We had a very successful first of the year field trip for the Carolina Butterfly Society at Raven Rock State Park on Saturday, March 27. A high temperature of 82 degrees was agreeable with the butterflies. A total of 26 species were seen, an excellent number for the month of March in North Carolina. Here is the list:

Zebra Swallowtail – 2
Black Swallowtail – 1
E. Tiger Swallowtail – 10
Spicebush Swallowtail – 1
Cabbage White – 1
Falcate Orangetip – 25
Orange Sulphur – 1
Orange/Clouded Sulphur – 3
Sleepy Orange – 5
Great Purple Hairstreak – 2
Juniper Hairstreak – 4
Brown Elfin – 3
Henry’s Elfin – 1
E. Pine Elfin – 4
White-M Hairstreak – 7
Red-banded Hairstreak – 3
Gray Hairstreak – 2
E. Tailed-Blue – 3
“Spring” Azure – 10
American Snout – 4
Polygonia sp. – 1
Mourning Cloak – 2
American Lady – 20
Painted Lady – 2
Common Buckeye – 1
Silver-spotted Skipper – 2
Juvenal’s Duskywing – 15

Two species not seen on Saturday but seen by me earlier in the week were Red Admiral and Sleepy Duskywing.

Only four other people besides me attended this trip. If you were thinking about coming and decided to do something else instead, you missed a great day. I am thinking about leading a hike on the north side of the park in late September/early October to look for Leonard’s Skipper. If you would be interested in attending a hike such as this, please let me know. If there is enough interest, I will schedule it.

— 
Paul C. Hart

Here are the results of the Carolina Butterfly Society field trip to Shocco Creek Game Land, Franklin Co., NC, on Sunday, April 18. We had only 6 folks show up — Derb Carter, Randy Emmitt, Jeff Pippen, Mike Smith (Virginia), and Charlie Cameron, plus myself. With such gorgeous weather — sunny and 70 to 85 degrees — we were surprised more folks weren’t here — hopefully because all the folks who have wanted to see the goodies here were on one or both field trips in April last year. So — I’m not leading a trip here next spring.

We found most of our targets, though one — Mottled Duskywing — didn’t stay put for most of the group to see, and we missed one other — Pepper and Salt Skipper. But others — such as the two other roadside-skippers, Cobweb Skipper, and Frosted and E. Pine Elfins, gave great looks with excellent photo opportunites! The Dusted Skipper was a tad early, but only Derb got onto it. (The warmth of the afternoon meant that most butterflies in the powerline were very flighty). Here are the totals:

Zebra Swallowtail (6)
Pipevine Swallowtail (25) most anyone call recall on a Piedmont day
Black Swallowtail (3)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (25)
Spicebush Swallowtail (1)
Cabbage White (1)
Orange Sulphur (3)
Sleepy Orange (8)
Frosted Elfin (7)
Eastern Pine Elfin (2)
Red-banded Hairstreak (10)
Eastern Tailed-Blue (70)
azure sp. (5) first brood Summer?
Pearl Crescent (45)
Question Mark (1)
American Lady (15)
Gemmed Satyr (8)
Carolina Satyr (5) + 10 satyrs, not stopping for ID
Silver-spotted Skipper (5)
Sleepy Duskywing (4)
Juvenal’s Duskywing (100)
Horace’s Duskywing (5)
Mottled Duskywing (2) brief looks for 2 people
Zarucco Duskywing (8)
Wild Indigo Duskywing (5)
Cobweb Skipper (2)
Dusted Skipper (1) only by Derb
Carolina Roadside-Skipper (20) REMARKABLE NUMBER for Piedmont
Common Roadside-Skipper (3) good count for here

Notes: 29 species. I think we had 29 also last year on our higher count. Surprised at the Pipevine Swallowtail and Carolina R-S numbers. As you might guess, with 5 species of white-spotted duskywings, we had a bunch of them as troubling, so take the numbers of all but Sleepy as best guesses, though we clearly had all those species.

For dragonflies, we had Swamp Darner, Springtime Darner, Harlequin Darner, Ashy Clubtail, Lancet Clubtail, Twin-spotted Spiketail, Stream Cruiser, Common Baskettail, Stripe-winged Baskettail (uncommon — photos), Blue Corporal, Common Whitetail, and Painted Skimmer. It was too warm for either of the two sundragons, which we had (Selys’ and Uhler’s) last year.

—
Harry LeGrand

Well, the needed rain changed our plans in searching for butterflies today so we ended up doing a lot of botanizing and birding in the intermittent light showers and lush greeness of the day.

Lynn Smith, Quentin Weber and I probably covered about 1/2 mile of the entry road at a leisurely pace. We also met a total of 6 turkey hunters who were trying to get one on this last day of the season. They weren’t having any luck finding a gobbler in the back interior of the reserve (where we never got close to) but were like us, enjoying the day.

When the sun finally appeared during a break in the rains, we did get some Leps and some Odes here and on a brief visit around the big pond at Draper WMA, also in York County.

