Category Archives: CBS

Pilot Mountain/Surry County NABA Count – Aug 9, 2015

7 of us spent Aug 9 under mostly sunny skies counting butterflies from the summit of Pilot Mountain to the Yadkin River. We tallied 41 species with a fantastic 18 species of skippers!

Misses include Pipevine, Zebra and Black Swallowtail, Clouded and Orange Sulphur, Harvester, Snout, Question Mark, either Emperor, Gemmed Satyr and Monarch.

58 E. Tiger swallowtail
4 Spicebush swallowtail
1 Cabbage White
2 Cloudless Sulphur (plus one likely albino)
2 Little Yellow (FOY)
11 Sleepy Orange
3 Gray Hairstreak
24 E Tailed Blue
23 Summer Azure
13 Variegated Fritillary
5 Great spangled Fritillary
38 Pearl Crescent
1 Eastern Comma
2 American Lady
4 Red Admiral
11 Common Buckeye
15 Red-spotted Purple
1 Viceroy
4 Southern Pearly-eye
5 Northern Pearly-eye
1 Appalachian Brown
68 Carolina Satyr
4 Common Wood-nymph
18 Silver-spotted Skipper
1 Hoary Edge
2 Southern Cloudywing
1 Horaces Duskywing
1 Common checkered skipper
1 Swarthy Skipper
17 Least skipper
3 Fiery skipper
3 Pecks skipper
4 Tawny-edged skipper
10 Crossline Skipper
3 Southern Broken-dash
10 Little Glassywing
18 Sachem
11 Delaware skipper
11 Zabulon skipper
2 Lace-winged roadside skipper
1 Common roadside skipper


Brian Bockhahn
birdranger248@gmail.com

Aiken SC NABA Count, July 18, 2015

Here are my results from yesterday.

Event: Aiken NABA Count
Obs: Dennis Forsythe
Date: 18 July 2015
Time: 0800-1500 hrs
Effort: 53 mi by car 1/2 mi on foot
Weather: AM 72 f, light fog turning sunny, PM 95 sunny and scattered clouds
Coverage: The River Golf Course, Revco Road, Horse Creek Waste water Treatment Plant, Old Ferry Rd, Gum Swamp Rd, Silver Bluff Rd, Redcliffe Elem. School, Redcliffe Plantation State Park and Hy 278.
Species:
Black Swallowtail 10 all very fresh and at one location
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 11
Spicebush Swallowtail 2
Zebra Swallowtail 8
Cloudless Sulfur 8
Sleepy Orange 62
Gray Hairstreak 1 very worn
American Snout 15
Gulf Fritillary 2
Variegated Fritillary 21
Question Mark 2
Red Admiral 10
Common Buckeye 12
Pearl Crescent 20
Red-spotted Purple 15
Viceroy 7 tending toward the Florida race in color
Hackberry Emperor 60+
Silver-spotted Skipper 1
Horace’s Duskywing 4
Zarucco Duskywing 10+
Wild Indigo Duskywing 1
White Checkered-Skipper 15 we have collected individuals at this location
Clouded Skipper 1
Fiery Skipper 31
Whirlabout 2
(Very fresh) Male Sachem 1

Dennis

Dennis M. Forsythe PhD
South Carolina Ebird Reviewer
Emeritus Professor of Biology
The Citadel
dennis.forsythe@gmail.com

Haywood County, NC – June 27-28, 2015

After weeks of sunny days and stormy nights in Haywood Co., Saturday was of course cloudy with daytime rains. Sunday was sunny and much cooler with some wind. So Mother Nature did not cooperate as well as she could have for our CBS field trip.

On Saturday, Carl Ganser, Gene Schepker, Roger Wellington, Harry LeGrand, Ruth Young, Salman Abdulali, Bob Olthoff, and Gail Lankford started at the beginning of Harmon’s Den off I-40 and made it to the picnic area below the campground before the rain started at 11:00. We had SIX species –

Tiger ST – few
Pipevine ST – few
Red-spotted Purple – 1
Summer Azures – several
Red Admiral – 1
ETB – few

Three folks left at 11:00. Ruth, Salman, and Gail continued on to Max Patch area and back down Max Patch Rd to I-40. Gene and Carl left, but returned after the first rain ended, retracing their route through Harmon Den up to Max Patch area and then back same way. They had most of same species as Ruth’s group, which added TEN more to the day.

