The 2006 Carolina Butterfly Society field trip season got off to a good start when 7 folks met at Raven Rock SP, Harnett County, NC, today (Sat., March 11). Under awesome conditions – sunny and warm (temps 75-78) – we had the following (as compiled by Charlie Cameron):

E. Tiger Swallowtail 11
Falcate Orangetip 8
Orange Sulphur 1 (plus a few other Colias sp., probably Orange) Cloudless Sulphur 6
Sleepy Orange 18
Great Purple Hairstreak 3 – the highlight; nectaring on plum flowers
Spring Azure 7 (some best called azure – sp.)
American Snout 2
Variegated Fritillary 4
Mourning Cloak 1
Eastern Comma 1 (plus 1-2 fly-by Comma/Question Mark)
American Lady 5
Common Buckeye 21
Juvenal’s Duskywing 2

So – 14 species .. quite good for so early in spring. Chickasaw plums were in bloom. We were a bit surprised to see so many E. Tigers but no other swallowtails, particularly Zebra, which often precedes the Tiger. Thanks to Bob Perkins for leading, with assistance from Paul Hart, the Raven Rock SP superintendent.

Harry LeGrand

Six people met in Ridgeland, SC 18 March 2006 to drive to the Tillman Sand Ridge Heritage Preserve, Jasper CO., SC for a Carolina Butterfly Society sponsored trip. We spent 10:00-13:30 hrs looking for butterflies at the Tillman. The weather was marginal and the only nectar source was Hog Plum (Prunus umbellata). We had the following species:

Pipevine Swallowtail-4,
Zebra Swallowtail (small spring form)-12,
E. Tiger Swallowtail-2,
Spicebush Swallowtail-1,
Sleepy Orange-1,
Great Purple Hairstreak (county record)-1,
Red-banded Hairstreak-24+,
Pearl Crescent-4,
Question Mark-6,
Southern Pearly-eye (early ?)-1,
Gemmed Satyr-3,
Carolina Satyr-2,
Juvenal’s Duskywing-9,
Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper (early ?)-1.

Dennis M. Forsythe PhD, PA
Emeritus Professor of Biology

On Sunday, 4/9, a group of us* explored the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge, a few miles north of McBee, SC. Weather warmed up from the low 50s at 10 am into the 60s when we quit about 2:30, all under bright sunny skies with a stiff breeze. It was a great first group butterfly outing of the year for several of us; no ticks or mosquitos and quite a few butterflies, even a few COUNTY RECORDS.

1 Zebra Swallowtail
1 Black Swallowtail
13 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
18 Spicebush Swallowtail – most prevalent species of the day!
7 Palamedes Swallowtail
12 Clouded Sulphur NEW COUNTY RECORD
2 Orange Sulphur
1 Gray Hairstreak
2 Red-banded Hairstreak
5 Eastern Tailed Blue
3 Azure
1 Pearl Crescent
2 Red Admiral
5 American Lady
11 Common Buckeye -very small
1 Monarch -very fresh NEW COUNTY RECORD
2 Silver Spotted Skipper
3 Southern Cloudywing
1 Confused Cloudywing
1 Sleepy Duskywing
7 Juvenals Duskywing
2 Fiery Skipper
1 Reversed Roadside Skipper NEW COUNTY RECORD

Also seen; Fence Swift (Sceloporus undulatus)

*Charlie Cameron, Robin Carter, Steve Dennis, Jules Fraytet, Dennis Forsythe, Ben Gregory, Den & Allison Latham, Jim Nottke, Julie Wilking

After waiting out foggy/cloudy skies today until nearly 10:30, the 8 of us on the CBS field trip to Holly Shelter Game Land, Pender Co., NC, were treated to warm and sunny skies the rest of the day. We had a great day of botanizing, birding, butterflying, etc., finding all of our target species. Attending were Jeff Pippen, Will Cook, Parker Backstrom, Randy Emmitt, Pat Coin, Roger Rittmaster, Andy Webb, and myself. Here is our list:

