Hello there, it's Mary Stone, and welcome to the screen porch. It's my birthday. Always a special day, though, as a child that often was lost in the shuffle of our camping vacations when we visited Grandpa, my dear old mom's dad. I have beautiful memories of those campouts and visits. It's a new year ahead. They come so quickly, don't they? But what a privilege to have each day. Every day is a day to celebrate.
Mary Stone 00:53
I hope the sounds of the cicadas aren't too intrusive because I am looking forward to enjoying some time out in the woods. Maybe take a swim in the lake to celebrate. Anyway, I want to thank those of you who wrote back about last week's chat about how Rescuing Aloe Plants Helps Heal. Blaine Rothauser, my new friend, met by way of my birder buddy Dennis Briede, said he enjoyed the aloe story during our interview yesterday. Blaine's magnificent photography is on the Woodcock story we discussed in Episode 101 Woodcock Dance - Making a Meadow, which features Dennis's meadow, which Blaine and I adore. I'm excited to share bits of our chat answering a question from a kind reader's concern about how artificial lights impact pollinators that starts like this.
Mary Stone 01:41
Hello, fellow listeners and readers. A while back, Kay from Wisconsin wrote in response to a column titled Antics of Meadow Wildlife featuring my birder buddy Dennis Briede's meadow just up the road a piece. Dennis shared there has been a notable decline in butterflies in recent years due to habitat reduction. It was comforting that during our discussion, six monarch butterflies flitted about along with several other favorable pollinators, leading to a talk about moths.
Mary Stone 02:12
Kay wrote, "I always enjoy your posts, calming and reflective. Thank you. I was interested in what you mentioned about the decline in butterflies, and I think that light pollution is also a huge contributing factor that should be addressed." She went on to explain what she learned through research.
Mary Stone 02:30
Kay lives on Weiss Lake in Alabama, a resort community where people flee to experience solace and escape the busyness of urban life. These are her words, actually. "It never ceases to amaze me that the same people want to bring all their night lighting from the city, destroying the very thing they seek. By lighting up their yards and landscapes, they destroy the view of the night sky full of stars and lightning bugs. Additionally, they discourage nocturnal pollinators and then get on the bandwagon to save Nature."
Mary Stone 03:01
She goes on to say, "What they need to do to save Nature is just don't destroy it. With artificial enhancements that interrupt the natural cycle." She described her woodland garden that "includes several walking trails. Visitors often tell me that I should add lighting for nighttime walks. After learning of the detriments to pollinators. I decided against it."
Mary Stone 03:25
And this was the part that I adored in her letter to me. "I am also an advocate for planting to feed the birds, not making the birds dependent on me for food using feeders. That way, if I'm out of town, no bird goes hungry. And many birds come here since we are a birding trail. They all seek and find their own food. Thanks again for your insights and reading my thoughts on the subject. Keep up the good work. Regards, Kay."
Mary Stone 03:51
Dennis introduced me to his friend Blaine Rothauser, whom he described as a naturalist who does moth counts in the meadow, and someday soon, I will be invited to experience the magic. I look forward to sharing that experience with you after I do. I asked Blaine about the impacts of lighting on moths, which to me, would be more impacted compared to butterflies since they are, by and large, nocturnal.
Blaine Rothauser 04:14
In totality. Yes. Lights are a problem for all of Nature's aspects, right? Because you think about it. We only have lights for maybe 150 years of our evolutionary existence. You'll suddenly put artificial lights up, and you can imagine the effects on species that did not evolve with metal halide LEDs. You know, ultraviolet, some of the lights are full spectrum, and how that overwhelms certain species are, you know, creates a navigational roadblock. For species that migrate, so yes, they're, you know, most negatively backed to artificial lights. They use lights to understand what up and down is. Before the lights, there were stars and the moon. And that's how they recognize up and down and think how faint starlight is - moonlights are pretty bright. But, you know, comparatively speaking to the lights that are around them. They never evolved with that type of intensity, so they will tax toward those artificial lights. And then when they get close to, say, our metal halide as on white, very, very bright old spectrum light with ultraviolet spectrum inside of it, they get confused, and they start spinning and spinning and exhaust themselves.