Leps at Worth Mountain

Pearl Crescent 4
Black Swallowtail 2
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
SpiceBush 1
Eastern Tailed Blue worn 1
Juvenals Dusky wing 2 female
Northern Cloudy Wing 2
Carolina Satyr 1
Hoary Edged Skipper 2 in parking lot before we left.
Pipevine Swallowtail 1 beautiful view of blue background on underside
Cloudless Sulphur 3
Orange Sulphur 1
Hairstreak Unidentified 1
Azure 1
American Lady 1

Blue Corporal Dragonfly
Damselflies unidentified

At Draper WMA

Least Skipper 1
Cloudless Sulphur 1
Spicebush 1
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1

Stream Cruiser Dragonfly which Lynn caught in a net for close examination
Double Ringed Pennant Dragonfly
Damsel flies unidentified

Painted Turles 4
I believe we saw 1 small Brown Water Snake swimming and an unidentified black snake going under a log

Many day flying moths at Worth Mountain including one attractive Geometer which eluded our catch for identification.

Birds of note were:
Black-Thoated Blue Warbler
Yellow-Throated Chat
Prairie Warbler
Male and Female Summer Tanager
Wood Thrush
Oven Bird
Yellow-Billed Cockoo
Red Eyed Vireo
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow

SCAN will probably schedule a return trip to Worth Mountain next year. There is a lot of it to explore. There is a SCAN trip in June going to Draper WMA.

Jules Fraytet
Charlotte,NC

Bob and Nancy Baldwin, Beth Henry, and Charles Cameron joined Kat Sweaney at the Conservation Office for Mecklenburg County for a viewing of their specimen collection and office facilities. The areas covered were the grounds around the office building which are maintained in a natural state, a nearby power-line cut, and in the afternoon we visited the Moore Property off Camp Stewart Road. A Cloudywing caused much confusion, so a picture was sent to Harry LeGrand and then Ron Gatrelle, who ultimately decided it was a Southern Cloudywing. There was also a dingy brown hairstreak that had us puzzled for a while.  The markings appeared to be like a Juniper Hairstreak. Then when it moved into the sunlight, green color could be seen, so Juniper it was. The final tally  was 19 species for the day. As is often the case on butterfly outings, several species of dragonflies were noted and identified.

Kat Sweaney

Bob and Nancy Baldwin, Carolyn Turner, Jane Fraytet and I spent about 5 hours starting from 9:30 walking through Stowe Botanical Gardens in Belmont, NC on Sunday the 16th. The gardens were lush, larger and blooming but the leps were actually fewer than expected. However we did have a good number of species if not quantities.

A total of 19 species:

The most species were Cabbage White >12 and Colias species (not always easy to ascertain the distinction between Clouded and Orange while in flight which they seemed to stay in. They (Colias) were numerous in the fields of vetch at the end of the present garden area.

Clouded Sulphur 10+
Orange Sulphur 2 positive id probably more in distance and in flight
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 2
Silver-spotted Skipper 3
Question Mark 2
Comma 1
Confused Cloudywing 1
Variegated Fritillary 2
American Snout on Jane’s hand
Spicebush 1
Azure 3
Red spotted Purple 2
Eastern Tailed Blue 2
Sachem 1
Pearl Crescent 2
American Lady 1
Silvery Checkerspot 1
Red Admiral 1

We met Charlie Williams (aka Andre Michaux) guiding a group of Catawba Land Conservancy members through the garden. Afterwards Nancy, Bob, Jane and I sought cooling relief and sustenance at the locally famous ice cream parlor, Tony’s, in downtown Gastonia. Bob and Nancy had also graciously provided cheese, bread, strawberries and yogurt for all of us in the veranda of the garden.

Jules Fraytet

The walk that almost wasn’t!

In spite of near cancellation,  Beth Henry, Jules Fraytet, Mollie Brugh, Janet Miller, Nancy Allison, Elizabeth Riggs, and Charles Cameron spent 3 1/2 hours walking the grounds and investigating the numerous rustic structures. 23 species of butterflies were found, but not large numbers of any species. Most were brightly marked with only one or two faded and one tattered individual. The most striking sighting, in Charlie’s opinion, was a mated pair of Clouded Sulphurs, one yellow and one white.

On Saturday June 5th four Carolina Butterfly Society members counted butterflies at Reynolda Gardens, Bethabara Park and Jim Nottke’s farm with the following results:

– Black Swallowtail 2 larva
8 E. Tiger Swallowtail
5 Spicebush Swallowtail plus 2 larva
54 Cabbage White
6 Clouded Sulphur
5 Orange Sulphur
2 Sleepy Orange
4 Coral Hairstreak
1 Red-banded Hairstreak
15 ETB
16 Azure sp.
2 American Snout
– Gulf Fritillary 1 larva
11 Variegated Fritillary plus 1 larva
25 Great Spangled Fritillary
1 Pearl Crescent
13 American Lady
2 Painted Lady
2 Common Buckeye
2 Little Wood Satyr
– Monarch 1 larva
55 Silver Spotted Skipper
1 Hoary Edge
1 Northern Cloudywing
3 Horace’s Duskywing
1 Common Checkered Skipper
1 Clouded Skipper
14 Tawny-edge Skipper
2 Crossline Skipper
2 Northern Broken Dash
5 Little Glassywing
2 Delaware Skipper
22 Zabulon Skipper
1 Dun Skipper

31 species of adults, 5 species of larva
284 adult butterflies

Report by Jim Nottke.