Zebra Swallowtail 3
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 20
Spicebush Swallowtail 8
Palamedes Swallowtail 350 everywhere, nectaring on Cirsium horridulum
Cloudless Sulphur 8
Frosted Elfin 15 mostly fresh females, ovipositing on Baptisia tinctoria
Eastern Tailed-Blue 8
azure sp. 2
LITTLE METALMARK 1 early
Variegated Fritillary 6
Pearl Crescent 45
Red Admiral 1
American Lady 10
Common Buckeye 5
Southern Pearly-eye 2
Carolina Satyr 12
Gemmed Satyr 2
Monarch 1
Silver-spotted Skipper 8
Northern Cloudywing 2
Southern Cloudywing 12
Juvenal’s Duskywing 1 worn
Horace’s Duskywing 1 male
duskywing sp. 1 fresh, brief look
Clouded Skipper 3
Dusted Skipper 12
Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper 1
Reversed Roadside-Skipper 10 record one-day state count
Dusky Roadside-Skipper 9 record one-day state count
Yucca Giant-Skipper 2 fairly worn females; late in brood

Harry LeGrand
Raleigh, NC/p>

Folks:
Rather than trying to submit all trips lists (about 6) for the weekend Carolina Butterfly Society’s foray to Clay and Macon counties, NC, in one table or long e-mail, it would be more informative to have each trip list separately, so that leaders or e-mail authors can add a few comments. So, here is what Jeff Pippen, Will Cook, Derb Carter, and I saw on Friday, May 12. We worked areas off of Wayah Road in western Macon County, and late in the day went to the Little TN River Greenway in Franklin, but it was very poor. For security reasons, I’ll not mention specific sites where we spent most of the day, but we ran into Randy Emmitt and Ralph Preston at one site, so we duplicated some of what they had earlier in the morning. Diversity was poor, though numbers were OK. The weather was cool (50s) and mostly cloudy (about a 4 out of 10), but we got the day in without rain.

Pipevine Swallowtail 30
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 20
Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail 5
Spicebush Swallowtail 10
West Virginia White 4
Eastern Tailed-Blue 2
Summer Azure 1
Silvery Checkerspot 3
Pearl Crescent 15
Mimic Crescent 75! Rough estimate
TAWNY CRESCENT 20
Question Mark 1
Viceroy 1 Greenway
Carolina Satyr 2
Silver-spotted Skipper 8
Dreamy Duskywing 8
Juvenal’s Duskywing 25
Sachem 2
Hobomok Skipper 6
Zabulon Skipper 8
Pepper and Salt Skipper 1

Only 21 species for about 7 hours. The remarkable numbers of crescents was due to the fact that the roads involved had lots of asters growing on the road cuts/banks. Obviously, EVERY crescent could not be identified positively, but we had about a 5:1 ratio of Mimics to Pearls in this area. And, this is one of the largest populations of Tawny Cresents, at a NEW spot (first found by Randy and Ralph that morning). Tawny Crescent (this s. App. race) is a Federal Species of Concern.)

Harry LeGrand

Folks:

This is the trip with the most participants (close to 15), to eastern Clay County, NC, off US 64, in the Buck Creek area. We gathered at 9:30 am on Saturday (May 13), and spent about 4 hours as a large group at two gated roads. After about 3 pm, groups split up, with my group continuing on to another area in the Buck Creek region. The weather was a tad better than on Friday, but still cool (50s to low 60s), with maybe 50% sunshine (I’d rate a 5 out of 10 for weather, with 10 being perfect and 0 a no-go).

Pipevine Swallowtail 10
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 8
Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail 30
Spicebush Swallowtail 8
West Virginia White 4
Orange Sulphur 1
Cloudless Sulphur 1
WHITE-M HAIRSTREAK 3 brief/poor looks perched, but I picked us a worn one to examine in the hand
Red-banded Hairstreak 2
Eastern Tailed-Blue 20
Spring Azure 1 or more very worn (See azure notes below)
Summer Azure 10 most very worn, first brood
Appalachian Azure 1 fresh male, but seen only by Derb Carter
Dusky Azure 1 very worn male
Silvery Blue 1 didn’t sit long; mostly seen in flight
Silvery Checkerspot 1 Alas, no Gorgone (as usual!)
Pearl Crescent 250 or more
Mimic Crescent 25 mainly along one road
Tawny Crescent 12 only along one road, a known site
Common Buckeye 3
Carolina Satyr 4
Silver-spotted Skipper 40
Southern Cloudywing 2 (odd to get this and not Northern CW)
Dreamy Duskywing 25
Sleepy Duskywing 3 worn
Juvenal’s Duskywing 125 fresh, worn, and everything in-between
Wild Indigo Duskywing 5 at and near crown vetch
Clouded Skipper 3
Peck’s Skipper 1 – a tad early, and a mild surprise
Sachem 1
Hobomok Skipper 10
Zabulon Skipper 10 – amazing to see side-by-side with Hobomoks; no habitat differences for two similar species
Dusted Skipper 6 very fresh; good number
Pepper and Salt Skipper 10 a good number, but this is a good area for them

