Dangerous Beauty

I felt privileged this week to witness pine white butterflies in and around our backyard. Privileged for a couple of different reasons. First, it seems they are something of a rarity in our neck of the woods, and second, once taking their butterfly form the pine whites only live for about a week before they die. They are quite lovely really, with their snow white wings veined in black, reminding me of what fairies would look like dancing through the tree tops. Of course there is a dark side to this lovely little flutter by, their larva feed on conifers. In fact, they’ve been described in the past as “one of the most destructive insect enemies of ponderosa pine in the Northwest”. Nature though has a way of taking care of such things, in this case certain wasps help to control the pine whites numbers by parasitizing the larva, along with other predators and parasites and winter egg mortality. I know I’m not supposed to enjoy you, but for now pine white butterfly you needn’t worry about including me on your list of predators. I’m content to watch your dance throughout the tree tops, knowing that your time here on earth is very short-lived indeed.