Hi – The Weymouth count was held Saturday, June 5th from 9:30am – 5:30 pm condition were mostly sunny to partly cloudy in the pm with highs in the mid 80’s with fairly low humidity. We had 6 participants. We tallied 41 species with good numbers of Edwards, Coral and a few Kings. Harry LeGrand added a lot of open country stuff including a dotted skipper, and pipevine swallotail and little yellow. We had a few misses including red-spotted purple, southern pearly eye, viceroy. We had great views of many dragons and damsels, cottmouth, a prairie warbler carrying food, yellow-billed cuckoo, and a broad-winged hawk in the pm which I have seen off an on in the same location for about two weeks. It was a good day – thanks to all who helped.

Pipevine Swallowtail 2
Spicebush Swallowtail 5
Palamedes Swallowtail 2
Tiger Swallotail 5
Cabbage 3
Orange Sulphur 3
Sleepy Orange 2
Little Yellow 3
Coral Hairstreak 7
Edward’s Hairstreak 22
Gray Hairstreak 12
Kings Hairstreak 4
Banded Hairstreak 1
Stripped Hairstreak 1
Red-banded Hairstreak 1
Summer Azure 1
Eastern Tailed blue 34
Varigated Frittilary 128
Pearl Crescent 10
Red Admiral 1
American lady 44
Buckeye 197
Little wood satyr 1
Carolina satyr 1
Pearly eye sp? 1
Creole Pearly eye 1
Southern cloudy wing 5
Northern cloudy wing 1
Horaces Duskywing 35
Zuraco Duskywing 20
Wild Indigo Duskywing 1
Sotuhern Broken Dash 5
Common Checkered Skipper 3
Common Sootywing 3
Southern Skipperling 1
Whirlabout 2
Dotted skipper 1
Crossline skipper 30
Dun skipper 2
Hoary Edge Skipper 2
Silver spotted skipper 1

On Sunday, June 6, three CBS members (C. Cameron, R. Hough, and J. Nottke) had a slow morning due to heavy overcast and chilly wind, but by lunchtime warmer temps and partial clearing led to a surprisingly good count and pleasant afternoon.

2 Zebra Swallowtail & evidence of chewing on pawpaw
– Black Swallowtail 1 larva
5 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
5 Cabbage White
10 Clouded Sulphur
13 Orange Sulphur
1 Sleepy Orange
1 Gray Hairstreak
79 Eastern Tailed Blue
6 Azure
2 American Snout one perched spreadwing!
16 Variegated Fritillary
12 Great Spangled Fritillary
– Silvery Checkerspot 15 larva where we usually find adults
5 Pearl Crescent
1 Questionmark
3 Eastern Comma
4 American Lady
1 Red Admiral
4 Common buckeye
3 Hackberry Emperor
11 Northern Pearlyeye pleasant surprise
6 Carolina Satyr
14 Silver-spotted Skipper & 2 larva
2 Southern Cloudywing
1 Northern Cloudywing
2 Horaces Duskywing
1 Common Sootywing
1 Least Skipper
3 Tawny Edged Skipper
3 Crossline Skipper
1 Whirlabout
1 Little Glassywing
1 Sachem
21 Zabulon Skipper
7 Dun Skipper
4 Lace-wing Roadsie Skipper

35 adult species
252 adult butterflies
18 larva

Notes;
– Larva of 2 species found for which we could find no adults, so check those host plants. On the previous day we had the same experience on the 10th annual Forsyth County count.
– Lacewing Roadside Skipper found at all 3 sites.

Report by Jim Nottke

From Scott: Hi – had a great day as usual. Thanks to Jeff Pippen and Harry LeGrand for their help. We ended up with 43 species before a thunderstorm hit about 3:30pm. Non-lep highlights for me were two 3 1/2 – 4′ canebrake rattlesnakes. Both were on the south side of Lake Phelps within 50 yards of each other. Sadly no bear or red wolves this year.

From Jeff:As always, it was a very fun day in the field with LOTS of showy butterflies! We tallied several thousand butterflies including hundreds of things like Zebra Swallowtails, American Ladies, and Sleepy Orange. And we likely set a National count day record for Dion Skippers!

From Harry: Folks:
Scott forgot the only new county record for the Pettigrew count — a Pipevine Swallowtail that Jeff and I saw nectaring on verbena in Tyrrell County. Maybe Scott was working off a pre-existing list of species on the count?

For whatever reason, Dion Skippers were everywhere — weedy fields, etc. And, yes, the 82 tops the previous record set last year from out-of-state (but I forget how many). Prior to last year, Pettigrew held the national record for Dion, and it still holds the national record for a number of species. Nobody comes close to Zebra Swallowtails, etc. And, the Sleepy Oranges were thick as flies this year — soybean fields danced with golden-orange color!