We had a good number of highly worn azures that were dingy gray brown below, such that you could almost see through the wings. Yet, we saw some pale blue when the flew, suggesting they were NOT Dusky Azures but were either Spring Azures or first-brood Summer Azures. The puzzlement — these two species occur downstate in spring, and none of us ever recall seeing “brown” azures there. When very worn, azures in the Piedmont appear to be pale gray if not whitish, or else we are not seeing brownish ones. Why is this? Are these brownish ones in the mts. all Dusky Azures? That isn’t so, because they aren’t females (with the wide and complete dark rings around the wings above).

We were disappointed that there were practically no fresh azures. Derb had the only sighting of Appy Azure, which I seldom miss along the main area we walked. But, we were fortunate to find a late-ish Silvery Blue, not badly worn, though it refused to perch long enough for more than 2-3 of use to see its spotting below; we did see the shimmering blue color above in flight.

Our experience with crescents was just as confusing, though we weren’t dealing with worn bugs, just the usual great array — males and femalesof at LEAST three species, some fresh, some worn, etc. We examined a lot of antennal clubs, top and below! We — at least Jeff Pippen, Will Cook, and I — have learned that Mimics seem to predominate over Pearls where the Tawny Crescents seem to be numerous. Where Tawnys are rare or absent, Mimics are absent or scarce compared with Pearls. We have seen Mimics and Tawnys only along dry roadcuts and roadbanks, where asters are on the roadbanks. Pearls can be anywhere, and they are abundant now in meadows, clearings, etc., as well as along dirt roads. Second brood male Pearls were just coming out and were very fresh; all other Pearls and Mimics had a little wear or were not super fresh. Tawnys were mostly quite fresh.

The Tiger Swallowtails that perched well for us were mostly Appys. Most Easterns were fly-bys, but we could tell the smaller size and more medium yellow of them. One or two Easterns were briefly with Appys at a puddle party, but few of us really got to study them side-by-side. At least, we studied Appys with wings open and closed.

—————–

Either Tom Krakauer or I will send out a final species list, maybe in a day or two. Most or all of us aborted yesterday (Sunday), as it rained Saturday night, was foggy in the morning, with scattered showers in mid-morning. So, don’t be expecting any Sunday lists from the mountains, but there are other Fr-Sa lists to come — hopefully.

Harry LeGrand
NC Natural Heritage Program

Folks,

Ralph Preston and I covered Macon County on Friday we did get an earlier start than Harry and his group. We started out looking for blooming Yellow Ladies Slippers that Ralph had seen earlier in the week along a forest road near Wayah rd. After finding the wild flowers we saw what might have been a dark form female Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail (Pterourus appalachiensis) it was very fresh large and a good a bit different than what one would expect for the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Next we found a closed forest road that looked promising we walked it about 1/2 mile and found a fair number of Tawny Cresents, a Slivery Checkerspot, many Mimic Crescents and Pearl Crescents. After that we ran in to Harry’s team and we checked out another old gated road I knew of, it was a lot better than I’d remembered it as we counted 12 Tawny Crescents along the mile or so we walked. Now it was warmed up a bit more and we drove to Wine Spring Bald and checked it out, not much except 2 Red Admirals and a few duskywings, just to chilly up there. Then we drove down forest road 735 to make it back to hwy 64, we found only one good spot in about 14 miles, the only American Lady of the trip was found there. It was getting late and we checked another spot for Dusky Azure and we found one very worn one that posed for photos, a ittle Wood Satyr also made its appearance.

