Triad Trips 2013 and Earlier

These are the trip reports for all the Triad Chapter outings from its formation in 2007 up through 2013.

Click on a title to expand the report and to collapse it again.

Ashe Co., NC, July 13, 2013

 

We had a great turnout of 14 people for the field trip to Ashe County, NC, of the Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society. The number of participants is extraordinarily good for this particular butterfly trip, considering the poor weather conditions that emerged almost at the last minute.

The forecast had been favorable for the trip earlier in the week but had declined quickly on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Several people wondered if we were going to cancel the trip. Despite that, our hardy band showed up. We arrived to find patchy drizzle and fog for the first hour or so. The only butterflies we saw through the fog were those painted on a tour bus next to the Church of the Frescoes in Glendale Springs. The morning remained heavily overcast as we worked the grasses and shrubbery along the New River, although it brightened slowly until we stopped for lunch. The afternoon brightness continued, and we even had a few scattered patched of weak sun before ending around 3:30.

We worked hard to find butterflies under these conditions. It¹s doubtful that anyone saw every species the group recorded, but we ended the day with the following respectable cumulative list of 16 species:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail   6
Cabbage White   2
Clouded Sulphur   1
Orange Sulphur   2
American Copper   1
Eastern Tailed-Blue   3
Azure sp   11
Great Spangled Fritillary   3
Silvery Checkerspot no adults, 6 caterpillars on wingstem, Verbesina alternifolia
Satyr sp   1
Anglewing sp   1
American Lady   1
Common Buckeye   1
Viceroy   1
Silver-spotted Skipper 6 adults plus 1 caterpillar on locust
Little Glassywing   2

Bob Perkins, with other participants such as Bill Dunson and Gene Schepker pitching in, put together the following list of other insects:

Moths –
Mythimna unipuncta, Armyworm
Zanclognatha lituralis
Thyris maculata, Spotted Thyris (Dunson photo)

Odonates –
Common Whitetail
Widow Skimmer
Ebony Jewelwing
Variable Dancer

Eyed Click Beetle, Alaus oculatus

Many thanks to Judy Scurry, who guided us to several good butterflying spots and opened her beautiful home to us overlooking the South Fork of the New River.

Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC
Guilford County
deburnette@triad.rr.com

Guilford County, June 9, 2013

 

The Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society and the Audubon chapter in Guilford county had a joint event at the Greensboro Arboretum on Sunday afternoon, June 9. We were in the garden from about 3:30 until 5:00. It was sunny and hot. As has been the case all season, the butterfly list was paltry. The one bright spot was a Monarch (female) nectaring on some of the plantings. This is the first Monarch I and most of the rest of the group have seen this year.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail   1
Orange Sulphur   1
Cabbage White   1
Eastern Tailed-blue   1
American Lady   1
Monarch   1
Silver-spotted Skipper   4
Horace¹s Duskywing   1
Northern Broken-dash   1
Little Glassywing   2

Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC
Guilford County
deburnette@triad.rr.com

Rockingham Co., June 23, 2012

 

The Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society held a butterfly field trip to Rockingham County on coming Saturday, June 23rd. Participants included Nancy Adamson, Don Allemann, John Barlow, Margaret Barlow, Dennis Burnette, Carl Ganser, Gregg Morris, Gene Schepker, and Cherrill Wallen.

We spent the most time at Lake Reidsville Park. The most productive area was the edge of a mowed field where it met the woods. The lake area wasn¹t very good for butterflies this year. There were a few butterflies on and near Pickerelweed below a footbridge. However, the Swamp Milkweed and all but two small Button Bushes at the lake edge that were so productive two years ago were missing this year. After lunch we went to a nearby rural 4-H center, but there were few nectar flowers and even fewer butterflies.

Butterflies have been scarce throughout June in this part of the Piedmont. We had to work for the small number we saw, but in the end we did have a list of 17 species when we added together what our various participants saw individually. More importantly, everyone seemed to have a good time.

The following list is of all butterflies seen by at least one participant in Rockingham County:

Black Swallowtail   1
Cabbage White   1
Orange Sulphur   1
Sleepy Orange   2
Gray Hairstreak   1
Eastern Tailed-Blue   7
Azure sp   3
Pearl Crescent   15
American Lady   2
Mourning Cloak   1
Red-spotted Purple   1
Carolina Satyr   5
Cloudywing sp.   1
Silver-spotted Skipper   1
Least Skipper   7
Fiery Skipper   2
Sachem   18
Species total:   17

Dennis
— Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC Guilford County
deburnette@triad.rr.com

Butterfly Photo Workshop, June 9, 2012

 

Last Sunday afternoon, June 9, 18 people learned more about shooting great photos of butterflies in a joint event with the T. Gilbert Pearson (Guilford County) chapter of National Audubon Society at our Beginner¹s Butterfly Photography Workshop. Folks spent over an hour in the classroom learning techniques and sharpening camera skills and then the next hour and a half wandering through the beautiful garden of the Greensboro Arboretum shooting picture of butterflies (see list below), as well as flowers, bees, and any other interesting subject that caught the eye.

Here¹s our butterfly list for the afternoon. Note that it includes a Monarch, a species that has been scarce this year. This was the first of the season for most of us.

Butterfly species:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail   1
Orange Sulphur   1
Cabbage White   1
Eastern Tailed-blue   1
American Lady   1
Monarch   1
Silver-spotted Skipper   4
Horace¹s Duskywing   1
Northern Broken-dash   1
Little Glassywing   2

Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC
Guilford County
deburnette@triad.rr.com

Cedarock Park, Alamance Co., May 12, 2012

 

This is a very tardy report on our Carolina Butterfly Society Triad Chapter field trip to Cedarock Park in Alamance County on Saturday, May 12.

Ten of us explored the meadows, open woods and woodland edges of this large park. Participants included Don Allemann, John Barlow, Margaret Barlow, Dennis Burnette, Sven Halling, Maxine Kelly, Shirley McCabe, Gregg Morris, Ann Newsome, and Gene Schepker. We were there at the same time as a celebration of turtles, snakes and frogs sponsored by UNCG and Elon University, so the booths and demonstrations were of interest to most of us.

We were there from 10:00 to 12:30 under a beautiful sunny sky. By the end of the morning, we had seen 23 species of butterflies. There were no unusual species, although Northern Pearly-eye was a first of season sighting for all of us. Zabulon Skippers continue to be present in good numbers, while Sachems are unusually scarce. Also scarce were swallowtails of all species.

Here’s our list for the day:

Zebra Swallowtail   1
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail   1
Cabbage White   3
Orange Sulphur   3
Cloudless Sulphur   1
Eastern Tailed-Blue   8
Azure sp   1
American Snout   3
Silvery Checkerspot   2
Pearl Crescent   3
Question Mark   5
American Lady   1
Common Buckeye   4
Red-spotted Purple   1
Hackberry Emperor   4
Northern Pearly-eye   1
Little Wood Satyr   3
Carolina Satyr   6
Silver-spotted Skipper   2
Clouded Skipper   1
Zabulon Skipper   8
Little Glassywing   1
Sachem   1

Dennis
— Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC Guilford County
deburnette@triad.rr.com

Butterfly House Field Trip Report, Feb 11,2012

 

On Saturday, Feb. 11th, the Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society had a field trip to the Magic Wings Butterfly House at the Museum of Life & science in Durham. Again this year our host was Richard Stickney, who arranged free admission for the first 8 people who registered.

Richard is a curator of the Butterfly House, a 35-foot tall conservatory filled with over 250 species of tropical plants and hundreds of butterflies from Asia, Africa, and Central America. Not only did we get to temporarily immerse ourselves in the warmth of the tropics on a cool February day, Richard also took us behind the scenes into the chrysalis room where he manages hundreds of chrysalises each week. We even had the opportunity to taste some of the tropical fruits that were ripening in the conservatory. Later after our guided tour of the Butterfly House, he gave us a guided tour of the museum¹s adjacent insectarium. At the conclusion of our tour, most of the group went to a nearby restaurant where we treated Richard to lunch as a thank-you for an excellent experience.

For photos from this trip, see the Triad Chapter Photo Gallery.

Many thanks to Richard and the Museum of Life & Science for a great experience!

Dennis

Greensboro Arboretum Butterfly Report, Sept 11, 2011

 

On Sunday, Sept. 11, the Triad Chapter of Carolina Butterfly Society held a back-to-basics butterfly walk at the Greensboro Arboretum in Greensboro, NC. We had a good turn out of 18 members and guests from Greensboro (Guilford Co.), High Point (Guilford Co.), Kernersville (Forsyth Co.), Madison (Rockingham Co.) and Galax, VA.

As planned, we took the time needed to study the butterflies we found in order to improve our identification skills, rather than trying to find the largest number of butterflies possible. Participants brought field guides and made good use of them. On several occasions we passed around field guides and made sure that everyone had the opportunity to examine field marks. Several people shot photos of the butterflies.

The number of butterflies was lower than normal, both species and individuals. The abundance of bees and other pollinators indicated that flowers were producing nectar, so food was available. In two and a half hours, we were able to find and study 9 species of butterflies plus one attractive moth species.