The best bird of note for Jeff and me was a singing Horned Lark; no Dickcissels this year.

From Scott:
Zebra Swtail 625
Black Swtail 7
Tiger Swtail 30
SpiceBSwtail 12
Palamedes Swtail 95
Cabbage 28
Orange Sulphur 350
Cloudless Sulphur 45
Sleepy Orange 2,900
Red B Hairstreak 4
Gray 3
Eastern T Blue 50
Summer Azure 4
Snout 1
Varigated Frit 525
Pearl Crescent 260
Question Mark 18
Comma 1
American Lady 600
Painted Lady 2
Red Admiral 80
Buckeye 525
Red Spot Purple 145
Viceroy 82
Southern Pearly Eye 1
Carolina Satyr 32
Common Wood Nymph 2
Monarch 1
Silver spot skipper 76
Horaces Dusky Wing 22
Checkered Skipper 10
Common Sootywing 4
Clouded Skipper 6
Least Skipper 45
Fiery Skipper 250
Whirlabout 1
Yehl Skipper 1
Dion Skipper 82 Could
be national record.
Dun Skipper 5
Lace Winged Rdside Skipper 1
Carolina Rdside Skipper 1
Ocola Skipper 1

Scott Hartley

The Congaree National Park (Columbia, SC) butterfly count was held on Saturday June 26th. The weather conditions were terrible in the morning with 100% cloud cover and occasional drizzle. (Not many days involve such consistent cloud cover!! Too bad it was our count day!) Eventually the clouds cleared after lunch and offered improved conditions (5% cloud cover and 88 degrees) and more butterflies. Seventeen volunteers (including a reporter from the State newspaper) and four park staff members began the count in the morning and sadly several people needed to depart before the conditions improved in the afternoon. The morning was dismally sparse with less than a dozen butterflies sighted by all of the four groups searching. Ugh.

The afternoon finally offered sunny conditions and much better butterflying. The total for the day was 36 different species, including some new species that were previously undocumented within the park.

Thanks to the numerous volunteers that participated in this count, it was a true mix of beginners and experienced butterfliers who served as “citizen scientists” for the day. Thanks especially to the North Carolina butterfliers who made the trek down for this count. It was great to have CBS members participating including president Jim Nottke and newsletter editor Charlie Cameron. Other CBS members participating were: Bob and Nancy Baldwin, Dennis and Donna Forsythe, Douglas and Cyndy Coffeen, Bill and Christina Hulslander (also work as national park staff members). Additional counters were park supporters Heather Stewart-Grant, Jessica Grant, LaBruce Alexander, Linda LaRosa, Stacie, Hunter and Tucker Ervin, Carol Jaworski, and park staff representatives Theresa Yednock and Chad Wegner.

The list…

Zebra swallowtail -15
Black swallowtail -1 very worn, perhaps a record for Calhoun Co., SC where it was sighted south of the park
Eastern tiger swallowtail- 3
Spicebush swallowtail- 4, 1 very worn
Palamedes- 1
unidentified swallowtail-1
Checkered White -2
Cabbage white -2
Cloudless Sulphur-2
Sleepy Orange -45
Red-banded Hairstreak- 4
Summer Azure- 1
Eastern tailed-blue-1
Variegated Frittilary-1
Meadow Frittilary*- 1- This butterfly was worked for some time by Jim Nottke, Charles Cameron and Bill Hulslander. It stumped them as it did not show any metallic spots or strong cell markings from the underside of the wing. It was too large and the range wasn’t correct. Could it have been a Mexican frittilary? A washed out Great Spangled Frittilary (range also not quite right) or a super-sized Variegated Frittilary? Meadow frittilary seems like the most logical identification even though all likely possibilities are out of the typical range. Any thoughts?
Pearl Crescent- 11
American Lady-2
Red Admiral -1
Common Buckeye-12
Red-spotted purple -5
Hackberry emperor-4
Tawny emperor 2
unidentified emperor-1
Northern Pearly Eye*-* new to park data records
Gemmed satyr-3
Carolina satyr-115
Silver-spotted skipper-3
Horace’s duskywing- 9 (1 male with worn wings)
Common Checkered Skipper -59
Common Sootywing-2
unidentified duskywing-1
Clouded Skipper- 2
Least Skipper-3
Fiery Skipper-6
Whirlabout- 3
Zabulon Skipper-18
Dun Skipper-5
Lace-wing Roadside Skipper-2
Little Glasswing*-1 *new to park data records

Moths observed:
Grape leaf folder moth – 4
Spiny oak slug moth larva-1

Other wildlife observed: a kingsnake, 3 feral hogs, large millipeds, and wild rabbits.

So, this year’s count was not the hot and humid South Carolina experience for all of the day…but cool, humid and rainy in the am…then hot and humid in the afternoon! Oh well…the weather is beyond our control!