Here’s the list for Friday in Macon County under partly cloudy and chilly conditions:

Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) 10
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) 10
Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail (Pterourus appalachiensis) 20
Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) 8
West Virginia White (Pieris virginiensis) 2
Eastern Tailed-Blue (Everes comyntas) 8
Dusky Azure (Celastrina nigra) 1 lifer for me! Clay County
Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia) 2
Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis) 1
Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) 60
Mimic Crescent 80
Tawny Crescent (Phyciodes batesii) 22
Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis) 1
Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) 5 clusters of cats
American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis) 1
Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) 2
Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax) cat on Basswood
Little Wood Satyr (Megisto cymela) 1 Clay County
Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) 15
Dreamy Duskywing (Erynnis icelus) 20
Juvenal’s Duskywing (Erynnis juvenalis) 15
Hobomok Skipper (Poanes hobomok) 6
Zabulon Skipper (Poanes zabulon) 2

Then on Saturday Ralph and I joined the main group in mid morning in Clay County here’s the list of what we saw when not with the main group. Then later we covered some small stops along hwy 64 and found a fresh American Copper. We ended the day at the greenway where we re joined Tom’s team (well not Tom he was napping in the van)

Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) 2
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) 8
Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail (Pterourus appalachiensis) 20
Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) 6
West Virginia White (Pieris virginiensis) 3
Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme) 1
Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) 1
American Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) 1 fresh in Macon County along hwy 64
Eastern Tailed-Blue (Everes comyntas) 10
American Snout (Libytheana carinenta) 1 Ralph found and photographed
Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia) 1 Macon at the Greenway
Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis) 1 Macon at the Greenway
Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) 20
Mimic Crescent 25
Tawny Crescent (Phyciodes batesii) 2
Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) 5 clusters of cats
Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) 3
Carolina Satyr (Hermeuptychia sosybius) 4
Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) 15
Dreamy Duskywing (Erynnis icelus) 6
Juvenal’s Duskywing (Erynnis juvenalis) 15
Peck’s Skipper (Polites peckius) 1
Sachem (Atalopedes campestris) 4
Hobomok Skipper (Poanes hobomok) 4
Zabulon Skipper (Poanes zabulon) 2
Pepper and Salt Skipper (Amblyscirtes hegon) 2

Cheers,
Randy Emmitt
Rougemont, NC
www.rlephoto.com

Dear lepsters,

We all had a great time on the inaugural Carolina Butterfly Society foray to Clay and Macon Co May 12-14. The weather advice was right on- good weather on Friday and Saturday, and a rainout on Sunday, so a bunch of people were able to get to Franklion by 11:00 am on Friday and butterflied in Macon, Co.

Joining me in the car were Bob and Nancy Baldwin, Beth Brinson, Charlie Cameron and Jim Notkey. Beth was invaluable for her knowledge of the area, and she helped guide us to some wonderful locations. We went back to winter as we drove to above 5,000 ft on Wyah Bald, and the went to a Tessertee Farm, a Nature Conservancy property along the Little Tennessee River, and then to the Coweta Lab Road.

The ID’s of a couple of species are imprecise and lumped, because we were not familiar with mimic crescent, and only counted a single cooperative mimic crescent that allowed us to get down on the ground and stare at the underside of its antennal clubs. Consequently the count for Pearl Crescent are certainly a mixture of pearl and mimic. Similarly, most of the tiger swallowtails were in flight, and we lacked the confidence (and expertise) to separate the tigers.

All in all, it was a nice day with 22 species seen.

Pipevine Swallowtail 4
Eastern Tiger/Appalachian Tiger 44
Appalachian Tiger 1
Spicebush Swallowtail 3
West Virginia White 2
Clouded Sulphur 1
Orange Sulphur 1
Eastern Tailed-blue 3
Summer Azure 2
Silvery Checkerspot 4
Pearl/Mimic Crescent 122
Mimic Crescent 1
Common Buckeye 1
Carolina Satyr 44
Monarch 1
Silver-spotted Skipper 18
Sleepy Duskywing 1 (very worn, enjoyed riding in the car rather than flying)
Juvenal’s Duskywing 5
Zarucco Duskywing 1
Common Sootywing 1
Least Skipper 10
Zabulon Skipper 9

On Saturday we spent a small amount of time on Rt 71 heading to Deep Gap which in prior years had been very productive. Unfortunately, after road improvements, the shoulders were planted with fescue, and so we saw 7 tiger- swallowtails, 2 SSS. 1 spicebush swallowtail, and one zabulon skipper.