Species:
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail   ­ 3
Cabbage White   ­ 4
Sleepy Orange  ­ 3
Great Spangled Fritillary  ­ 1
Pearl Crescent   ­ 1
Common Buckeye   ­ 4
Zarucco Duskywing   ­ 6 (no Horace¹s)
Fiery Skipper   ­ 9
Sachem   ­ 5
Ailanthus Webworm Moth   ­ 5

Participants: Don Allemann, John Barlow, Margaret Barlow, Dennis Burnette, Lynn Burnette, Beth Bursick, Bill Dunson, Margaret Dunson, Cheryl Garrity, Barbara Hughes, Pat Jackson, Laura Karendal, Matthew Karendal, Mike Karendal, Julien McCarthy, Gregg Morris, Judith Pate, Ann Walter-Fromson.

Dennis

Dennis E. Burnette
Greensboro, NC 27410
deburnette@triad.rr.com

Greensboro Arboretum Butterfly Report, June 18, 2011

 

The Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society had a beautiful morning for our garden walk in the Greensboro Arboretum on Saturday, June 18, 2011. It was around 85 degrees and sunny with a light breeze. We had 11 participants including Don Allemann, John Barlow, Margaret Barlow, Dennis Burnette, Lynn Burnette, Carl Ganser, Gregg Morris, Brooks Mullane, Nannette Wilson, plus a visitor from Master Gardeners, Kathy and son James.

Butterflies were rather scarce, despite the nice day. Presumably, the continuing drought is having an effect on how much nectar is being produced. In about two and a half hours we found 32 butterflies of 10 species. Here¹s the list:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail   4
Cabbage White   3
Orange Sulphur   1
Common Buckeye   1
Monarch   1
Silver-spotted Skipper   7
Horace¹s Duskywing   5
Zarucco Duskywing   5
Fiery Skipper   3
Sachem   2

Recently Jim Nottke posted a butterfly list from his farm and commented that butterflies seem to be increasing in western Forsyth County. In a separate email, Harry LeGrand directed interested folks to a website that graphically shows the drought conditions in North Carolina. I’ve attached a map from that site. It’s interesting that in our part of the upper Piedmont, the drought line seems to be approximately the county line between Forsyth and Guilford. That would help explain the few butterflies we found compared to what Jim reported.

More butterfly walks and field trips are still to come!

Dennis

Dennis E. Burnette
Greensboro, NC 27410
deburnette@triad.rr.com

Blue Ridge Parkway, September 25, 2010

 

For the fourth year, the Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society celebrated the first weekend of autumn with a field trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway to look for migrating Monarchs and other butterflies, fall wildflowers, and birds on Saturday, September 25th. The weather was perfect for wildlife watching with a partly cloudy sky, a light breeze, and a high near 80.

We were joined by members of the T. Gilbert Pearson (Guilford Co.) chapter of the Audubon Society and the Piedmont Bird Club. We had a great turn out of 17 participants including Don Allemann, John Barlow, Margaret Barlow, Jane Blackburn, Gay Bowles, John Bowles, Dennis Burnette, Lynn Burnette, Sue Cole, Helen DeCasper, David Kastner, Marty Kastner, Lyn McCoy, Judith Pate, Bill Perkins, Bob Perkins, and Sally Zwadyk.

Our first stop was the Blue Ridge Music Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Galax, VA. We had intended to stay there for only an hour or so, but the butterflies and wildflowers were so good that we stayed until noon and ate a picnic lunch on the grounds while listening to a music performance.

We then made stops south along the BRP in North Carolina at various overlooks and open areas. By around 3:30 when folks began to drop out to head home, we had reached our day total of 28 species. Several of us who were spending the night went on to Mahogany Rock and Doughton Park, adding a few more numbers but no additional species.

There were two surprises. Based on reports from earlier in the year, a good number of Pipevine Swallowtails was hoped for but we saw only one very tattered individual. Secondly, we found three Little Yellows, a species that we haven¹t seen in the previous three years on similar field trips to the BRP. The ³invasion² this year in other parts of North Carolina seems to include this part of the mountains.

Monarch migration was excellent. We ran into Ken Bridle who had been leading a Piedmont Land Conservancy field trip on Fisher Peak. He reported seeing a Monarch roost tree with an estimated 300 butterflies at around 9:00 am just as the air was warming. We stopped at Mahogany Rock Overlook where the annual hawk count was going on and learned that one of the counters had recorded over 300 Monarchs flying over by around 3:30. Our group counted about 100, and certainly missed counting many more flying over us.

Photos of the field trip may be seen at the following site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisburnette/sets/72157624927230167/

Below is our list of butterflies:

First number: Blue Ridge Music Center, Grayson Co., Virginia   20 species
Second number: Blue Ridge Parkway, Alleghany Co., North Carolina   23 species
Third number: Doughton Park, Wilkes Co., North Carolina   7 species (4:45-5:30)

Total field trip species   28

Pipevine Swallowtail   1, 0, 0
Black Swallowtail   1, 0, 0
Spicebush Swallowtail   1, 0, 0
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail   1, 4, 1
Cabbage White   7, 2, 0
Clouded Sulphur   25, 2, 1
Orange Sulphur   1, 2, 0
Cloudless Sulphur   3, 0, 0
Little Yellow   0, 3, 0
Sleepy Orange   0, 2, 0
American Copper   0, 8, 1
Eastern Tailed-Blue   5, 5, 0
³Summer² Azure   1
Variegated Fritillary   7, 4, 4
Great Spangled Fritillary   1, 2, 0
Meadow Fritillary   12, 4, 1
Pearl Crescent   27, 25, 0
American Lady   0, 2, 0
Red Admiral   2, 0, 0
Common Buckeye   10 + 1 caterpillar, 6, 1
Red-spotted Purple   4 + 3 eggs, 5, 0
Monarch   47 + 1 caterpillar, 52 + 2 caterpillars, 12
Silver-spotted Skipper   0, 1, 0
Common Checkered-Skipper   0, 3, 0
Least Skipper   7, 2, 0
Fiery Skipper   0, 2, 0
Peck¹s Skipper   1, 1, 0
Sachem   3, 1, 0
[Forest Looper Moth 1]

— Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC Guilford County
deburnette@triad.rr.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisburnette

Townsend Trail, NC, September 12, 2010

 

The Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society had a beautiful day for our butterfly hike on the Townsend Trail in Greensboro, Guilford Co., NC on Sunday, 9/12/10. It was about 83 degrees under a partly cloudy sky with a light breeze. Seven of us included Don Allemann, Dennis Burnette, Helen DeCasper. Lois Koufman, Gregg Morris, Emily Smith, and Kris, whose last name I didn¹t get.

As planned, we walked part of the eastern portion of the City of Greensboro¹s Townsend Trail from the Southshore Road trailhead near the Bryan Park Soccer Complex. This part of the trail goes through open woods, past a pond, and into a power line right of way. We did a bit less than a mile of the trail, which is about 3.5 miles one way.

Our star of the day was a Little Yellow (possibly two), an uncommon species that seems to be booming in Guilford County this year. The numbers champion, however, was Common Buckeye, which was uncountable because of the large number that kept popping up from the trail and out of the grass and then disappearing. We found about 8 Common Buckeye caterpillars feeding on gerardia. Common Wood-Nymph was a nice surprise, although all three were fly-bys across the open area heading for the woodland edge.

Here's our list of species:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail   8
Orange Sulphur   1 (albino form)
Cloudless Sulphur   7
Little Yellow   1
Sleepy Orange   9
Gray Hairstreak   1
Eastern Tailed-Blue   8
Variegated Fritillary   4
Pearl Crescent   3
Common Buckeye   20+ (plus 8 caterpillars)
Red-spotted Purple   1
Common Wood-Nymph   3
Common Checkered-Skipper   3
Common Sootywing   1
Fiery Skipper   1
Sachem   2
Total species   16

— Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC Guilford County
deburnette@triad.rr.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisburnette

Greensboro NC Arboretum, August 29, 2010

 

Four of us, Dave Kastner, Marty Kastner, Lynn Burnette, and I, spent about an hour and a half in the Greensboro Arboretum (Guilford Co., NC) this morning from around 10:15 to 11:45. The weather was mostly sunny, 85 degrees, little breeze, and humid. The Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ is just beginning to bloom and is attracting a lot of activity. Lantana also is bring in a lot of butterflies.

We saw the following butterflies:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail   12
Cabbage White   3
Cloudless Sulphur   1
Sleepy Orange   3
Eastern Tailed-Blue   1
Common Buckeye   16+
Monarch   6
Horace¹s Duskywing   10+
Silver-spotted Skipper   3
Common Sootywing   1
Fiery Skipper   20+
Northern Broken-Dash   2
Southern Broken-Dash   1
Sachem   20+

— Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC Guilford County
deburnette@triad.rr.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisburnette

Alamance Co. Butterfly Field Trip, July 25, 2010

 

Even with a high temperature of about 98 degrees on a mostly sunny afternoon, we had a good turnout today, Sunday, July 25th, for the Alamance County (NC) butterfly field trip of the Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society. Ten participants included Don Allemann, John Barlow, Margaret Barlow, Dennis Burnette, Helen DeCasper, Shirley McCabe, Lynn Moseley, Gene Schepker, Richard Stickney, and Ann Walter-Fromson.

As planned, we met at 1:30 pm on the Moseley property near Graham and began butterflying immediately around the butterfly bush next to the driveway. After watching butterflies on the flowers around the house, we explored the grassy meadow, where we were treated to a beautiful native wildflower, Rose Pink, Sabatia angularis. Then we walked the woodland trail along Little Alamance Creek where we looked without success for signs of Zebra Swallowtail caterpillars in the small grove of pawpaw trees. We finished the walk at a small woodland pond where we watched numerous dragonflies.