Christina S. Hulslander

Butterfliers,

“Frustrating weather” was the polite version of the phrase uttered all weekend by Harry LeGrand and myself as we searched for butterflies in the NC mountains. With forecasts predicting Sunday’s weather as “partly cloudy with highs in the 70’s” we thought we’d actually see at least a few patches of blue sky with some sunshine. Nope. We managed to salvage the weekend with butterflies found during brighter (but not sunny) skies from essentially 2pm to 5pm each day, but we fought fog, clouds, haze, and wind chills in the low 60s all weekend. Having said all this, while reading the following lists, you may think, “What are they complaining about? That’s a lot of good butterflies!”, but cooperative weather should’ve brought not only more butterflies, but more importantly, more time to butterfly and to explore more places.

Anyway, complaining about the weather aside, we enjoyed still our weekend in the mountains. Saturday 26 May 04 was spent on Forest Service Roads in Buncombe Co. with Gail Lankford, and Sunday 27 May 04 was spent just off the Blue Ridge Parkway around Price Park, the Moses Cone area, and down the escarpment via Sampson Rd.

I took a lot of photos, since that was one of the purposes of the trip, but since I’m leaving for MI for a week, it’ll likely be 2 or 3 weeks before I can get them online (unless I squeak them in tomorrow night). For you ode folks, we saw very few dragonflies, only 5 species, but they included some high quality ones like Gray Petaltail, Southern Pygmy Clubtail, and Twelve-spotted Skimmer.

Here’s the annotated b’fly list with the 26th in the first column and the 27th in the second:

250 – Pipevine Swallowtail
10 5 E. Tiger Swallowtail
4 – Spicebush Swallowtail
2 35 Cabbage White
– 10 Clouded Sulphur
3 35 Orange Sulphur
7 – Harvester
1 – Banded Hairstreak
– 2 Gray Hairstreak
8 25 E. Tailed-Blue
120 – Summer Azure
– 1 azure sp. — very worn female (late Spring?)
5 – Appalachian Azure — one worn female, large with broad black borders on upper forewing; 4 fresh males, large and bright blue representing a possible second brood of this species or else the Summer Azures have a huge range in size or something else yet unexplained is going on . . .

7 35 Great Spangled Fritillary
– 100 Aphrodite Fritillary
– 150 Meadow Fritillary
1 1 Pearl Crescent — first day was a male with strong orange-tipped & undersided antennal clubs, although it was not particularly big; second day was a typical, but heavily marked, female

2 – Question Mark
3 1 E. Comma — the comma on the second day was puzzling and we pondered the possibility of Green Comma for a while as the dorsal surface color was much richer on the basal portion of the wings, and the forewing spot pattern didn’t look right for Eastern. Also the undersides were dark, but they were dark browns, not blacks, and there was no green striping. The under forewing tip was orangish (not grayish), and both ends of the bold comma mark were thickened, so we decided it was likely an odd Eastern. I got great photos that I’ll post for comment eventually.

– 1 American Lady (worn)
– 1 Common Buckeye
1 – Red-spotted Purple
– 1 satyr sp. — didn’t perch in sight
2 – N. Pearly-eye
– 1 Common Wood-Nymph
– 3 Monarch
100 250 Silver-spotted Skipper
– 1 Least Skipper
– 4 Peck’s Skipper (1 worn male, 3 medium-wear females)
1 1 Crossline Skipper — fresh males, 1st brood up there
1 1 N. Broken-Dash — very fresh males
5 6 Little Glassywing
4 – Dun Skipper
10 – Pepper and Salt Skipper (new state record high)

Good Butterflying,

Jeff

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Jeffrey S. Pippen

Our count numbers were not as good as last year and we had to work for what we found, but in spite of the exhausting heat and humidity the 5 of us had an interesting and enjoyable day at Draper Wildlife Management Area in York County, SC.

For me, it is always an enjoyable being in the field with other naturalists, no matter the weather. Thanks to Lynn Smith, Bob and Nancy Baldwin and Roger Wellington for their endurance and enthusiasm yesterday.

At Draper WMA:

Carolina Satyr 6
Variegated Fritillary 1
Red Spotted Purple 11
Least Skipper 3
Pearl Crescent 3
Silver Spotted Skipper 1
Common Checkered Skipper 5
Cloudless Sulphur 12
Clouded Sulphur 1
Azure 2
Sleepy Orange 3
American Lady 1
American Snout 2
Hackberry Emperor 2

Hayhurst Scallopwing 1 (when we took a short trip down a shaded side road to seek some relief from the sun. The butterfly was active around a large group of stone laid down as a bridge across a semi dry stream.)

Whirlabout skipper 2 on thistle

Common Sootywing 3 (a species which confused us from it small size,behaviour and head shape. In the bright light it always landed with wings closed, but because of Kaufman’s picture on pg 299 of a profile, we were able to finally concur on the identity. It actually looked more like a Mexican Sootywing though!. That heat can induce halluciations!!)

………………………………………………………………..