Several of the group also butterflied around the Microtel in Franklin and added 2 Sachem and 1 SSS to the Macon County Tally.

You’all missed a fun weekend on the foray. It provided an opportunity to see some beautiful country and learn from some of the most skilled b’flyers in NC, Derb Carter, Will Cook, Harry LeGrand, and Jeff Pippen. Being out in the field with them was a real pleasure.

Tom

Tom Krakauer
Bahama, Durham County, NC

Folks:

Here is what I have come up with, summarizing all species reported on Tom Krakauer’s, Randy Emmitt’s, and my lists for the May 12-13 period, all from Macon and Clay counties, NC.

Pipevine Swallowtail
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail
Spicebush Swallowtail
West Virginia White
Clouded Sulphur
Orange Sulphur
Cloudless Sulphur
American Copper
White-M Hairstreak
Red-banded Hairstreak
Eastern Tailed-Blue
Spring Azure
Summer Azure
Appalachian Azure
Dusky Azure
Silvery Blue
American Snout
Variegated Fritillary
Silvery Checkerspot
Pearl Crescent
Mimic Crescent
Tawny Crescent
Question Mark
[Mourning Cloak – caterpillars]
American Lady
Red Admiral
Common Buckeye
[Red-spotted Purple – caterpillars]
Viceroy
Carolina Satyr
Little Wood-Satyr
Monarch
Silver-spotted Skipper
Southern Cloudywing
Dreamy Duskywing
Sleepy Duskywing
Juvenal’s Duskywing
Zarucco Duskywing
Wild Indigo Duskywing
Common Sootywing
Least Skipper
Clouded Skipper
Peck’s Skipper
Sachem
Hobomok Skipper
Zabulon Skipper
Dusted Skipper
Pepper and Salt Skipper

47 species (adults); plus 2 additional caterpillars

That’s very good, but I was hoping for 50! Shame to miss Cabbage White, Eastern Comma, adults of Mourning Cloak and Red-spotted Purple, Northern Cloudywing, maybe Gray Hairstreak, etc. And, you’ll note the absence of true red-letter species: Gorgone Checkerspot, Early Hairstreak, Golden Banded-Skipper, Green or Gray commas, etc. — all of which have been seen in the foray area in early or mid-May. Nonetheless, there were some nice species seen and photographed. So — the foray was a success, even if we didn’t get in Sunday butterflying, nor get to survey as many roads and natural areas as we would have liked. But, this was a first try at this sort of butterfly gathering.

South Carolina — you’re on for a 2007 foray!

Harry LeGrand

Folks,

Based on the comments of Parker Backstrom and Harry LeGrand, many of you carolinaleps readers, perhaps ALL OF YOU, have been checking your email hourly, awaiting the results of the first annual Surry County Count. I wish Parker and Holly had been there – we could have used that Dusted Skipper!

But the 8 of us (Bob/Nancy Baldwin, Dennis/Lynn Burnette, Tom Krakauer, Charlie Cameron, Elizabeth Riggs, & I) had a great day of butterflying – temps from 58 to 82 degrees, clear skies, light breeze. We started at Horne Creek Farm since it is the most open site, then on to the horse trailer parking area for the Pilot Mountain Trailway, then the River Section of Pilot Mtn St Park, the Mountain Section of the park, and finally Foothills Nursery in White Plains. As Harry anticipated, the River Section, with its 3 shallow fords and the riverbank, had the most butterflies in this droughty weather. And as Parker mentioned, the parking lot atop Pilot Mtn was full – I don’t think I will go again on a weekend. We came across a dirtbank full of solitary ground bees, hundreds of them, across from the horse trailer area. Also a turkey on the railroad tracks of the River Section, and one of our team was noted sitting on a RR tie end, with the tail of a Copperhead hanging out from the adjacent RR tie.