We ended with 12 butterfly species after about two hours of walking in the heat. Here¹s the list:

4   Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
1   Orange Sulphur
4   Eastern Tailed-Blue
1   Anglewing sp
3   Pearl Crescent
4   Red Admiral
1   Red-spotted Purple
2   Carolina Satyr
4   Silver-spotted Skipper
1   Hoary-edged Skipper
1   Crossline Skipper
1   Little Glassywing

Several participants were interested in dragonflies. Here¹s that list:

Eastern Pondhawk, Erythemis simplicicollis
Slaty Skimmer, Libellula incesta
Common Whitetail, Libellula lydia
Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Libellula pulchella
Great Blue Skimmer, Libellula vibrans
Blue Dasher, Pachydiplax longipennis
Eastern Amberwing, Perithemis tenera
Ebony Jewelwing, Calopteryx maculata

Many thanks to Lynn Moseley for leading us around her property and then treating us to cold lemonade and snacks in her air conditioned family room, where we watched birds at close range coming to her feeding stations near the windows.

— Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC Guilford County
deburnette@triad.rr.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisburnette

Ashe County, NC, July 10, 2010

 

We had a good turn out of Carolina Butterfly Society members and guests on our midsummer field trip to Ashe County in the North Carolina mountains. Twelve people enjoyed great weather and saw 97 butterflies of 27 species plus two day-flying moths. Our group included members from both North Carolina and South Carolina.

We were fortunate that the predicted rain came through early, so by the time we started at 9:30, it was partly cloudy with temperatures in the low 70s. Conditions got even better as the sky cleared and the temperature rose to the mid 80s with a cooling breeze most of the day until we finished around 4:30.

We owe a great deal of thanks to Judy Scurry who hosted the trip for the second year. She guided us to meadows and two large butterfly gardens near the ³Church of the Fresco² in Glendale Springs; Elk Shoals Methodist Camp along the new River; and the Wagoner Rd. access of New River State Park. At midday she opened her home to us for a picnic lunch on the porch with a spectacular view of the New River.

After the planned activities of the day concluded, six members of the group drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway on the way home, stopping for about 45 minutes at a meadow near the lodge in Doughton Park in Alleghany Co. where we added three more species to the day list.

If you would like to see photos of pretty butterflies, flowers and other images from our field trip, go to my Flickr site and click on the most recent CBS set:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisburnette/collections/72157622713445888/

Below is our tally for the day.

First number Ashe Co. / Second number Alleghany Co.

Pipevine Swallowtail   26+ / 0
Black Swallowtail   1 / 0
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail   16 / 2
Spicebush Swallowtail   4 / 0
Cabbage White   7 / 0
Clouded Sulphur   5 / 0
Orange Sulphur   5 / 3
American Copper   1 / 0
Gray Hairstreak   1 / 0
Eastern Tailed-Blue   25+ / 4
Summer Azure   3
Variegated Fritillary   3 / 0
Great Spangled Fritillary   1 / 4
Aphrodite Fritillary   0 / 1
Meadow Fritillary   4 / 0 (including a pair mating)
Pearl Crescent   4 / 0
Common Buckeye   1 / 0
Red-spotted Purple   6 / 0
Common Wood-Nymph   0 / 4
Monarch   1 / 0
Silver-spotted Skipper   40 / 2
Common Sootywing   1 / 0 (laying eggs on pigweed)
Least Skipper   1 / 0
Fiery Skipper   1 / 0
Northern Broken Dash   1 / 0
Little Glassywing   1 / 0
Sachem   18 / 0
Butterfly Species ­   27; Individuals   97

Snowberry Clearwing Moth   2 / 0
Eight-spotted Forester Moth   1 / 0

Participants: Dennis Burnette, Lynn Burnette, Robert Eaddy, Stephanie Eaddy, Carl Ganser, Diane Jessup, Shirley McCabe, Gregg Morris, Gene Schepker, Judy Scurry, Wardene Statham, Sally Zwadyk

— Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC Guilford County
deburnette@triad.rr.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisburnette

PeeDee, NC NABA Count, June 26, 2010

 

Seven dedicated lepsters (and odonatesters(?)…yes most of us are oldsters too, but young in enthusiasm and curiosity!…and birders) braved the heat(mid 90’s) humidity, horseflies and ticks, (though the heat was not as bad as earlier in the week due to some partly cloudy skies and a little rain Friday night) to do our annual NABA count. As with other parts of the Piedmont our numbers and species were not as prolific as in past years. (I am going to try to schedule this count earlier in June next year). Observers with me were Jim Nottke, Gene Schepker, Lois Schneider,David McCloy,Carl Ganser and Charlie Cameron. Thanks all for coming. It is always a pleasure to have an outing, hot or otherwise with fellow naturalists in the Carolinas.

The main nectar plant was Rubeckia that was along many road sides. Some Horace’s were on Eupatorium and the flowers of Sourwood. Except for a Least Skipper we found no other folded wing skippers which was disappointing. Red Spotted Purple(mineralizing on the gravel roads) and Sleepy Oranges were the dominant species this year.

The regular summer resident birds were very good including 4 or more thrushes, which Gene remarked that I believe his grandmother said ” the Wood Thrushes song on a hot summer day was like a refreshing drink of water”(?) (Gene feel free to correct me!…anyway I agree with the sentiment… one of my favorite bird songs…there is Thrush that seems to be in the woods behind the bathrooms every year) and dragonflies were flying almost every wet area we visited.

Charlie saw a recently born fawn hiding in the undergrowth of the bottomland woods below Sullivan’s Pond just as we broke up for the day at 3pm . At least 3 Fox Squirrels were seen and 3 Great Blue Heron. The refuge is adding some great boardwalks(recycled plastic planks) near the Sullivan’s Pond impoundment area and bottomlands and asphalting the wildlife drive for better access. The lakes are being restocked for fishing.

Thanks as always to refuge manager, JD Bricken and staff for hosting us.

June 26th NABA count starting at 9:30

Red Spotted Purple   20
Sleepy Orange   47
Red Admiral   10
Hackberry Emperor   9
Tawny Emperor   1
Cloudless Sulphur   8
Pearl Crescent   9
Horace Duskywing   5
Common Wood Nymph   2
Least Skipper   2
Question Mark   1
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail   2
Gray Hairstreak   3
Summer Azure   1
Eastern Tailed Blue   5
Common Checkered Skipper   13
Silver Spotted Skipper   1
Orange Sulphur   1
Variegated Fritillary   2   1 caterpillar
Carolina Satyr   6
American Lady   5
American Snout   1
Common Buckeye   4

We hunted for Gemmed Satyr along a re-vegetating road I had seen numerous ones in years past but found none this year.

A Black Etched Prominent moth caterpillar on I believe Jewelweed thanks to Jim’s ID book.

On my scouting trip Friday 25th, a more intensely hotter(high 90’s) and clearer day than Saturday. 8:30- 1:30 pm

Sleepy Orange   8
Red Admiral   4
LITTLE WOOD SATYR   1
Red Spotted Purple   10
Hackberry Emperor   2
Cloudless Sulphur   3
American Snout   3
Common Buckeye   3
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail   1
Question Mark   1
Horace Duskywing   2
Not certain on this one… Confused Cloudywing… which we could not relocate Sat in same area.   1

ODONATES

Blue Dasher
Slaty Skimmer
Common Whitetail M/F
Black Saddlebags
Widow Skimmer M/F
Twelve Spotted Skimmer
Eastern Pond Hawk M/F
Halloween Pennant
Banded Pennant
Powdered Dancer Immature male in woods along PeeDee river that sat for long period of observation

Jules Fraytet
Charlotte, NC

Greensboro Arboretum and Legacy Garden, NC Count, June 19, 2010

 

The Triad Chapter – Carolina Butterfly Society held a garden walk at the Greensboro (NC) Arboretum on Saturday, June 19. We had a good turn out of 12 participants including Don Allemann, John Barlow, Margaret Barlow, Dennis Burnette, Lynn Burnette, Sue Cole, Helen DeCasper, Julien McCarthy, Gregg Morris, Judith Pate, Gene Schepker, and Ann Walter-Fromson.

It was 81 degrees and sunny when we met at the Education Center at 9:00 am. We looked for butterflies until around 10:30. From there we went to the Legacy Garden at the Cooperative Extension office as it was getting cloudy and muggy. We finished there at about 11:45 and then went to a nearby pizza parlor for lunch together.

The slump in the butterfly population* continues in our area. We actually had more butterfliers than butterfly species on this trip! We saw only 25 butterflies of just 10 species. Below is our list. The first number is the arboretum and the second is the Legacy Garden.

E. Tiger Swallowtail   1/0 (male)
Cabbage White   1/1
Sleepy Orange   1/0
Eastern Tailed-Blue   1
“Summer” Azure   0/1
Pearl Crescent   1/2
Silver-spotted Skipper   1/1
Horace’s Duskywing   8/0
Fiery Skipper   2/0
Sachem   3/1

*Note: Whatever has knocked back the butterflies in Guilford County also may have affected other insects. We have few lightening bugs so far this year, and there are few cicadas singing.

