It was sunny with a light breeze. The temperatures ranged from 54 degrees at 10:00 to about 65 degrees around 3:30. Some of us butterflied until around 5:00. In attendance were Dennis Forsythe, our leader, Bobbie McKutchen, Bud Webster, Jim Tobalski and Dave and Marty Kastner.

Carolina Sandhills NWR

Black Swallowtail 1
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 8
Spicebush Swallowtail 9
Palamedes Swallowtail 10
Spring Azure 1
Azure species 10
Pearl Crescent 2
American Lady 3
Common Buckeye 3
Juvenal’s Duskywing 7
Sleepy Duskywing 1
Duskywing species 8
Dun Skipper 1

Cheraw State Park

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 10
Spicebush Swallowtail 2
Palamedes Swallowtail 12
Spring Azure 1
Azure species 5
Henry’s Elfin 1
Eastern Pine Elfin 1
Pearl Crescent 1
American Lady 17
Common Buckeye 17
Carolina/Intricate Satyr 2
Juvenal’s Duskywing 6
Duskywing species 10

Marty Kastner

As usual, it was a hot and mostly sunny day in The Hundred Acre Woods at SI Group. An occasional breeze felt great. Diane Curlee organized our walk and Arthur Sweatman from SI Group was our leader. We had some new folks on our walk. Some of them were Master Naturalists. Attendees were: Diane Curlee, Hilda Flamholtz, Chris Talkington, Kelly Pulaski, Ellen Dounne, Susan Creed, Sally and Dick Work, Pam Floyd, Yvonne Clemmings, Carl Ganser, and Dave and Marty Kastner.

Palamedes Swallowtail 10
Black Swallowtail 1
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 10 (2 dark females)
Sleepy Orange 19
Cloudless Sulphur 21
Great Purple Hairstreak 4
Red-banded Hairstreak 1
Gray Hairstreak 10
Gulf Fritillary 17
Variegated Fritillary 15
Red Admiral 3
Common Buckeye 14 (+ 2 caterpillars)
Red-spotted Purple 8
Viceroy 2 (1 ovipositing on Willow)
Goatweed Leafwing 8 (+ 20 caterpillars)
Pearly-eye species 3
Carolina/Intricate Satyr 38 (2 mated pairs)
Satyr species 1
Horace’s Duskywing 1
White Checkered-Skipper 4
Least Skipper 2
Southern Skipperling 2
Fiery Skipper 7
Whirlabout 8
Sachem 1
Dun Skipper 7
Zabulon Skipper 2
Clouded Skipper 2
Ocola Skipper 1

28 species
222 butterflies

Marty Kastner

Carolina Butterfly Society Midlands Chapter Trip Report
Manchester State Forest
5/9/15

We debated about cancelling this trip due to tropical storm Ana which was located off the SC coast with bands of rain coming on shore. We decided to go ahead with the trip because the forecast for the area was partly cloudy. We had a few sprinkles as we were gathering, but no rain during our walk. We had periods of clouds and sun. In the end we saw 23 species so we were glad that we did not cancel. We did not have a high number of individuals, but were pleased with the species list. In attendance were Bobbie McCutchen, Jean Prothro, Carl Ganser, Dennis Forsythe and Dave and Marty Kastner.

Spicebush Swallowtail 3
Swallowtail species 1
Cabbage White 2
Sleepy Orange 4
Red-banded Hairstreak 1
Gray Hairstreak 1
Summer Azure 21
Eastern Tailed-blue 3
Variegated Fritillary 1
Question Mark 8 (all fresh black “summer” form)
American Lady 2
Red Admiral 3
American Snout 1
Common Buckeye 7
Red-spotted Purple 8
Hackberry Emperor 1
Creole Pearly-eye 1 (not a county record, but a good find)
Carolina/Intricate Satyr 1
Hoary Edge 1
Silver-spotted Skipper 2
Southern Cloudywing 1
Duskywing species 4
Hayhurst’s Scallopwing 1 (another good find)
Dun Skipper 2

Four species of butterflies were getting nutrients from a very decomposed snake carcass. We could see all of the rib bones on the snake.