Great Spangled Frit – about 2 dozen
Aphrodite Frit – about 2 dozen
Meadow Frit – 1
Cabbage White – 3
Clouded Sulphur – 1
Orange Sulphur – 1
Pearl Crescent – 1
NORTHERN CRESCENT – 1 (Salman’s photo to Harry and Jeff confirmed)
SSS – 4
Little Glassywing – 1
Also many more ETBs, Summer Azures, Tiger STs, few more Pipevine STs

On Sunday at Purchase Knob (GSMNP) sunny, cool, windy weather for the group above, minus Bob O, and adding Sue and Bill Perry, Janie Owens, and Nancy Cowal. Harry did the compilation below. Added TWO species to the above 16.

Pipevine Swallowtail 2 — on Hwy 276 where we met
E. Tiger Swallowtail 2
Cabbage White 10
Clouded Sulphur 2
Orange Sulphur 30
BANDED HAIRSTREAK 9 probably all males; fresh
E. Tailed-Blue 4
Summer Azure 6
Great Spangled Fritillary 30
Aphrodite Fritillary 40
Meadow Fritillary 7
Pearl Crescent 6
American Lady 3
RED ADMIRAL 3
Silver-spotted Skipper 5

After the trip ended at 2:30, Janie, Nancy, Gail, and Salman went to Cataloochee Valley (GSMNP) for 1.5 hours of butterflying. Added NINE more:

Diana Frit – 4 males
Variegated Frit – 1
Monarch – 1
E. Comma – 1
Cloudless Sulphur – 1
Sleepy Orange – 1
Common Wood Nymph – 1
Dun – 1
Sachem – 1
Also 2 Aphrodite, 3 Pipevine ST, 4 Tiger St, 1 PC, 15 SSS, 1 Little Glassywing, and 1 Clouded Sulphur.

If anyone has corrections to make, please send to c-leps.
Gail Lankford

From Salman Abdulali: Here are the photos of what we have identified as a Northern Crescent:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hx0j8h9wtqy9cxa/PhyciodesHaywood20150627a.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7k8mgpicd97llgi/PhyciodesHaywood20150627b.jpg?dl=0

Savannah NWR, SC/GA NABA Count – June 6, 2015

The second Savannah NWR butterfly count was held on June 6, 2015 with mostly clear skies, warm temperatures and light winds. Three observers in two parties tallied 30 species and 135 individual butterflies. We had the following:

Black Swallowtail 8
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 3
Spicebush Swallowtail 2
Palamedes Swallowtail 5
Orange Sulfur 1
Cloudless Sulfur 1
Sleepy Orange 4
Red-banded Hairstreak 7
Gulf Fritillary 1
Common Buckeye 15
Red-spotted Purple 5
Hackberry Emperor 5
Tawny Emperor 3
Carolina Satyr 8
Horace’s Duskywing 2
Zarucco Duskywing 3
White Checkered-Skipper 1
Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
Clouded Skipper 1
Least Skipper 6
Southern Skipperling 1
Fiery Skipper 18
Southern Broken-Dash 3
Sachem 1
Rare Skipper 1
Broad-winged Skipper 12
PALATKA SKIPPER 2
Salt Marsh Skipper 5

Theresa Thom (compiler) and Dennis Forsythe


Dennis M. Forsythe PhD
South Carolina Ebird Reviewer
Emeritus Professor of Biology
The Citadel
dennis.forsythe@gmail.com

Savannah NWR NABA Count – June 7, 2014

The first Savannah NWR butterfly count was held on June 7, 2014 with mostly clear skies, warm temperatures and light winds. Ten observers in four parties tallied 43 species and 219 individual butterflies. We had the following:

Pipevine Swallowtail 2
Black Swallowtail 8
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1 dark female
Spicebush Swallowtail 2
Zebra Swallowtail 4
Checkered White 2 new county record
Orange Sulfur 3
Cloudless Sulfur 1
Sleepy Orange 1
Red-banded Hairstreak 1
Eastern Tailed-Blue 1
Summer Azure 1
Gulf Fritillary 7
Variegated Fritillary 2
American Lady 1
Red Admiral 1
Common Buckeye 15
Red-spotted Purple 3
Viceroy 10
Hackberry Emperor 6
Tawny Emperor 1
Southern Pearly-eye 2
Appalachian Brown 1
Gemmed Satyr 5
Carolina Satyr 17
Little Wood Satyr 1
Silver-spotted Skipper 3
Zarucco Duskywing 9
White Checkered-Skipper 2
Tropical Checkered-Skipper 1
Least Skipper 13
Southern Skipperling 10
Fiery Skipper 14
Northern Broken-Dash 3
Sachem 1
Byssus Skipper 1
Rare Skipper 3
Zebulon Skipper 1
Broad-winged Skipper 51
Dion Skipper 1
Salt Marsh Skipper 1
spread-winged skipper sp. 1
White sp. 1

Theresa Thom (compiler) and Dennis Forsythe

Dennis M. Forsythe PhD
South Carolina Ebird Reviewer
Emeritus Professor of Biology
The Citadel
dennis.forsythe@gmail.com

South Carolina Mountain Weekend, April 11-12, 2015

The Carolina Butterfly Society’s South Carolina Mountain Weekend was a success with extremely favorable weather and a congenial group. The only disappointment was, the same one experienced by the Midlands Chapter on their field trip to Chesterfield County the previous week, a lack of early season butterflies.

On Saturday, April 11, we covered Sassafras Mountain, Pickens County in the mourning, a very crowded Caesar’s Head State Park in the early afternoon and Ooleney State Park briefly in the late afternoon The later two parks are in Greenville County. Dennis Forsythe was our trip leader. In attendance were Doug Allen, Carl Ganser, Dave and Marty Kastner, Jeff Kline, Paul Seibert and Sherry Robertson.

Sassafras Mountain and road

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 4
Spring Azure 4
Azure species 3
Gemmed Satyr 1
Satyr species 1
Silver-spotted Skipper 1
Juvenal’s Duskywing approx. 98

Caesar’s Head SP

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 3
Falcate Orangetip 1
Cloudless Sulphur 1
Spring Azure 1
Azure species 2
Pearl Crescent 1
Juvenal’s Duskywing 6

Ooleney SP

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 3
Falcate Orangetip 1
Cloudless Sulphur 4
Eastern Tailed-Blue 2
Carolina Satyr 1
Juvenal’s Duskywing 10

On Sunday, April 12, we spent the morning exploring the Peach Orchard Angler’s Access and The Nature Conservancy’s Nine Times Preserve in the afternoon. Both locations are in Pickens County. Dennis Forsythe was our trip leader for the Peach Orchard and Jeff Click was our trip leader for the Nine Times Preserve. In attendance were Doug Allen, Jeff Click, Jean Fontaine, Carl Ganser, Dave and Marty Kastner, and Jeff Kline.

Peach Orchard Angler Access

Pipevine Swallowtail 1
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 4
West Virginia White 2
Red-banded Hairstreak 1
Hairstreak species 1
Spring Azure 4
Azure species 4
Red Admiral 1
Gemmed Satyr 1
Carolina/Intricate Satyr 1
Juvenal’s Duskywing approx. 52
Horace’s Duskywing 1
Duskywing species 1
Silver-spotted Skipper 3

Nine Times Preserve

Pipevine Swallowtail 1
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 12
Spicebush Swallowtail 1
Swallowtail species 1
West Virginia White 3 (one female ovipositing on Cut Leaf Toothworth (Cardamine concatenata) Egg found)
Pearl Crescent 1
Question Mark 1
Red-spotted Purple 1
Carolina/Intricate Satyr 1
Silver-spotted Skipper 4
Juvenal’s Duskywing approx. 165
Pepper and Salt Skipper 1

Marty Kastner and Dennis Forsythe

Roxbury Park and Botany Bay, SC – October 11 & 12, 2014

Carolina Butterfly Society Trip Report
Roxbury Park and Botany Bay, South Carolina
October 11 & 12, 2014