Dennis
— Dennis Burnette Greensboro, NC Guilford County
deburnette@triad.rr.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisburnette

Mayo River State Park, NC Count, June 06, 2010

 

Dennis has posted photos from this trip on his Flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisburnette

On Sunday, June 6, 2010, six members of the Triad Chapter ­ Carolina Butterfly Society made a first foray for our group to Mayo River State Park in western Rockingham County, NC near the Virginia border. The park is new, having just opened to the public in April, 2010. Participants included Dennis Burnette, Lynn Burnette, Helen DeCasper, Julien McCarthy, Gregg Morris, and George Wheaton.

We concentrated our efforts along the creek and old pond near the large picnic shelter and the park office, along the grassy shoulder near the park entrance, and in a noncontiguous property north of the main park that leads to a small waterfall. We also drove a short distance north just across the Virginia state line to the Mayo River bridge, watching for patches of blooming milkweed and dogbane along the way.

Although this part of the butterfly season normally tends to be a bit slow, particularly for grass skippers, the number of butterflies seemed a bit lower than usual. We saw 12 species in NC and added number 13 across the state line. Great Spangled Fritillary was the clear winner in numbers; we saw at least 27 on the field trip. Most of the rest were single digits. For those who like dragonflies, we saw 10 species. The lists for both are below.

Lepidoptera:

Zebra Swallowtail   1
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail   6 (including 1 caterpillar)
Spicebush Swallowtail   2
Orange Sulphur   1
³Summer² Azure   1
Eastern Tailed-Blue   8
Red Admiral   1
Great Spangled Fritillary   15
Little Wood Satyr   1
Southern Cloudywing   1
Crossline Skipper   1
Eastern Buck Moth Caterpillar Hemileuca maia

Across the state line in Virginia –
Zebra Swallowtail   3
Red Spotted Purple   1
Great Spangled Fritillary   12
Grape Leaf Skeletonizer Moth, Harrisina Americana

Dragonflies:

Ashy Clubtail
Banded Pennant
Eastern Pondhawk
Spangled Skimmer
Slaty Skimmer
Widow Skimmer
Common Whitetail
Eastern Amberwing
Carolina Saddlebags
Black Saddlebags

Dennis
— Dennis Burnette Greensboro, NC Guilford County
deburnette@triad.rr.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisburnette

Reynolda Gardens, NC Count, May 29, 2010

 

Four of us walked part of Reynolda Gardens at Wake Forest Univ this morning from 10 til noon – mid-70s and sunny – still not many skippers around;

4   Tiger Swallowtail
7   Cabbage White
18  Orange Sulphur
14  Eastern Tailed Blue
2   Summer Azure
1   Great Spangled Fritillary
1   Pearl Crescent
4   Red Admiral
2   Common Buckeye
5   Southern Pearly-eye good photos
1   Carolina Satyr
1   Fiery Skipper
2   Sachem

* Carol Gearhart, Stan Gillen, Jim Nottke, Gene Schepker

Jim Nottke
Pfafftown, NC

Davidson County, NC Count, May 16, 2010

 

On Sunday, May 16, six of us (*) enjoyed the excellent butterflying conditions (low 80s, light breeze, mostly sunny) covering Finch Park, the High Rock Boat Landing, and Boone’s Cave Park. This 2nd annual Davidson count was 2 weeks earlier than last year – I have compared the two years below. Many photos were taken. We saw, but were unable to photograph nor confirm IDs of a duskywing, a couple colias species, and several dark swallowtails, including one that appeared to be a Palamedes, but we could not catch up to it in the woods.

First number is 2010 result, 2nd number is from the 2009 count:

0   2   Zebra Swallowtail
2   0   Pipevine Swallowtail
3   0   Black Swallowtail
16  1   Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
8   2   Cabbage White
0   3   Clouded Sulphur
1   1   Orange Sulphur
24   26  Banded Hairstreak found at both parks both years
3   30  Eastern Tailed Blue
12  4   Azure
1   0   Variegated Fritillary
2   6   Great Spangled Fritillary
1   0   Pearl Crescent
24  4   Question Mark a polygonia year
12  5   Eastern Comma ” “
0   7   Mourning Cloak
1   7   American Lady
3   2   Red Admiral
1   0   Common Buckeye
4   3   Red Spotted Purple
24  9   Hackberry Emperor
1   0   Tawny Emperor
0   1   Northern Pearly-eye
0   3   Southern Pearly-eye
4   2   Carolina Satyr
27  5   Little Wood Satyr
2   5    Silver Spotted Skipper
4   6   Hoary Edge
0   1   Southern Cloudywing
0   1   Northern Cloudywing
0   1   Hayhurst’s Scallopwing
0   2   Common Sootywing
0   1   Clouded Skipper
5   1   Least Skipper
0   1   Fiery Skipper
1   8   Crossline Skipper
1   3   Sachem
14  4   Zabulon Skipper

2010 totals – 27 species, 202 individual butterflies
2009 totals – 32 species, 157 individual butterflies

* – Charlie Cameron, Jules Fraytet, Jim Nottke, Gene Schepker, Lois Schneider, Sheila Zuccaro

Southern Pines area, NC Count, April 3, 2010

 

Dennis has uploaded photos from this trip to his Flikr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisburnette

The Carolina Butterfly Society had a great first of the season field trip on Saturday, April 3, 2010. Eighteen of us explored some of the Sandhills region of North Carolina in the Southern Pines area. We were looking for early spring butterflies, in particular the ephemeral spring species Falcate Orangetip, Brown Elfin, Henry’s Elfin, and Yucca Giant Skipper. By the end of the day we had seen eight species of butterflies including all of our targets except Henry’s Elfin.

Our group included people who also were interested in other insects, amphibians and reptile, birds, and native plants. That gave many of us the opportunity to learn about other wildlife of the sandhills region.

We met at Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve, Southern Pines, NC, in Moore County at 10:00 am. The weather throughout the day was partly cloudy to clear, with temperatures in the upper 70s and low 80s. Our leader and organizer of the trip was David McCloy. David had arranged for us to be guided by Park Superintendent Scott Hartley. Both did an excellent job. One of our group, Bruce Sorrie, has done botanical field work in the area and was very helpful with the plants we saw.

We began by walking part of the main section of Weymouth Woods where Trailing Arbutus and Carolina Ipecac were in bloom. From there Scott led us to the Paint Hill Tract of Weymouth Woods, where we saw one of our target species, Brown Elfin. Pixie Moss, a rare sandhills endemic plant, was still in bloom. We then went to the grounds around Scott’s residence to look for Yucca Giant-Skipper, which hadn’t emerged yet. We did see a Falcate Orangetip.

During the morning, birders in the group enjoyed hearing Bachman’s Sparrow singing on at least two occasions. Some folks got to see an American Kestrel, which was probably nesting nearby, chasing and striking a Red-tailed Hawk.

After a picnic lunch, David led us to the Bagget’s Lake area of the Sandhills Game Lands in nearby Richmond County. On the way in we came across a mud puddle that was attracting at least six azures that all appeared to be of the same species, probably Spring Azures, as well as a couple of Juvenal’s Duskywings. Golden Club was in full bloom around the edge of Bagget’s Lake, and pitcher plant was just beginning to send up flower stalks. Bruce guided us to a patch of yucca nearby where we finally saw another target species, a lone Yucca Giant-Skipper. It was uncooperative for photographers, unfortunately.

Below is a list of butterflies that we saw. Although this was a butterfly field trip, many of the participants were interested in other taxonomic groups, so some of the highlights of other species seen also are listed.

Date: April 3, 2010
Time: 10:00 – 4:00
Participants: 18

Butterflies:

Moore County (Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 3
Falcate Orangetip 1
Brown Elfin 2
Azure sp 3
Juvenal’s Duskywing 5

Richmond County (Sandhills Game Lands, Bagget’s Lake area)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 2
Falcate Orangetip 1
Eastern Tailed-Blue 2
Azure sp 6
Anglewing sp 1
Juvenal’s Duskywing 4
Yucca Giant-Skipper 1

Moths:
Red-fringed Emerald (Nemoria bistriaria)
Red-bordered Emerald (Nemoria lixaria)
Bold-based Zale (Zale lunifera)

Odonates:
Blue Corporal
Mantled Basketail
Common Green Darner
Stream Cruiser
Fragile Forktail

Other insects and spiders:
Banded Hickory Borer beetle (Knulliana cincta)
Largid Bug (Largus sp )
Scoliid wasp (genus Campsomeris)
Blue-Black Spider Wasp (Pompilidae)
Jumping spider – probably in the genus Phidippus.

Herps:
Cricket Frog 1
Southern Toad 1

Interesting plant species:
Pitcher Plant (Yellow?)
Sandhills Pixie Moss
Carolina Ipecac
Goldenclub

Thanks to participant Patrick Coin for many of the insect identifications.

It was an excellent field trip. Thanks to David McCloy for organizing and leading it, and Scott Hartley for being a great guide and host.

Respectfully submitted,

Dennis Burnette [deburnette@triad.rr.com]

CBS members in attendance: John Barlow; Margaret Barlow; Robert Blohme; Beth Brinson; Dennis Burnette; Kathy King; David McCloy; Gregg Morris; Gene Schepker; Lois Schneider.

Blue Ridge Parkway Trip Report, September 26-27, 2009

 

Nine hardy folks braved the dire weather forecast for the weekend of Saturday, Sept. 26, and Sunday, Sept. 27, to look for butterflies and wildflowers on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This was a joint field trip of the Triad Chapters of the Carolina Butterfly Society and the NC Native Plant Society. The group had members of each, plus two guests.