After lunch at Subway in Rockhill we took a trip to nearby BlackJacks Heritage Reserve,York County off Hwy 901/Bus 121. We took the long loop trail and had to bushwhack our way out through the very overgrown field at the entrance area. It doesn’t look like they have been burning this field or maintaining the trail for some time. The end result of severe budget cutting these days, I guess.

Common Wood Nymphs 8
Azure 1
Eastern Tailed Blue 4
Sleepy Orange 2
Carolina Satyr 2
Red-Spotted Purple 5
Little Wood Satyr 2

Odes

Slaty Skimmer
Common Whitetail
Widow Skimmer
Black Saddlebags
Damselfly, Lynn working on ID

Also
Summer Tanager
Green Heron
Wood Thrush
Cardinal
Bluebird
Chickedee
Carolina Wren

Jules Fraytet/Carolina Butterfly Society
Charlotte, NC

Participants: Ruth Young, Cathy King, Beth Brinson, Nancy Baldwin, Roger Wellington, Lynn Smith, Gail Lankford

Hospital fields, Cathy’s creek Road, Davidson River Fish Hatchery and Education Center native plant garden, Coontree Trail entrance, and Art Loeb trail and Job Corps Center area.

This is not the final list, but what ended up on my list. The composite list is being compiled by Ruth Young to be submitted to NABA.

Pipevine Swallowtail 21
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 19
Cabbage White 2
Clouded Sulphur 2
Orange Sulphur 9
Clouded/Orange white form 1
Cloudless Sulphur 2
Harvester (sitting on Carpinus) 1
Eastern Tailed-blue 11
Summer Azure 200 minimum…clouds of them in places
Variegated Fritillary 1
Silvery Checkerspot 1
Pearl Crescent 7
Question Mark 2
Eastern Comma 2
Red-spotted Purple 4
Little wood-satyr 1
Enodia sp. 1
Silver-spotted Skipper 1!
Clouded Skipper 6
Least Skipper 3
Fiery Skipper 2
Sachem 35
Dun Skipper 2
Lace-winged Roadside- Skipper 2

Sorry, no Dianas. They had been seen on Cathey’s Creek Road on the previous Saturday, but they would not put in an appearance on the count day.No crescents came close to Ron Gatrelle’s description of the Mimic  Crescent.

Next year we are planning to repeat the 3rd Wednesday in July with the next day as rain date, and split the group to cover some likely areas missed this year. So put us on our calendar, folks.

Lynn Smith
Camden, SC (& part time Brevard, NC)

It is an unusual day when Viceroys and Wood Nymphs dominate the butterfly scenery.

On Saturday, August 7, in perfect weather, six of us* enjoyed two hours of strolling through the several hundred acre Ecological Preserve adjacent to Catawba College in Salisbury, NC. With its central location and ease of access, it seems this open-to-the-public area would make a good focus area for a Rowan County Count.

2 Spicebush Swallowtail
1 Cloudless Sulphur
1 Red-banded Hairstreak
2 Azure
3 Pearl Crescent
1 Eastern Comma
1 Common Buckeye
2 Red-spotted Purple
12 Viceroy
1 Hackberry Emperor
6 Appalachian Brown
19 Carolina Satyr
14 Common Wood Nymph
4 Silver-spotted Skipper
3 Horaces Duskywing
2 Least Skipper
3 Fiery Skipper
2 Crossline Skipper (mated pair)
3 Little Glassywing
11 Zabulon Skipper
1 Lace-winged Roadside Skipper
Total of 21 species, 94 adults

* Jennifer Broad, Charlie Cameron, Jim Nottke, Joe Poston [host & guide], Scott Poston, Elizabeth Riggs (Two years ago Jennifer Broad did a March-October study of butterfly populations across the preserve.)

Report by Jim Nottke.

The 4th Annual Southern Lake Norman (Mecklenburg County) 4th of July Butterfly count was held last week on 8-19-04. We (Sudie Daves, Kathleen Sweaney, Rob VanEpps, Beth Henry) had a really nice partly cloudy, slightly breezy day. We visited 5 sites: Latta Plantation Nature Preserve, Cowan’s Ford Wildlife Refuge, a butterfly bush planting on McCoy Road, David Waymer Flying Fields, and the Wallace Farm. The following species were counted:

2 Black Swallowtail
15 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
3 Spicebush Swallowtail
12 Checkered White
1 Cabbage White
4 Orange Sulphur
5 Cloudless Sulpur
4 Sleepy Orange
1 Gray Hairstreak
20 Eastern Tailed-Blue
2 American Snout
1 Gulf Fritillary
5 Variegated Fritillary
2 Great Spangled Fritillary
3 Silvery Checkerspot
1 Pearl Crescent
3 Question Mark
2 American Lady
4 Common Buckeye
41 Red-Spotted Purple
7 Hackberry Emperor
2 Tawny Emperor
1 Southern Pearly-eye
7 Northern Pearly-eye
1 Creole Pearly-eye
3 Gemmed Satyr
148 Carolina Satyr
1 Common Wood Nymph
2 Monarch
39 Silver-spotted Skipper
4 Hoary Edge
3 Southern Cloudywing
1 Northern Cloudywing
3 Hayhurst’s Scallopwing
3 Horace’s Duskywing
8 Common Checkered-Skipper
8 Common Sootywing
1 Swarthy Skipper
3 Clouded Skipper
2 Least Skipper
29 Fiery Skipper
4 Crossline Skipper
1 Southern Broken-Dash
107 Sachem
9 Delaware Skipper
11 Zabulon Skipper
5 Dun Skipper
2 Ocola Skipper

546 individuals
48 species (1 more than last year!)