===================================
2 Pipevine Swallowtail
2 Black Swallowtail
99 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail also 1 egg on Tulip Poplar
11 Spicebush Swallowtail also 1 caterpillar on Spicebush
10 Cabbage White
7 Clouded Sulphur
13 Orange Sulphur
6 Cloudless Sulphur
4 Sleepy Orange
1 Gray Hairstreak
9 Eastern-Tailed Blue
87 Azure
4 Variegated Fritillary
6 Great Spangled Fritillary
1 Meadow Fritillary **
5 Silvery Checkerspot
12 Pearl Crescent
4 Red Admiral
6 American Lady
1 Common Buckeye
4 Red-Spotted Purple
2 Southern Pearly Eye **
1 Northern Pearly Eye **
31 Carolina Satyr
3 Little Wood Satyr
1 Common Wood Nymph
3 Monarch also 2 eggs on Common Milkweed
17 Silver-Spotted Skipper
1 Southern Cloudywing **
6 Northern Cloudywing **
6 Clouded Skipper
4 Least Skipper
1 Tawny-Edged Skipper **
1 Whirlabout **
2 Little Glassywing **
5 Sachem
4 Zabulon Skipper **
1 Lace-Winged Roadside Skipper **

** – new county record [with only 53 species previously reported for Surry County, we expected to add a few]

383 Adult butterflies
38 Species
1 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail egg
1 Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillar
2 Monarch eggs

Jim Nottke

Folks,

On Sunday, May 28, five of us (Bob/Nancy Baldwin, Charlie Cameron, Elizabeth Riggs, and I) had a great day on the 12th annual Forsyth County count. It was mostly sunny with the temperature rising from 70 to 86 degrees. It has been extremely dry in Forsyth County, 6 inches below average so far this year.

But we still found 298 butterflies of 30 species. [In the 3 days since the count I have encountered 5 more species in the count area.] I had expected Reynolda Gardens to have many butterflies since it is irrigated, but we did better on the Great Wagon Road at Bethabara and the farm areas.

In previous years we have found large numbers of Sleepy Orange because their host, Sicklepod, infests soybeans – but this year we had 55 Cabbage White because everyone has grown winter wheat, which is infested with mustard. The 14 Least Skippers were a pleasant surprise.

2 Pipevine Swallowtail – also 14 eggs and 11 caterpillars on Dutchmans Pipe
13 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
2 Spicebush Swallowtail – also 1 caterpillar on Sassafras
55 Cabbage White
8 Clouded Sulphur
19 Orange Sulphur
2 Cloudless Sulphur
11 Sleepy Orange
1 Red-Banded Hairstreak
4 Eastern-Tailed Blue
34 Azure
6 Variegated Fritillary
9 Great Spangled Fritillary
7 Silvery Checkerspot
21 Pearl Crescent
2 polygonia spp.
2 American Lady
1 Common Buckeye
2 Red-Spotted Purple
2 Gemmed Satyr
32 Carolina Satyr
0 Monarch but 2 eggs and 11 caterpillars
21 Silver-Spotted Skipper
1 Hayhurst’s Scallopwing
2 Common-Checkered Skipper
3 Clouded Skipper
14 Least Skipper
1 Crossline Skipper
8 Whirlabout
8 Sachem
1 Zabulon Skipper
2 Dun Skipper

Jim Nottke

Hey – Here’s the results for the 2006 WEWO Count. The weather was perfect – upper 70’s – low 80’s no wind – plenty of sunshine but not good numbers of butterflys. The primary nectar source was New Jersey Tea, Sandhills Thistle and daisy fleabane with some garden butterfly plants at Weymouth Center. 7 folks participated.We covered the main Weymouth tract until noon then most folks had to head home. I was working and a couple of commitments so we were not able to cover the circle well this year. (We missed you Harry;). I feel we still could have reached 35+ species with better coverage. Thanks to all of you for your help. Have great week.