Saturday was a washout for butterflies, but we found a nice selection of fall wildflowers to brighten the rainy day. The list is below. Sunday was beautiful, windy, and mostly sunny to partly cloudy, with a high temperature of 68°. We worked our way northeast along the Parkway from10:00 am to 4:30 pm, ending the day with 18 species of butterflies, including good numbers of both Aphrodite and Meadow Fritillaries, which were mountain target species for our Piedmont group. We recorded 17 species of showy wildflowers, and were happy to see that the autumn leaf color had a good start with the leaves of six species of trees showing significant color.

We covered the Blue Ridge Parkway between Doughton Park in North Carolina to the Blue Ridge Music Center just across the state line in Virginia. Below is our list of butterflies separated by state. The North Carolina section is in Alleghany Co.; the Blue Ridge Music Center is in Grayson Co., VA.

For photos from this trip, see the Triad Chapter Photo Gallery.

NC + VA = Total Individuals

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1 + 2 = 3
Orange Sulphur 8 + 10 = 18
Sleepy Orange 0 + 1 = 1
Cabbage White 7 + 3 = 10
American Copper 8 + 4 = 12
Gray Hairstreak 1 + 0 = 1
Summer Azure 0 + 1 = 1
Eastern Tailed-Blue 2 + 2 = 4
Great Spangled Fritillary 2 + 0 = 2
Aphrodite Fritillary 3 + 1 = 4
Meadow Fritillary 10 + 1 = 11
Pearl Crescent 32 + 20 = 52
Common Buckeye 0 + 1 = 1
Red-spotted Purple 4 + 0 = 4
Monarch 9 (+1 cat) + 6 = 15 +1 cat
Northern Cloudywing 1 + 0 = 1
Fiery Skipper 3 + 2 = 5
Sachem 10 + 3 = 13

Species: 15 + 3 = 18

Showy wildflowers over the weekend included the following:

Centaurea maculosa, Spotted Knapweed
Cichorium intybus, Chicory
Cirsium vulgare, Bull Thistle
Clematis virginiana, Virgins Bower
Coreopsis pubescens, Coreopsis
Daucus carota, Queen Ann¹s Lace
Dianthus aemeria, Deptford Pink
Eupatorium rugosum, White Snakeroot
Helenium autumnale, Common Sneezeweed
Ipomoea purpurea, Purple Morning Glory
Lobelia cardinalis, Cardinal Flower
Spiranthes cernua, Nodding Ladies¹ Tresses
Solidago spp., Goldenrod species
Symphyotrichum spp., Aster species
Verbesina alternifolia, Wing-stem
Verbesina occidentalis, Crown-beard
Vernonia noveboracensis, Iron Weed

Trees showing significant autumn leaf color included:

Acer rubrum, Red Maple
Cornus florida, Flowering Dogwood
Liriodendron tulipifera, Tulip Poplar
Nyssa sylvatica, Blackgum
Oxydendrum arboreum, Sourwood
Sassafras albidum, Sassafras

This was our third autumn trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway, and one of several that we have conducted as joint excursions of the Triad Chapters of the Carolina Butterfly Society and the NC Native Plant Society. We¹re planning to continue this new tradition next year. Friends and guests are welcome to join us.

Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC

Rockingham County, NC Butterfly Foray Report, August 1, 2009

 

On Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009, five members of the Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society ventured into Rockingham County, NC, to look for butterflies on an impromptu foray. most of us had not looked for butterflies in the county, which was the reason for this familiarization trip. The weather was a bit uncomfortable: mostly cloudy changing to partly sunny, high temperature 90°, maximum humidity 93%; no precipitation.

Butterflies were scarce. We had to work for most of the ones we saw. We saw only 33 butterflies of 13 species. However, the places we scouted look like they have potential for the future, and we missed stopping at one spot we want to explore later.

We spent about an hour and a half at Lake Reidsville Park where all of the visible grassy areas recently had been mowed entirely too short. There are some large open fields edged by woods that could be productive if the grass were allowed to grow. The only place where we saw butterflies was around the lake between the boat launch area and the western-most fishing pier. The primary nectar flower was Swamp Milkweed on which we watched one of the four Monarchs laying eggs. Pickeral weed and a few remaining button bush flowers were along the shore but had few or no butterflies. We did get long and satisfying looks at an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and a Pipevine Swallowtail taking nutrients from the wet sand at the lake edge. We saw 18 butterflies of 7 species here, which are listed below. Dragonfly species at Lake Reidsville Park included Widow Skimmer, Eastern Pondhawk, Blue Dasher, Slaty Skimmer, Halloween Pennant, and Black Saddlebags.

After lunch at a famous local barbeque restaurant in Reidsville, we went to Betsy-Jeff Penn 4-H Center. It took a little while to find the appropriate person to obtain permission to enter the property, but then we looked for butterflies for about 2 hours. We stuck mostly to the lakeshore and the road edge because it was incredibly hot and humid by then. Few butterflies were visible in areas that should have had them; most of the ones we saw were perched or flying low within the woodland edge. Our efforts produced 15 butterflies of 9 species, which are listed below. Dragonfly species at the 4-H Center included Black Saddlebags, Eastern Amberwing, Slaty Skimmer, Widow Skimmer, Blue Dasher, Eastern Pondhawk, Halloween Pennant, and Twelve-spotted Skimmer.

Because there have been few observations of butterflies reported for Rockingham County, two species we saw seem to be first county records: Pipevine Swallowtail and Northern Cloudywing. Below is our butterfly list for Rockingham County. The first number is for Lake Reidsville Park; the second number is at Betsy-Jeff Penn 4-H Center.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1; 2
Pipevine Swallowtail 1; 0
Sleepy Orange 0; 1
Eastern Tailed-blue 1; 0
Summer Azure 0; 3
Pearl Crescent 8; 0
Red Admiral 0; 1
Northern Pearly-eye 0; 1
Carolina Satyr 0; 2
Unidentified satyr species 0; 3
Monarch 4; 0
Silver-spotted Skipper 2; 1
Northern Cloudywing 1; 0
Little Glassywing Skipper 0; 1


Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC
Guilford County

Danville Nature Center Field Trip Report, July 26, 2009

 

Jim Eldrett organized a great field trip to the Butterfly Station at the Danville Nature Center in Danville, VA. Eight member of the Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society visited the butterfly enclosure on Sunday, July 26th.

The Butterfly Station features native North American species found in the Southeast, most of which occur in the Carolinas. Despite recent vandalism that had resulted in the escape of an estimated 150 butterflies, our group still was able to see about 30 individual butterflies of the following 12 species:

Black Swallowtail (caterpillars only on host plant)
Giant Swallowtail
Great Southern White
Cloudless Sulphur
Eastern Tailed-Blue
Gulf Fritillary
Zebra Longwing (Heliconian)
Variegated Fritillary
White Peacock
Goatweed Leafwing
Monarch (including several newly emerged individuals)
Queen

One butterfly, a lone Eastern Tailed-Blue, apparently got in on its own, as the nature center doesn¹t rear this species!

Jim had arranged in advance for the nature center staff member in charge of the Butterfly Station, Allison Bellamy, to give us a guided tour. Allison showed us caterpillars she is rearing and a large container of trays full of chrysalises. Right on cue, a Monarch was eclosing from its chrysalis while we watched. Several people helped her place newly emerged Monarchs and Queens on flowers.

We saw five additional species in the plantings outside the enclosure around the Danville Nature Center:

Great Spangled Fritillary ­ 1
Common Buckeye ­ 1
Silver-spotted Skipper ­ 3
Horace’s Duskywing – 1
Sachem ­ 10+

Several folks saw two species in NC at the Plainfield marsh on the way to VA:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail ­ 1
Spicebush Swallowtail ­ 1


Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC
Guilford County

Alamance County Foray Report, July 19, 2009

 

On Sunday afternoon, 7/19/09, 6 members of the Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society made an impromptu foray into southern Alamance County, NC to look for butterflies. The weather was pleasant for humans though not ideal for butterflies. It was warm but progressed from partly sunny to mostly cloudy as the afternoon progressed. We had a good time, butbutterflies were a bit scarce. The butterfly ³slump² that has hit other places in the Piedmont seems to have done so in Alamance, as well. We saw only 37 individuals of 12 species in a three-hour period at two locations.

We spent the first hour and a half in Cedarock Park, a county park with extensive meadows as well as woodlands. Unfortunately, much of the meadow habitat had been mowed recently, so we concentrated on woodland edges. We found a colony of Silvery Checkerspots but no Pearl Crescents, oddly. Despite being in the right habitat, there were no Red-spotted Purples, and we saw only one swallowtail. There were no Cabbage Whites. The only sulphurs we spotted were two Sleepy Oranges. The best sighting was two American Snouts ovipositing on the same young Hackberry tree at and just above eye level.

We spent the next hour or so at the Alamance Battleground State Historic Site. There were even fewer butterflies there, probably due in part to the sky being mostly cloudy and the lateness of the day. We saw a second E. Tiger Swallowtail and two Clouded Sulphurs on the way there.