Report by Sudie E. Daves.

On Sunday, 8/22, we (Keith Parker, Bob & Nancy Baldwin, Charlie Cameron, Jim Nottke, Rachel __) had a very slow start on a cool overcast morning, but shortly after noon the clouds partly parted and the butterflies appeared in large numbers as temperatures warmed into the low 80s. We started at the main Allison Woods property, then moved on to the property south of the South Yadkin River (new area to us), and then onto the Greenway north of Statesville, which has turned into a very nice butterflying area, bordered by native weeds of every sort. Beyond< butterflies, we encountered box turtles and a Black-Etched Prominent caterpillar.

1 Pipevine Swallowtail
5 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
3 Spicebush Swallowtail
4 Orange Sulphur
26 Cloudless Sulphur
1 Little Yellow
3 Sleepy Orange
10 Eastern Tailed Blue
15 Azure
1 American Snout
1 Variegated Fritillary
1 Great Spangled Fritillary
8 Silvery Checkerspot
26 Pearl Crescent
2 Eastern Comma
1 American Lady
1 Red Admiral
3 Common Buckeye
50+ Red-Spotted Purple
1 Viceroy
5 Hackberry Emperor
21 Northern Pearly Eye
2 Gemmed Satyr
500+ Carolina Satyr
3 Common Wood Nymph
5 Silver Spotted Skipper
1 Hayhursts Scallopwing
5 Common Checkered Skipper
150+ Clouded Skipper
6 Least Skipper
1 Tawny-Edged Skipper
1 Southern Broken-Dash
35 Sachem
28 Zabulon Skipper
1 Dun Skipper

35 species
927 Adults

Report by Jim Nottke

We ran a day ahead of T.S. Gaston, so the weather for the Wilmington count on Sat., August 28 was “normal” — about 60% sun, fairly light wind, and sticky/humid; no rain. Jeff Pippen, Will Cook, Parker Backstrom, and Mike Smith (from VA) helped. With 2 parties, we covered a good amount, and we had a nice day, though the finish was a disappointment (see Salt Marsh Skipper).

12 Black Swallowtail
1 Giant Swallowtail a great surprise on the mainland at Castle Hayne
4 E. Tiger Swallowtail
4 Spicebush Swallowtail
91 Palamedes Swallowtail
31 Cabbage White
4 Orange Sulphur
225 Cloudless Sulphur
3 Little Yellow
11 Sleepy Orange
1 Great Purple Hairstreak
1 Juniper Hairstreak
29 Gray Hairstreak
42 Red-banded Hairstreak
5 Summer Azure
2 Little Metalmark Rare in the area
25 Gulf Fritillary
5 Variegated Fritillary
30 Pearl Crescent
4 American Lady
1 Red Admiral
36 Common Buckeye
4 Red-spotted Purple
1 Viceroy
1 Southern Pearly-eye
10 Carolina Satyr
100 Silver-spotted Skipper
5 Long-tailed Skipper
7 Horace’s Duskywing
10 Zarucco Duskywing
10 Common Checkered-Skipper
4 Swarthy Skipper
52 Clouded Skipper
23 Least Skipper
4 Southern Skipperling
140 Fiery Skipper
1 Tawny-edged Skipper
16 Whirlabout
14 Southern Broken-Dash
4 Delaware Skipper
13 Byssus Skipper
40 Broad-winged Skipper
11 Dion Skipper
50 Dukes’ Skipper previous NC record = 11; close to national high
2 Dun Skipper
4 Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper maybe new to count
4 Eufala Skipper
6 Twin-spot Skipper
5 Brazilian Skipper excellent total; several sites
2 Salt Marsh Skipper 350 last year; Figure Eight I nearly devoid of butterflies
39 Ocola Skipper

Total species = 51

This was a great count, maybe a record species total (I haven’t checked previous counts). Even so, I am thinking of running a count at Southport/Fort Fisher next year to replace this – as after 7-8 years, I get bored with the same count circle.

Report by Harry LeGrand

As with the day before, we marched a day ahead of Gaston, as he was now (Sunday, Aug. 29) dumping heavy rain on the Wilmington area where we counted yesterday. We did have a passing shower at 8 am, but otherwise a few drops in mid-afternoon hardly was a problem. The weather was about 50% sunshine, and humid, but there WAS wind up to 15-20 mph, which blew the blazing-stars in the powerline clearings more than what we wanted. But, that wind didn’t really hurt the count. Here are the results, essentially all from USFS land in Carteret and Craven counties. Counters, besides myself, were: Jeff Pippen, Will Cook, Parker Backstrom, Mike Smith, John Fussell, and Jack Fennell.