Marty

Carolina Butterfly Society Midlands Chapter Trip Report
Cheraw State Park & Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge
April 4, 2015

The morning at Cheraw State Park was cloudy and cool with sun breaking through. The afternoon at Carolina Sandhills NWR was sunnier with gusts of wind at times that kept it feeling slightly cool. Temperatures reached the high 60’s. Dennis Forsythe was out trip leader. In attendance were Jerry and Pat Bright and grandson Cody, Jeff Kline, Chris and Cheryl Talkington (Cheryl PM only) and Dave and Marty Kastner. The first number below is from Cheraw SP and the second from Carolina Sandhills NWR.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 2, 1
Spicebush Swallowtail 0, 1
Cloudless Sulphur 1, 0
Sleepy Orange 0, 1
Great Purple Hairstreak 1, 0
Henry’s Elfin 4, 0
Brown Elfin 0, 1
Elfin species 2, 0
Spring Azure 1, unknown
Summer Azure 0, unknown
Azure species 18, approx. 40
Eastern Tailed-blue 2, 2
Common Buckeye 0, 2
Juvenal’s Duskywing 7, approx. 60
Sleepy Duskywing 0, 2
Duskywing species 3, unknown
Silver-spotted Skipper 0, 1

At Carolina Sandhills NWR we found a large, very muddy area with a small stream running through it. Duskywings and Azures were flying and landing everywhere. It was impossible to count them. It was only through digital photos that we discovered the Sleepy Duskywings. We don’t know how many more of them there were, but we did see others that looked like the ones in the photos.

Marty Kastner

Sleepy Duskywing

Sleepy Duskywing

Juvenal's Duskywing

Carolina Butterfly Society Midlands Chapter
Goodale State Park, Camden, SC
5/3/14

It was a beautiful sunny day with a slight breeze and temperatures in the 70’s. Larkin Pendergrass, a park ranger, gave us some ideas of where we might find butterflies. There were few nectar sources. Most butterflies not flying were puddling. In attendance were Carl Ganser and Dave and Marty Kastner.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 19
Palamedes Swallowtail 15 (1 ovipositing)
Spicebush Swallowtail 17
Azure species 5 (probably Summer)
American Lady 1
Red-spotted Purple 4 (1 ovipositing)
Carolina/Intricate Satyr 19

Marty

Marty & Dave Kastner
Blythewood, SC
Richland County

Carolina Butterfly Society Midlands Chapter Trip Report
SI Group (formerly Albermarle Corporation)
Orangeburg, SC
September 6, 2014

We spent the day at SI Group’s Hundred Acre Woods along with some members of the Master Naturalist group. Arthur Sweatman was our walk leader and Diane Curlee was our trip organizer. Also in attendance were Bud Webster, Jerry Bright, Laurie Walden, Susan Hamilton, Hilda Flamholtz and Dave and Marty Kastner. Some folks came only for the morning, some for the afternoon and some of us stayed all day so everyone did not see all of the butterflies.

Palamedes Swallowtail 9
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 3
Little Yellow 1
Sleepy Orange 11 (2 ovipositing on Sickle Pod)
Cloudless Sulphur 25
Great Purple Hairstreak 1
Red-banded Hairstreak 5
Gray Hairstreak 9
Gulf Fritillary 5
Variegated Fritillary 7
Red Admiral 1
Common Buckeye 7 (no caterpillars were found this year)
Red-spotted Purple 2
Goatweed Leafwing 5 (3 were females and at least 1 was male)
Carolina/Intricate Satyr 14
Silver-spotted Skipper 1
Horace’s Duskywing 2
Zarucco Duskywing 1
White Checkered-Skipper 5
Least Skipper 1
Southern Skipperling 3
Fiery Skipper 9
Dun Skipper 1
Zebulon Skipper 2 (Orangeburg County record!)
Clouded Skipper 1
Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper 1 (Orangeburg County record!)
Ocola Skipper 1

Goatweed Leafwing caterpillars 9

27 Species

Marty

Marty & Dave Kastner
Blythewood, SC
Richland County

Carolina Butterfly Society Midlands Chapter
Trip report
Aiken Gopher Tortoise Heritage Preserve
August 9, 2014

The Carolina Butterfly Society Midlands Chapter held a walk at Aiken Gopher Tortoise Heritage Preserve in Aiken County, SC. The weather prediction was not good, calling for 50% chance of rain in the morning and 60% chance in the afternoon. Irvin Pitts was our leader and decided not to cancel. Five of us took our chances and attended – Jerry Bright, Dennis Forsythe, Jeff Kline, Jock Stender and Dave and Marty Kastner. We began at 9:45 walking in the rain with umbrellas for the first hour and as expected, we saw nothing. When the rain stopped, it wasn’t long before the sun came out and we began seeing butterflies. We stayed until around 2:30.

Spicebush Swallowtail 4
Palamedes Swallowtail 4
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
Sleepy Orange 1
Little Yellow 3
Ceraunus Blue 11 (not a county record, but a nice surprise)
Eastern Tailed-Blue 1
Variegated Fritillary 1
Common Buckeye 3
Red-spotted Purple 1
Southern Cloudywing 2
Wild Indigo Duskywing 22
Zarucco Duskywing 3
Duskywing species 14
Fiery Skipper 1

Marty Kastner