Despite the low count of butterflies, it was an enjoyable trip and several participants saw one or more life butterflies. Here are the details:

Alamance County: Cedarock Park, Alamance Battleground, roadside
7/19/09, 2:00 ­ 5:00
Partly sunny to cloudy, about 81°

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 2
Clouded Sulphur 2
Sleepy Orange 3
Eastern Tailed Blue 1
Summer Azure 2
American Snout 2
Silvery Checkerspot 4
Pearl Crescent 1
Hackberry Emperor 4
Gemmed Satyr 3
Carolina Satyr 12
Least Skipper 2

Species: 12; Individuals: 37

Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC
Guilford County

Ashe County Butterfly Field Trip Report, July 11, 2009

 

Seventeen people participated in the Ashe County butterfly field trip sponsored by the Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society. Participants included 11 members. We also had 6 neighbors with us, including two children, during the morning. Member Judy Scurry of Winston-Salem, who owns property on the New River in Ashe County, organized and hosted an excellent day in a beautiful setting in very comfortable weather. Thanks to her for sharing her home and hospitality.

The group met at Trinity Episcopal Church, the “Church of the Fresco,” in Glendale Springs just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. We butterflied the grassylawn, field edges and a flower garden adjacent to the church property next to a nearby gift shop. We then proceeded to the New River State Park Wagoner Rd. access where we found a lot of butterflies in the native plant butterfly garden and along a gravel path near the river.

We had a picnic lunch on Judy¹s porch overlooking a spectacular view of the New river. Following lunch, we spent some time along the river and then checked out a power line cut nearby. We then returned to the church parking lot and spent another 45 minutes looking for butterflies in the nearby flower garden. Thanks to Jim Nottke for recording the butterflies we saw during the day. Our totals included 90 adult butterflies and 1 caterpillar of 19 species. Jim¹s list is below:

Column 1 Church of the Frescos
Column 2 New River State Park and Scurry Neighborhood
Column 3 Powerline Cut

0 1 0 = 1     Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
0 1 2 = 3     Cabbage White
3 4 2 = 9     Orange Sulphur
0 0 1 = 1     Cloudless Sulphur
0 0 3 = 3     American Copper
5 6 8 = 19   Eastern Tailed-Blue
0 1 0 = 1     Appalachian Azure
0 0 3 = 3     Azure sp
2 6 4 = 12   Great Spangled Fritillary
1 3 0 = 4     Aphrodite Fritillary
0 4 0 = 4     Eastern Comma
0 2 0 = 2     American Lady
0 1 0 = 1     Painted Lady
0 0 1 = 1     Common Buckeye
0 7 0 = 7     Common Wood Nymph
3 11 2 = 16 Silver Spotted Skipper (plus one caterpillar)
0 1 0 = 1     Common Sootywing
0 1 0 = 1     Fiery Skipper
0 4 0 = 1     Sachem

19 species
90 adult butterflies
1 caterpillar

Participants: Dennis Burnette, Lynn Burnette, Charlie Cameron, Helen
DeCasper, Gregg Morris, Jim Nottke, Judy Scurry, Lois Schneider, Gene Schepker, David Sink, and Hazel Sink, plus 6 of Judy¹s neighbors.

Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC

Elfin Browns at Weymouth Woods, NC, March 21, 2009

 

Our Triad Chapter quest was successful: we found Brown Elfins.

Twenty members of the Carolina Butterfly Society participated in our field trip to find Brown Elfins at Weymouth Woods – Sandhills Nature Preserve, Southern Pines, NC. We met at the headquarters at 1:30 under sunny skies, with a temperature around 55 degrees. Beth Brinson and Cathy King arrived early and had found our target species about a half mile from the headquarters, so they were able to lead the rest of the group directly to the right spot.

There were at least four Brown Elfins, first nectaring on Trailing Arbutus, and then basking in the sunny spots on the dirt path through the pine woods. Possibly because of the cool temperature, they were quite cooperative, giving everyone good looks and allowing close photography.

We went next to the Paint Hill section of the preserve where we found at least three additional Brown Elfins. Sandhills Pyxie-Moss was in full bloom, along with more patches of Trailing Arbutus. We watched as one butterfly spent a lot of time on one of its host plants, but never saw it lay an egg.

We didn’t see any other butterflies. On the way out of town, several of us stopped to check six or seven flowering stands of wild plum. However, no leps were nectaring on any that we looked at.

This was an enjoyable trip with good companions on a beautiful day in an excellent nature preserve. The great looks of our target species didn’t hurt, either.

— 
Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC
deburnette@triad.rr.com

Keeley Park Butterfly Walk, October 12, 2008

 

The Triad chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society had a good turn out for our October butterfly walk on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 12th. Our thanks go to Brooks Mullane of the City of Greensboro for leading us on a tour of the property that soon will become Keeley Park in Greensboro. Fifteen of us explored the 138-acre property from 1:30 until 4:00 pm. The weather was nearly perfect; we had a pleasant temperature of about 74 degrees with a 5 to 8 mph breeze and 45% humidity under a mostly sunny sky.

The informal butterfly garden, meadows, and lake edges had a lot of butterfly activity. We ended with a count of 17 species of butterflies, not a huge number but nice for October. Of course, we are in the waning days of the butterfly season and only three days away from our area¹s average first day of frost. After the first frost (which isn¹t predicted this week, thankfully!), we won¹t see butterflies in any numbers again until spring, mostly because there won¹t be many nectar sources left. Therefore, this was a good event to finish our scheduled outdoor butterfly activities for 2008. We will have indoor programs during the cold months.

Here is our list of butterflies for 10/12/08:

Clouded Sulphur 5
Cloudless Sulphur 2
Sleepy Orange 4
Eastern Tailed-Blue 5
³Summer² Azure 4
Variegated Fritillary 1
Great Spangled Fritillary 3
Pearl Crescent 8
Anglewing sp 1
Common Buckeye 23
Carolina Satyr 1
Monarch 2
Common Checkered Skipper 9
Clouded Skipper 11
Fiery Skipper 18
Sachem 2
Ocola Skipper 1
[plus half a dozen or so uncooperative skippers that didn¹t give us good looks]

Participants: John Barlow, Margaret Barlow, Ken Bridle, Dennis Burnette, Helen DeCasper, Lynne Edel, Jim Eldrett, Pat Jackson, Brooks Mullane, Wendy Schaitberger, Lois Schneider, Gene Schepker, Kathy Treanor, Lary Treanor, Peggy Ware

Don¹t forget our first indoor program of autumn on Wednesday, Oct. 15th. We¹ll see slides of butterflies of southeast Texas and northeast Mexico from the Texas Butterfly Festival.

Dennis

Dennis E. Burnette
deburnette@triad.rr.com

Blue Ridge Parkway Field Trip, September 28, 2008

 

On Sunday, September 28th, fourteen people on a joint field trip of the Triad Chapters of the Carolina Butterfly Society and the NC Native Plant Society spent the day exploring the stretch of the Parkway between the Blue Ridge Music Center around Milepost 213 in Virginia to Milepost 245 at Doughton Park in North Carolina. Our group included folks from Forsyth, Guilford (both Greensboro and High Point), Moore, Rockingham, and Stokes Counties. We saw some excellent butterflies, several great wildflower species, and even a few nice birds.

The butterfly highlights of the day included a phenomenal count of at least 19 American Copper butterflies seen at three sites, and watching an Aphrodite ovipositing in a closely mowed lawn. Although the species count wasn¹t high, we found some species that those of us in the Piedmont and Sandhills don¹t often get to see. Here¹s the list:

Carroll Co., VA (Blue Ridge Music Center and vicinity):
Orange Sulphur 10
Eastern Tailed Blue 2
Summer Azure 1
Great Spangled Fritillary 8
Pearl Crescent 7
Common Buckeye 6
Monarch 2
Sachem 12
Fiery Skipper 8

Alleghany County, NC (between Cumberland Knob and Doughton Park):
Cabbage White 4
Orange Sulphur 7
Cloudless Sulphur 1
American Copper 19
Eastern Tailed Blue 4
Variegated Fritillary 1
Great Spangled Fritillary 3
Aphrodite Fritillary 1 (ovipositing)
Meadow Fritillary 2
Pearl Crescent 9
Mourning Cloak 1
Common Buckeye 5
Common Wood Nymph 1
Monarch 1
Horace¹s Duskywing 1
Common Checkered Skipper 1
Sachem 1

Total species: 21

We found several good plants, including a couple of rare and state-listed species, thanks particularly to the keen eyes of Ken Bridle and Stan Gilliam. Field Milkwort and Sweetfern were two of the highlights. Here are some of the most interesting species:

Colicroot, Aletris farinosa Nodding Ladies’ Tresses, Spiranthes cernua
Japanese Barberry, Berberis thunbergii (an invasive non-native shrub!)
Obedient Plant, Physostegia virginiana
Field Milkwort, Polygala sanguinea
Flat-topped White Aster, Aster umbellatus
Ragged Robin, Lychnis flos-cuculi (not listed in USDA database for NC)
Steeplebush (Hardhack), Spirea tomentosa
Sweetfern, Comptonia peregrina

Patrick Shaffner kept a list of birds for us that we saw and/or heard. Although we weren¹t in habitats where we were as likely to see warblers and other fall migrants, we came across some nice birds. Quite a few folks in our group don¹t often get to see Wild Turkeys and Bald Eagles, for instance.