Blaine Rothauser 05:17
That's fascinating, Blaine. When I asked him how he became so enthralled with moths specifically, although he's knowledgeable about Nature well beyond moths, he said,
Blaine Rothauser 06:05
Yeah, it's really not moths that that got me hooked. I was hooked since a kid on, you know, the living world, whether it grew or flew or crawled or scratched or did anything I was, you know, and continue to have a childhood fascination for all things Nature. That's the thing that keeps me alive.
Mary Stone 06:31
And we share that in common- Nature is so inspiring. We can learn so much from it, right, Blaine? I then had to ask him about his background in photography, which he's been doing for over 30 years, keeping up with all of the technology. He's so amazing, he sent me this photograph. And I think he wrote something like it's more than bees and butterflies and moths that pollinate plants. And this cute little mouse was sitting on a pussy willow eating the pollen; it was so adorable. I just wanted to kiss the little mouse. He prides himself as a wildlife photographer and a New Jersey conservation photographer. And he's a writer. You can read his LinkedIn blogs; I'll put a link in the show notes. Plus, he has a website underway. And I look forward to that.
Mary Stone 07:19
There were so many things we spoke about during our interview, and I look forward to sharing more after our mouth count. We wrapped up with a touch-back of Kay's question about lighting because landscape lighting is part of the design elements that I do for clients, although I'm not a huge fan of landscape lighting other than for the functional need of walking paths and things. And a little bit of subtle lighting to up-light beautiful plants, but mainly for the function of lighting. So I asked Blaine about his opinion about landscape lighting left on all evening, even when folks aren't outside. "Do you feel that landscape lighting (affects pollinators) because it's often obviously used well into the evening when people aren't even out there?"
Blaine Rothauser 08:02
Yeah, well, that's that's the key, right, Mary? Yeah, use the lighting you want. Have your parties; when you're done, turn the lights off or off at night. That's all you have to do is, you know, don't use them as ornamentals when nobody's around to enjoy them, although it's hard to convince people of, you know.
Mary Stone 08:24
Yeah, like they have to have the ambiance of Disney Land or something. Is LED lighting any or a little better?
Blaine Rothauser 08:36
LED lights, although they have an ultraviolet spectrum, their intensity is less energy usage is obviously less energy, but you still can attract insects. It's when you accumulate lights on top of lights and cities that you know now it's a beacon, as things, you know, migrate. That's when you have a problem.
Mary Stone 09:06
Right.
Blaine Rothauser 09:08
Yeah, everything is in moderation, right?
Mary Stone 09:11
That's right. And so that's good advice. Turn off the lights when you're not using them. There you go. Turn off the lights. Well, thank you, Blaine. It was such a delight to chat with you.
Mary Stone 09:22
And I have to say he was very modest about his credentials, which reads like a scientific roster of experience. But one of the things that really hit home to me is he is a specialist in threatened and endangered species, as well as his senior credentials as an ecologist and a wetland specialist, and he shares and sells his photos and articles to whoever wants to learn about the beauty of this incredible state. And I am one of them. Thank you, Blaine, for sharing your knowledge with us. And thank you, Kay, for your question. It's so great to learn how to use landscape lighting more politely.
Mary Stone 10:06
Thanks so much for coming by. I always enjoy our time together, and I hope you have as well. If so, I would appreciate it if more of you could take the time to give us a five-star rating if you feel so inclined because for some magical reason, the more we have, the more likely folks will find us and join us. And then more of us will embrace the world we live in and share with our critters. Thanks again. See you next time on the screen porch.
Mary Stone 10:34
You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook or online at Garden Dilemmas.com and Instagram at hashtag Mary Elaine Stone. Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by.I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch. And always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.