| durhamregion.com | This Week | Thursday, July 21, 2022 | 6 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a whollyowned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 70 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the newspaper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca newsroom@durhamregion.com facebook.com/newsdurham @newsdurham WHO WE ARE Vice President Dana Robbins Director of Content Lee Ann Waterman Managing Editor Mike Lacey Director of Advertising Tanya Pacheco Director Distribution Jason Christie Director Creative Services Katherine Porcheron Durham Advisory Council Dan Carter; Esther Enyolu; Jake Farr; Dr. Vidal Chavannes; Cynthia Davis; Elaine Popp/Don Lovisa; John Henry; Sue McGovern; Kerri King; Steve Yamada; Kelly LaRocca; Peter Bethlenfalvy; Dr. Steven Murphy; Norah Marsh; Tracy Paterson; Chris Darling; Christina Curry CONTACT US This Week Phone: 905- 579-4407 Newsroom: 905-215-0462 Sales: 905-215-0424 Classifieds: 1-800-263-6480 Fax: 905-579-2238 Web: www.durhamregion.com Letters to the editor All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at durhamregion.com Delivery For all delivery inquiries, call 905- 579-4407 or visit the Contact Us page on durhamregion.com. OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT DURHAMREGION.COM Most of us know and love the dazzlers. The big colourful butterflies that flit from flower to flower, adding magic to any summer landscape. Tiger swallowtails, monarchs and viceroys, white admirals and mourning cloaks. Neon-orange fritillaries, ranging in size from great spangled to tiny silver-bordered. Even cabbage whites add a joyful note, dancing along every roadside, if you can forgive them for laying their eggs on your cabbage plants. These natives of Eastern Europe are at home around the world now, hitching rides wherever humans travel, ever since camel trains along the Silk Road took them to Asia centuries ago. But there are a lot more butterflies to get to know and love than the flashy ones. Duskywings, pearlyeyes, satyrs and crescents. A whole family of hairstreaks, blue-grey beauties sporting tiny, jewelled patches at the edge of their wings, each unique. And then we have skippers, small orange-brown residents of sedge and grass meadows, the most intriguing of all. I think so, anyway! I used to ignore them when I started getting to know butterflies, overwhelmed by all the names and subtle differences. Now I peer down at them in fascination, eager to spot details that tell them apart. The "airplane" shape on mulberry wings, the chevrons on long dashes. The double yellow "blobs" on Peck's skippers' outer wings, versus the single ones on Hobomoks. Rare glassywing skippers have a white rectangle in the middle of their forewings, telling them apart from equally dark and much more common dun skippers. And silver-spotted skippers, largest of all, flash their large distinguishing marks even in flight. Three species of Ontario skippers are basically orange, so best identified by habitat and behaviour. You'll find least skippers fluttering weakly down in among tall grasses, while larger, powerful Delawares are active in marshes and moist meadows. European skippers, most common of all, inhabit dry grassy fields and roadsides. Introduced to Ontario in 1910, they're very much at home here and still expanding their range. Skippers differ from other butterfly families by often holding their forewings vertically, their hind wings flat when at rest, kind of like minuscule fighter jets. They have broad heads and muscular little bodies that support their rapid flight, some clocked going 30 km/h. Look at skippers up close -- peering through binoculars is helpful -- and you'll see that the clubs of their antennae end in hooked tips. Why is that? Who knows! So many mysteries to wonder about while getting to know these beautiful scale-winged insects we live with. Nature queries: mcarney1490@gmail.com or 905- 725-2116. Metroland columnist Margaret Carney finds so much to discover and marvel at exploring the great outdoors. BEYOND THE BUTTERFLIES THAT 'DAZZLE' MARGARET CARNEY Column Columnist Margaret Carney notes that "skippers differ from other butterfly families by often holding their forewings vertically, their hind wings flat when at rest, kind of like minuscule fighter jets. They have broad heads and muscular little bodies that support their rapid flight, some clocked going 30 km/h." Mike McEvoy photo SILVER-SPOTTED SKIPPER READER DECRIES REGIONAL COUNCIL MOVE To the editor: Some people assume city/regional councillors are endowed with higher intelligence. This could be true, but only in the minds of those same elected individuals who confuse ego with intelligence. I refer to the most recent debacle when council dismissed staff's recommendation regarding 9,300 acres of farmland. Instead, regional council, in its questionable wisdom, went with a proposal from BILD, a development and construction lobby group. Who was surprised by their findings? This entire situation smacks of conflict of interest. What was the point of months of public consultation? Politicians love to have public consultation so that we feel like we have had input, but time and time again public input is ignored. It is well past time to hold councillors' feet to the fire and demand that they answer some very important questions before the next election in October. They are, after all, public servants, and they need to be reminded of that fact. Get out and vote for the candidate(s) who best represent the interests of their constituents. Don't allow them to bury your concerns under political bafflegab. Demand answers that address specific issues. ANGIE YOUROUKIS OSHAWA BILL 124 'DISCRIMINATES' To the editor: The province's Bill 124 is wrong. It continues a practice of discrimination against female-dominated health-care worker positions. Bill 124 takes away workers' rights to go to negotiate collective agreements and limits collective agreements or arbitration awards to a total of not more than 1 per cent a year for three years. Firefighters and police officers, being male-dominated professions, are exempt from Doug Ford's Bill 124. Health-care workers, being female-dominated professions, are being abused. You called us heroes. Show us you were being sincere. Repeal Bill 124. JOAN GATES, RN OSHAWA NEPOTISM CHARGES 'ROOTED' IN TRUTH To the editor: I wonder if Premier Ford appreciates the irony of facing nepotism charges, having elevated his nephew to a cabinet position. After all, the root of the word "nepotism" comes from the Latin "nepos," meaning ... you guessed it... "nephew." JONATHAN O'MARA WHITBY LETTERS & COMMENTARY