Carroll Co., VA:
Northern Bobwhite
Carolina Chickadee
American Crow
Bald Eagle
Blue Jay
Belted Kingfisher (h)
Eastern Phoebe
Common Raven
Eastern Towhee (h)
Wild Turkey
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture

Alleghany County, NC:
Northern Cardinal (h)
Gray Catbird (h)
Carolina Chickadee
American Crow
Mourning Dove
Canada Goose
Killdeer
White-breasted Nuthatch (h)
Eastern Phoebe (h)
Rock Pigeon
Common Raven
Turkey Vulture
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker (h)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (h)
Carolina Wren (h)

Participants: Dennis Burnette, Lynn Burnette, Gregg Morris, Nannette Wilson, Lois Schneider, Gene Schepker, Wendy Schaitberger, Bill Hearon, Luann Bridle, Ken Bridle, Cheryl Garrity, David McCloy, Patrick Shaffner, Stan Gilliam

Submitted by:

Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC
deburnette@triad.rr.com

Triad Butterfly Group at Environmental Awareness Day, September 27, 2008

 

On Saturday, September 27th, the Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society set up an educational display at the UNC School of the Arts Environmental Awareness Day in Winston-Salem, NC. Despite it being a soggy, dreary day with intermittent rain most of the day, it was a success and a nice way to spend the three and a half hours with butterflies when we couldn¹t be outside.

The event was organized by Lois Schneider, a Triad CBS member who is on the science faculty at UNCSA. She did a great job.

Don Allemann, Gene Schepker, and I staffed our two butterfly tables. As frequently happens, we seemed to have a lot more people around our display than some of the other displays. The big attraction, of course, was that we had live caterpillars and chrysalises. The ³star of the show,² as Gene put it, was the habitat with four Saddleback Moth caterpillars. However, the Monarch and Black Swallowtail cats also attracted a good bit of attention.

We also had several inanimate but interactive parts of the display. Many people enjoyed looking at the scales on butterfly wings through Jim Nottke¹s microscope. Quite a few people tried their hand at putting together our two butterfly puzzles. In addition, we had a chart showing the butterfly life cycle, and a series of photos of a Black Swallowtail laying eggs and the resulting caterpillars going through the various instars into the chrysalis stage.

Although the rain and competing activities kept attendance below what was expected, about 50 students and adults visited our display. Several people took our membership information, and one couple joined on the spot.

We appreciate being invited to the event and being a part of the UNCSA Environmental Awareness Day.

Dennis

Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC
deburnette@triad.rr.com

Greensboro Arboretum, July 13, 2008

 

The July butterfly outing of the Triad Chapter, Carolina Butterfly Society, was a garden walk at the Greensboro (NC) Arboretum on Sunday, July 13, beginning at 1:30. Seven people participated: John Barlow, Margaret Barlow, Dennis Burnette, Gregg Morris, Gene Schepker, Lois Schneider, and George Wheaton.

There were plenty of flowerbeds with what appeared to be good nectar sources, but butterflies were unusually scarce as they seem to have been all summer in Greensboro. This may be a result of the long drought in the area that was particularly severe at the end of the butterflying season last summer and fall. Unfortunately, the limited ³natural² area along the creek that has milkweed and other native nectar and host plants had been mowed recently. The best species of the day was a Gulf Fritillary, which was a life butterfly for several of the participants.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail – 3
Cabbage White – 2
Cloudless Sulphur – 1
Sleepy Orange – 1
Colias sp. – 1
Gray Hairstreak – 2
Eastern-tailed Blue – 1
Gulf Fritillary – 1
Pearl Crescent – 5
American Lady – 1
Silver-spotted Skipper – 2
Horace’s Duskywing – 1
Common Sootywing – 1
Fiery Skipper – 3
Little Glassywing – 1
Sachem – 5
Zabulon Skipper ­ 1

Total species ­ 17; total butterflies ­ 32

One participant reported a possible Hoary Edge Skipper, as well, but was uncertain of the identification.

Davie County Foray, NC, June 14, 2008

 

The Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society conducted an exploratory butterfly foray in Davie County, NC. Davie County, one of the smallest counties in North Carolina, is a rural county in the foothills immediately west of Forsyth County. Mocksville, the county seat, is about 20 miles southwest of Winston-Salem just off I-40.

We weren¹t sure what we would find because very little butterflying activity has occurred in Davie County. In preparation for our exploratory trip, we identified a few sites, including Camp Seven Springs, a Girl Scout camp near Mocksville. (This site isn¹t open to the general public, but got special entry permission to be guided by Lynn Burnette, a Girl Scout staff member.) In addition, we planned to check portions of Perkins Game Land and Alcoa Game Land, both of which are hunting and fishing preserves administered by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission.

On Saturday, June 11, four of us (Dennis Burnette, Jim Nottke, Gene Schepker, and Lois Schneider) scouted our possible locations, spending short periods in the Girl scout camp and on game lands in the southeast corner of the county, as well as a few other likely looking spots. Our list of butterflies for that day included:

3 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
4 Coral Hairstreak
5 Eastern Tailed-Blue
3 Summer Azure
6 Great Spangled Fritillary
1 Pearl Crescent
2 Question Mark (county record)
8 Anglewing species
1 American Lady
3 Common Buckeye
18 Hackberry Emperor
2 Tawny Emperor
2 Silver Spotted Skipper
2 Northern Cloudywing
3 Horaces Duskywing (county record)

(This list was reported on Carolinaleps by Jim Nottke.)

On Saturday morning, June 14, the date of the Davie foray, eight of us from the Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society (Don Allemann, John Barlow, Margaret Barlow, Dennis Burnette, Lynn Burnette, Charlie Cameron, Jim Nottke, and Gene Schepker) returned to most of the sites we had scouted three days earlier. The primary locations we visited were Seven Springs Girl Scout camp, Perkins Game Land Site #1, Perkins Game Land Site# 2, Concord Church Boat Landing, and Alcoa Game Land. We tallied 151 butterflies of 28 species. Here is our list:

2 Pipevine Swallowtail
2 Zebra Swallowtail
8 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
5 Spicebush Swallowtail
3 Cabbage White
1 Falcate Orangetip (county record) a bit late, but observer was confident of ID
2 Orange Sulphur
2 Sleepy Orange (county record)
1 Coral Hairstreak
27 Eastern Tailed-Blue
1 Summer Azure
11 Great Spangled Fritillary
7 Pearl Crescent
1 Eastern Comma (county record)
1 American Lady
1 Red Admiral
10 Common Buckeye
40 Hackberry Emperor
6 Tawny Emperor
1 Northern Pearlyeye
1 Little Wood Satyr
1 Monarch (caterpillar)
1 Hoary Edge
5 Northern Cloudywing
1 Confused Cloudywing (county record)
4 Crossline Skipper
4 Little Glassywing (county record)
3 Zabulon Skipper (county record)

On Tuesday, June 17, Lynn Burnette and I returned to Camp Seven Springs to lead bird and butterfly walks for the campers. We didn¹t see as many butterflies, but did add another county record. Here is the brief list:

3 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
1 Spicebush Swallowtail
2 Summer Azure
1 Great Spangled Fritillary
1 American Lady
2 Hackberry Emperor
1 Tawny Emperor
1 Gemmed Satyr (county record)

—–

Total for June, 2008: 33 species (9 county records)

Bethabara Park, NC, June 7, 2008

 

Folks,

Eight of us (*) from the Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society braved the heat yesterday (June 7) for a couple hours and walked the gardens, a bit of the greenway,and a couple wood edges and trails at Historic Bethabara Park in Winston-Salem. Not many skippers, but an assortment of other butterflies were found.

1 Spicebush Swallowtail
5 Tiger Swallowtail
4 Cabbage White
4 Orange Sulphur
1 Cloudless Sulphur
1 Red Banded Hairstreak
19 Eastern Tailed Blue
2 Azure
1 Variegated Fritillary
3 Great Spangled Fritillary
1 Pearl Crescent
1 Questionmark
5 American Lady
1 Red Admiral
4 Common Buckeye
1 Hackeberry Emperor
4 Appalachian Brown
8 Silver Spotted Skipper
1 Horaces Duskywing
2 Sachem
6 Zabulon Skipper

* – Dennis Burnette, Doug Demarest, Lettie Moore, Lea Nading, Jim Nottke, Gene Schepker, Lois Schneider, Katherine Thorington.

Jim Nottke
Pfafftown, NC

Blue Ridge Parkway, VA, September 22, 2007

 

Meadow Fritillary, a mountain species seldom seen by members of the Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society, was just one of the highlights of our field trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway on Saturday, September 22, 2007. Despite the on-going drought, the group of 13 butterfliers tallied 21 species of butterflies and got good looks at other insects as well as numerous birds.

The original plan had been to check several sites along the northern stretch of the North Carolina section of the Parkway. However, dismal reports of few nectar sources and small numbers of butterflies caused us to change our plans and head for the marginally greener southern Virginia stretch. Following a suggestion of one of our members, we began our field trip in the lawns and meadows at the Blue Ridge Music Center. This was an excellent choice, starting our trip list with 19 species in about an hour. This was the first place we saw a Meadow Fritillary but not the last.

Our group spent the day working our way past Fancy Gap, Groundhog Mountain, and Mabry Mill to the turn around point, Saddle Mountain Overlook just beyond Rocky Knob. Along the way we found several meadows and pastures that had remained moist enough to support a healthy population of flowers that attracted hundreds of butterflies. Most of them were the same species that we had seen at our first stop, but it was thrilling to walk into a meadow and be surrounded by dozens of butterflies of several different species at a time. There were so many that we stopped counting the number of individuals per species. We added American Copper at Saddle Mountain, a life butterfly for many of our participants.

