Butterfly Field Trip Report Forsyth County, NC

On Saturday morning, June 10, members of the Carolina Butterfly Society Triad Chapter held a butterfly walk in Historic Bethabara Park in Winston-Salem, NC. This outing was rescheduled from May due to rain on the original date. The weather this time was warm, sunny and muggy with the high temperature reaching about 80. Fifteen folks participated.

We were met by Harriet McCarthy, the volunteer in charge of the gardens and a CBS member, who showed us the Monarch Waystation that she organized three yeaers ago and put in place with other Master Gardeners. She also give us an informal tour of the vegetable and herb garden that has many of the same varieties of plants that the early Moravian settlers are thought to have planted on this historic site.

After checking the butterflies in the gardens, we walked a short part of the adjacent greenway. Butterflies were scarce there, possibly because flooding in the past weeks has suppressed nectar flowers. We finished the walk along the edge of the woods on the way back to the parking area.

The following is a cumulative list of 18 species for the group. Thanks to Gene Schepker for compiling it.

Spicebush Swallowtail 1
Cabbage White 10
Orange Sulphur 1
Eastern Tailed Blue 3
American Snout 1
Variegated Fritillary 4
Great Spangled Fritillary 2
American Lady 2
Red Admiral 1
Common Buckeye 4
Hackberry Emperor 1
Silver-spotted Skipper 3
Common Checkered Skipper 1
Common Sootywing 1
Fiery Skipper 3
Crossline Skipper 1
Sachem 1
Dun Skipper 1

Dennis