5 Black Swallowtail
7 E. Tiger Swallowtail
1 Spicebush Swallowtail
156 Palamedes Swallowtail
170 Cloudless Sulphur
1 Little Yellow
7 Sleepy Orange
1 Great Purple Hairstreak
21 Gray Hairstreak
85 Red-banded Hairstreak
23 Little Metalmark good count
1 Variegated Fritillary
38 Pearl Crescent
2 American Lady
14 Common Buckeye
1 Red-spotted Purple
2 pearly-eye sp?
1 Gemmed Satyr
54 Carolina Satyr
88 Georgia Satyr record national count?
13 Common Wood-Nymph
76 Silver-spotted Skipper
1 Long-tailed Skipper
5 Southern Cloudywing
2 Horace’s Duskywing
6 Zarucco Duskywing
26 Swarthy Skipper
39 Clouded Skipper
65 Fiery Skipper
25 Tawny-edged Skipper
3 Crossline Skipper
8 Whirlabout
35 Southern Broken-Dash
4 Arogos Skipper
23 Delaware Skipper
15 Byssus Skipper
1 Zabulon Skipper
4 Dun Skipper
40 Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper
37 Carolina Roadside-Skipper
8 Reversed Roadside-Skipper new NC high count
1 Eufala Skipper
95 Twin-spot Skipper record national count?
8 Ocola Skipper

Total species = 44

We all had a great time, as the rain held off, and lots of blazing-star in bloom was a bug magnet (yes, a magnet also for preying mantids, lynx spiders, and crab spiders, all taking a toll on butterflies).

This is an average species total, and we were hurt by true butterflies, especially brushfoots. No anglewings, Red Admiral, Viceroy or Monarch, and no blues/azures. But, we like to concentrate on skippers anyway in the savannas and powerlines. It’s great to get away from civilization and concentrate on counting Little Metalmarks, Georgia Satyrs, Arogos Skippers, and the like! And, we usually lead the nation each year in high counts for a few species — not a reason for doing the count, but nice to see the publicity anyway!

Report by Harry LeGrand.

It Happened! 7 butterfliers gathered to create the first Yancey County Count. We had 25 sp. number seen 140. Miles traveled 15; hours searched 6hrs; 6 locations of varying habitat in north Yancey County.

3 Pipevine Swallowtail
2 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
8 Cabbage White
12 Clouded Sulfur
1 Orange Sulfur
3 Cloudless Sulfur
1 Grey Hairstreak
1 Red-Banded Hairstreak
5 Eastern Tailed-Blue
1 Spring Azure
3 Great Spangled Fritillary
28 Pearl Crescent
3 Eastern Comma
1 Painted Lady
3 Red-spotted Purple
1 Northern Pearly-Eye
7 Carolina Satyr
1 Monarch
3 Silver-spotted Skipper
2 Clouded Skipper
5 Least Skipper
12 Fiery Skipper
32 Sachem
1 Zabulon Skipper
1 Dun Skipper

Participants:

Ruth Young
Gail Lankford
Beth Henry
Leah Henry
Ruth Godwin
Nancy Baldwin
Bob Baldwin

Report by Nancy Baldwin

Mary Westmoreland, Donna and Dennis Forsythe met at 09:30AM EDT on September 25, 2004 at the entrance of the Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive, Savannah NWR, Jasper Co., SC. We searched for butterflies at the edge of the marsh near the work shed on the North Side of the refuge, in the butterfly garden at the entrance of the wildlife drive, along the wildlife drive proper and at the Kingfisher Recreation Area before quitting at 4:00PM Although the day was cool, windy and overcast, we had 27 butterfly species with are most noteworthy ones being Aaron’s, Rare and Dion skippers. Our biggest miss was Texas Crescent which Mike Turner found on the Cistern Trail the next weekend.

Giant Swallowtail-2
Palaamedes Swallowtail-2
Cloudless Sulfur-30+
Little Yellow-1
Sleepy Orange-3
Red-banded Hairstreak-2
Summer Azure-1
Gulf Fritillary-40+
Zebra Longwing-3
Variegated Fritillary-1
Common Buckeye-1
Hackberry Emperor-3
Tawny Emperor-3
Carolina Satyr-4
Long-tailed Skipper-15+
White/Common Checkered-Skipper-2
Clouded Skipper-4
Least Skipper-4
Southern Skipperling-1
Fiery Skipper-6
Whirlabout-1
RARE SKIPPER-3
AARON’S SKIPPER-1
Broad-winged Skipper-12
DION SKIPPER-2

On the way home, we spent time in a logged field filled with Blazing Stars
and added Crossline Skipper and Sachem. We looked in the butterfly garden at
Palm Key and had a Gray Hairstreak. The three of us had a great time. We
cancelled the Sunday 26 September trip because of possible uncertain weather.

Report by Dennis Forsythe.