Our total for the day was 21 species, all in Virginia, not a huge number but not too bad given the drought conditions of this summer.

Six participants spent the night in a nearby inn and continued butterflying on Sunday morning. We slowly made our way southwest into North Carolina, stopping from time to time to look for butterflies. As expected, the number of both species and individuals was quite low. We ended our weekend at Doughton Park where we added two additional species for the weekend, one each of Aphrodite Fritillary and Silver-spotted Skipper.

Butterfly List, VA 9/22/07:

E. Tiger Swallowtail
Pipevine Swallowtail
Cabbage White
Clouded Sulphur
Orange Sulphur
Cloudless Sulphur
American Copper
Eastern Tailed-Blue
Azure sp.
Variegated Fritillary
Great Spangled Fritillary
Meadow Fritillary
Pearl Crescent
Common Buckeye
Red-spotted Purple
Monarch
Horace¹s Duskywing
Fiery Skipper
Peck¹s Skipper
Little Glassywing
Sachem

Participants:

Bob Baldwin, Nancy Baldwin, John Barlow, Margaret Barlow, Ken Bridle, Luann Bridle, Dennis Burnette, Lynn Burnette, Sue Cole, Barbara Hughes, Jean Murdick, Gene Schepker, Lois Schneider.

Greensboro Arboretum , NC, August 5, 2007

 

A dozen butterfliers braved hot and humid conditions on Sunday, August 5, 2007 to participate in the monthly butterfly walk of the Carolina Butterfly Society, Triad Chapter. This month the group met at the Greensboro Arboretum. The star of the show turned out to be Fiery Skipper, with more than 50 spotted. Silver-spotted Skippers were a close second with over 40. Other butterflies were surprisingly scarce: the total for the afternoon was fourteen species.

The 93° temperature, still humid air, and hazy bright sky made the weather a bit uncomfortable for the butterfliers, but seemed like good conditions for warmth-loving butterflies. There were a lot of flowerbeds with blooming nectar sources such as Lantana, Black-eyed Susan, Brazilian Verbena, Joe-Pye Weed, and Butterfly Bush. The low number of species may be the result of the relative lack of host plants in the well-manicured garden. In the period from 1:15 to 3:30 we recorded the following species:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 10
Spicebush Swallowtail 1
Cabbage White 3
Unidentified Polygonia (anglewing) sp. 1
Red Admiral 1
Common Buckeye 3
Monarch 2
Silver-spotted Skipper 49+
Horace¹s Duskywing 6
Zarucco Duskywing 2
Wild Indigo Duskywing 2
Fiery Skipper 50+
Little Glassywing 3
Sachem 1

We watched for dragonflies, as well, but despite walking along a creek for more than a quarter of a mile, we only spotted one each of the following two species: Blue Dasher (male) and Common Whitetail (female).

We were happy to have guests from the Piedmont Bird Club and the NC Native Plant Society. One CBS member came from Southern Pines to join us on the walk. Participants included: John Barlow, Margaret Barlow, Dennis Burnette, Sue Cole, Doug Demarest, Jim Eldrett, Barbara Hughes, Joan Klinger, David McCloy, Gene Schepker, Lois Schneider, and Nannette Wilson.

Dennis E. Burnette
Greensboro, NC

Civitan Park, NC, July 7, 2007

 

We had a great turn out for the Carolina Butterfly Society¹s Triad Chapter July butterfly walk, and we saw lots of interesting critters. Gene Schepker and Lois Schneider led seventeen participants on a nice walk around the marsh in Civitan Park, Winston-Salem, NC. Many of the butterfliers were also members of Forsyth Audubon.

The habitat was excellent for butterflies with lots of Black-eyed Susan, Coreopsis, and other flowers in bloom in the meadow. Buttonbush and Pickerel Weed were blooming in and next to the marsh. The day was sunny with a slight breeze, and warmed rapidly from around 78 to about 88 in the two hours that we looked for butterflies. Despite these favorable conditions, the number of butterflies we saw was surprisingly small. As has been the case all summer in this area, swallowtails were almost nonexistent. A late killing freeze followed by a dry summer may be to blame.

Various members of the group reported the following 14 species of butterflies:

Dark swallowtail (probably Spicebush Swallowtail) 1,
Clouded Sulphur 1,
Orange Sulphur 3,
Cloudless Sulphur 1,
Red-banded Hairstreak 1,
Eastern Tailed-Blue 8,
Variegated Fritillary 1,
Pearl Crescent 12,
Common Buckeye 2,
Viceroy 1,
Silver-spotted Skipper 3,
Common Sootywing 1,
Sachem 7, Delaware
Skipper 1

In addition to the butterflies, we saw several species of dragonflies and other insects, a pair of Green Herons that probably is nesting, and an industrious muskrat.

Dennis E. Burnette
Greensboro, NC

Stokes County, NC, May 26, 2007

 

It was a beautiful day for both butterflies and butterfliers, and there were many highlights on the May butterfly walk of the Carolina Butterfly Society Triad Chapter. At the top of the list were numerous freshly emerged butterflies of three species, Great Spangled Fritillaries, Southern Cloudywings, and Little Glassywings. We even saw a mated pair of great spangleds fly by and perch in a nearby tangle of grape vines. Thanks go to Ken and Luann Bridle for hosting the butterfly walk and to Ken for leading us to some great sites.

Nine members representing Greensboro, High Point, Winston-Salem, and Stokes County spent three hours of a sunny Saturday morrning exploring Old Shepherd Mill Road, an abandoned country road in the hills of Stokes County, and a farm along Snow Creek on Moir Road. The sky was clear, there was a slight breeze, and the temperatures ranged between about 75 and 82 degrees. Our efforts resulted in the following 20 species of butterflies:

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail ­ 2,
Pipevine Swallowtail ­ 1,
Cabbage White ­ 3,
Clouded Sulphur ­ 5,
Orange Sulphur ­ 20+,
Azure sp ­ 1,
Variegated Fritillary ­ 1,
Great Spangled Fritillary ­ 13,
Pearl Crescent ­ 4,
Eastern Comma ­ 1,
American Lady ­ 3,
Viceroy ­ 1,
Carolina Satyr ­ 1,

Little Wood-Satyr ­ 4,
Monarch ­ 1,
Silver-spotted Skipper ­ 2,
Southern Cloudywing ­ 3,
Least Skipper ­1,
Little Glassywing ­ 6,
Zabulon Skipper ­ 2 (1 female and 1 male)

There were many wildflowers available for the butterflies and other creatures. Among the most showy were ragwort, daisy, coreopsis, bowman¹s root, Deptford pink, fire pink, coral honeysuckle, and a whole hillside of mountain laurel above a crystal clear creek complete with bright raspberry red spawning Crescent Shiner fish. In addition, members of the group spotted several species of colorful dragonflies and damselflies including fresh Painted Skimmer and Ebony Jewelwing.

Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC
deburnette@triad.rr.com

High Point, NC Count, March 31, 2007

 

The newly-formed Triad chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society held its first butterfly walk on Saturday, March 31, 2007, on the Bicentennial Greenway in High Point, NC. Despite a less than encouraging weather forecast for the day, we actually had mild temperatures under a beautiful sunny sky for most of the morning. The ten participants got to see the target species for the walk, Falcate Orangetip, which flies for only a brief period early in the spring.

The group met at 9:30 in Gibson Park, where there is good parking, restrooms, and drinking water, at the approximate mid point on the greenway. From the picnic area, we walked south on the paved path for about 3Ž4 of a mile, pausing often to look at wildflowers along the way. Our first butterfly of the day was one of the spring-flying azures.

Before long, we spotted a Juvenal¹s Duskywing, one of many that we would see later. Our second butterfly of the day was an azure, almost certainly a Spring Azure. Then we had a fly-by of a male Falcate Orangetip, and saw several more males along the greenway. After checking the view from the Marsh Observation Deck, we entered the woods on an unpaved but well-marked trail, where we saw many more duskywings. We passed through mixed woodlands, walked along the edge of a small lake, and crossed a few open areas. In the process, we saw more orangetips, including at least three females, an Eastern Tailed Blue, a Sleepy Orange, a Cabbage White, and a Colias-type sulphur that probably was a Clouded Sulphur, before coming out back at the picnic area. One of our participants spotted an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail near the parking lot.

In all, we saw eight species of butterflies, not too bad for this time of the year in the upper Piedmont. There are so many different types of habitats in Gibson Park and the adjacent trails that the possibility is good for many more species of butterflies later in the spring. Everyone had a great time, so we decided to hold another butterfly walk at the same location at the end of April to see what changes have occurred. The next Triad chapter butterfly walk is scheduled for April 29, Sunday, at 1:30 am, starting in Gibson Park, Wendover Ave., High Point.

Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC
deburnette@triad.rr.com

Butterfly list for March 31, 2007:
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail ­ 1
Cabbage White ­ 1
Falcate Orangetip ­ 10
³Clouded² Sulphur (Colias sp.) ­ 1
Sleepy Orange ­ 1
Eastern Tailed Blue ­ 1
³Spring² Azure (Celestrina sp.) ­ 5
Juvenal¹s Duskywing – 12