The Carolina Butterfly Society held its final scheduled trip of the season on Edisto Island and in the vicinity on October 11th and 12th. Annie McIlhenny was our trip organizer. On October 11th from 10:00-2:30, 32 people went to Roxbury Park owned by the town of Meggett. Ken Carman is the caretaker there and led us on our walk. He has some great plans for the park including a butterfly garden in addition to the butterfly habitats that already exist. On Sunday, October 12th, 32 of us explored Botany Bay from 10:00-3:30 (though not all stayed until the end). Annie McIlhenny was our leader. Both days were sunny and in the 80’s. Below the first number is from Roxbury Park and the second from Botany Bay.
———————————————–
Additional notes from Doug Allen:
We had 32 butterfliers on the field trip this morning at beautiful new Edisto Island Roxbury Park. I just uploaded photographs of 8 species seen at Roxbury Park and nearby Ace Basin NWR, one a lifer for me and another from the day before, a new SC butterfly for me.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/carolinabutterflies/
———————————————-
Black Swallowtail 0, 1
Cloudless Sulphur 19, 63+
Little Yellow 10, 16
Sleepy Orange 1, 32
Red-banded Hairstreak 1, 0
Gray Hairstreak 2, 3
Eastern Tailed-Blue 0, 1
Gulf Fritillary 21, 381+
Pearl Crescent 8, 0
Painted Lady 0, 3
Common Buckeye 19, 44
Gemmed Satyr 1, 0
Carolina Satyr 15, 8
Monarch 0, 8
Silver-spotted Skipper 0, 1
Long-tailed Skipper 4, 54
Clouded Skipper 2, 5
Southern Skipperling 2, 1
Eufala Skipper 3, 2
Fiery Skipper 4, 2
Whirlabout 2, 0
Dun Skipper 0, 1
Salt Marsh Skipper 1, 0
Ocola Skipper 13, 4
Brazilian Skipper 0, 3
Swallowtail species 0, 1
Satyr species 2, 0
Checkered-Skipper sp 0, 1
Duskywing species 0, 1

10/11 Totals:
18 species
130 butterflies

10/12 Totals:
22 species
635+ butterflies

Trip Totals:
27 species
765 Butterflies

On a couple of side trips to the Ace Basin area and on Edisto Island roads, in addition to the species above some folks saw:
Mourning Cloak
Tropical Checkered-Skipper
Least Skipper

Marty

Marty & Dave Kastner
Blythewood, SC
Richland County

Rockingham County NABA Count – August 28, 2014

Belated results, but here they are!

The fourth ever Rockingham County butterfly count was held on 8/28/14 with mostly clear skies and temperatures ranging from 78-90 degrees. Six observers in two parties tallied 42 species and 857 butterflies. 224 of those were Sachem, 138 Eastern tailed Blue. Just to give you an idea of how bad this year has been for butterflies, let’s take a look at the numbers of last years most numerous butterflies! Last year we had 1101 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, this year only 12! Carolina Satyr went from 582 to 83 and Silver-spotted skipper from 271 to 22.

One species was new to the park area, though long overdue: Red-banded Hairstreak.

Misses were: Black Swallowtail, Cabbage White, Cloudless Sulphur, Question Mark or Eastern Comma, Painted Lady, Red Admiral and Common Wood-nymph.

Many thanks to the counters!

2-Pipevine Swallowtail
12-Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
8-Spicebush Swallowtail
3-Clouded Sulphur
3-Little Yellow
9-Sleepy Orange
3-Gray Hairstreak
1-Red-banded Hairstreak
138-Eastern Tailed-blue
95-Summer Azure
3-Variegated Fritillary
33-Great Spangled Fritillary
6-Silvery Checkerspot
6-Pearl Crescent
1-American Lady
32-Common Buckeye
26-Red-spotted Purple
1-Viceroy
3-Hackberry Emperor
3-Tawny Emperor
21-Northern Pearly-eye
7-Gemmed Satyr
83-Carolina Satyr
2-Monarch
22-Silver-spotted Skipper
2-Horace’s Duskywing
3-Common Checkered-skipper
3-Swarthy Skipper
2-Clouded Skipper
7-Least Skipper
1-Fiery Skipper
2-Tawny-edged Skipper
9-Crossline Skipper
4-Southern Broken-dash
6-Northern Broken-dash
2-Little Glassywing
224-Sachem
36-Deleware Skipper
29-Zabulon Skipper
2-Dun Skipper
2-Ocola Skipper

857 INDIVIDUALS
41 SPECIES


Brian Bockhahn
birdranger248@gmail.com

Surry County NABA Count – Sept 07, 2014

Seven (7) of us participated in the “delayed” Surry Count this year and 15 skipper species saved what could have been a fairly meager count. But we still ended up with 38 species and 320 individual butterflies. The best find was probably the Southern Pearly-eyes which are rarely seen in area. Thanks to all who helped out!

Pipevine Swallowtail 2
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 2
Spicebush Swallowtail 1
Cabbage White 1
Orange Sulphur 2
Cloudless Sulphur 1
Sleepy Orange 20
Gray Hairstreak 1
Eastern Tailed-blue 13
Summer Azure 11
Variegated Fritillary 1
Great Spangled Fritillary 8
Pearl Crescent 22
American Lady 1
Red Admiral 5
Common Buckeye 6
Red-spotted Purple 21
Southern Pearly-eye 2
Appalachian Brown 1
Gemmed Satyr 8
Carolina Satyr 60
Common Wood Nymph 2
Horace’s Duskywing 2
Common Checkered Skipper 1
Least Skipper 3
Fiery Skipper 2
Peck’s Skipper 2
Tawny-edged Skipper 3
Crossline Skipper 6
Southern Broken-dash 3
Northern Broken-dash 18
Little Glassywing 7
Sachem 56
Delaware Skipper 8
Zabulon Skipper 7
Dun Skipper 6
Common Roadside Skipper 4
Silver-spotted Skipper 3

Gene Schepker (and Maggie Wallace Martin, Bud Webster, Lois Koufman, Charles Cameron, Jim Nottke, Sven Halling)

Pettigrew State Park, NC NABA Count – August 31, 2014

Better late than never — the results of the Pettigrew count, held 8 days ago (August 31) have been compiled by Ed Corey, and sent to me for submitting to NABA. The weather was typical hot — 93 degrees for the high at nearby Plymouth, and generally partly cloudy all day; no rain. Of course, the count was hampered by the very severe March weather, and also by the continuing bush-hogging and cleaning of canals and ditches (for better irrigation of fields, I think). This cleaning up has resulted in much fewer stands of verbena along the road margins, and buttonbushes are hard to find, though most were finished blooming anyway.

We again had 5 parties, as with last year; we managed 50 species and 2,510 individuals last year. Thanks to Brian Bockhahn and several others with him, Nick Flanders, Elisa Enders, Signa and Floyd Williams, and Ed Corey for assisting me in the field. Salman Abdulali came down from Greenville, but was called back home early on for a family emergency.

Here are totals, with some comments (most numbers are quite a bit lower than last year, held on Sept. 8):

Zebra Swallowtail 16
Black Swallowtail 2
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 13 terribly low; 88 last year
Spicebush Swallowtail 9
Palamedes Swallowtail 288 (but 250 by Brian’s group)
Cabbage White 11
Orange Sulphur 92
Cloudless Sulphur 101 very low
Sleepy Orange 393
Great Purple Hairstreak 2
Gray Hairstreak 18
Red-banded Hairstreak 49
Eastern Tailed-Blue 2 typically scarce here
Summer Azure 19
Variegated Fritillary 27 quite low
Pearl Crescent 74
Question Mark 1
Eastern Comma 1
American Lady 1 only 1 on last year’s count also!
Painted Lady 8
Red Admiral 23
Common Buckeye 94
Red-spotted Purple 32
Viceroy 24
Southern Pearly-eye 5
CREOLE PEARLY-EYE 1 photo by the Williams; new count record, and a first for Washington County
Carolina Satyr 55 (presumed all this species and not Intricate)
Common Wood-Nymph 8
Monarch 5
Silver-spotted Skipper 177
Horace’s Duskywing 2
Common Checkered-Skipper 3
Common Sootywing 1
Least Skipper 128
Fiery Skipper 83
Crossline Skipper 3 two parties; scarce in this area
Whirlabout 1
NORTHERN BROKEN-DASH 2 photos by Brian; new to the count and new to Washington County; Southern Broken-dash still has never been found on this count!
Sachem 5
Delaware Skipper 1
Dion Skipper 1 low, but early count date; 46 last year on Sept. 8
Dun Skipper 8
Carolina Roadside-Skipper 1 uncommon, but not new for the count
Twin-spot Skipper 3 not new either; near northern edge of range
Ocola Skipper 6

45 species; 1,799 individuals. Missing — Clouded Skipper! Hard to fathom missing this one; we had 9 last year. Other misses from last year were mainly skippers, as we got nearly all of the expected true butterflies.

Harry LeGrand
Raleigh