Scott Hartley
Weymouth Woods – SNP
Southern Pines, NC

1 Zebra Swallowtail
3 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
4 Spicebush Swallowtail
3 Palamedes Swallowtail
2 Cloudless Sulphur
1 American Copper
2 Coral Hairstreak
6 Edward’s Hairstreak
2 Banded Hairstreak
4 King’s Hairstreak
5 Gray Hairstreak
8 Eastern Tailed Blue
4 Summer Azure
10 Varigated Frittilaries
2 Pearl Crescent
8 American Ladies
1 Red Admiral
7 Common Buckeye
2 Red-spotted Purple
1 Southern Pearly-Eye
3 Creole Pearly-Eye
4 Appalachian Brown – has increased dramatically with increase in beaver pond habitat in park.
8 Silver-Spotted Skippper
2 Hoary Edge
1 Southern Cloudywing
7 Horace’s Duskywing
3 Common Sootywing
10 Crossline Skipper
1 Whirlabout
1 Southern Broken-Dash

Hello all-
The Congaree National Park count on Saturday June 10th was conducted in very hot and dry conditions. Temps were in the mid 90s, sunny skies. Overall diversity and numbers were low. Sixteen volunteers participated, including CBS folks Dennis Forsythe, Robin Carter, Don Hicks, Mike Turner, Sudie Daves, Robert and Stephanie Eddy. Thanks to all who came to brave the heat. Counting occurred between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

Total species =30
Total number of individuals=363

Pipevine-1
Zebra Swallowtail-11
Black Swallowtail-2
Eastern Tiger SW-5 ( 1 dark female)
Spicebush -2
Cabbage White-2
Orange Sulphur-5
Cloudless Sulpher-9
Sleepy Orange-6
Gray Hairstreak-5
Azure sp.-2
Snout-4
Variegated Frittilary-91+
Pearl Crescent-28
American Lady-6
Common Buckeye-95+
Red-spotted Purple-1
Hackberry Emperor-6
Tawny Emperor-1
Southern Pearly-Eye-4
Creole Pearly-Eye-2
Little Wood Satyr-1
Monarch-1
Horace’s Duskywing-27
Common Checkered Skipper-8
Zarruco Duskywing-10
Fiery Skipper-12
Dun Skipper-13
Lace-wing Road-side Skipper -1
Ocola -2

Christina S. Hulslander
Cayce, South Carolina

Hi – The Pettigrew Count was held on Wed. June 21st. under hot & humid conditions. An intense but brief thunderstorm ended the count at about 4pm. Buttonbush, verbena, clover and verbena were the main nectar sources. We had 10 folks in two parties. We had 39 species. 7 Palkata skippers were very good. The numbers were a bit down for zebra swallowtail and red admiral. Many of the red admirals, variegated frits and common sootywings were immaculately fresh. No bears or live rattlesnakes this year, one beautiful roadkill canebreak rattlesnake just west of Tysons. I did see several wild turkeys on the south side of Lake Phelps. Thanks to all who helped. This was the 10th year for this count.

Scott Hartley
Weymouth Woods – SNP
Southern Pines, NC

350 Zebra Swallowtail
22 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
7 Spicebush Swallowtail 
25 Palamedes Swallowtail
160 Cabbage White
55 Orange Sulphur
30 Cloudless Sulphur
300 Sleepy Orange
1 Great-purple Hairstreak
20 Gray Hairstreak
4 Red-banded Hairstreak
35 Eastern -tailed Blue
1 Summer Azure
700 Varigated Frittilary
75 Pearl Crescent
4 Question Mark
380 American Lady
2 Painted Lady
75 Red Admiral
720 Common Buckeye
2 Red-spotted Purple
12 Viceroy
11 Carolina Satyr
1 Little Wood Satyr
6 Monarch
24 Silver-spotted skipper
26 Common checkered skipper
250 Common Sootywing
14 Least skipper
4 Southern skipperling
160 Fiery skipper
1 Sachem
10 Yehl Skipper
4 Broad-winged skipper
7 Palatka skipper
41 Dion Skipper – is this right guys? – I couldn’t read my own number. I know my group had about 6.
13 Dunn skipper
1 Carolina roadside-skipper

It was a beautiful, not too hot July day (high 80’s and lower humidity than usual) at Draper Wildlife Management Area, Saturday for our CBS/NABA count but there were not as many leps as we have had in previous years. Not sure if it is the dry spell we had in the spring. Thanks to Charlie Cameron, Elizabeth Riggs, Kim Coffey, Bob and Nancy Baldwin for helping search for butterflies today.

We walked almost the entire road that meanders through this refuge, something I had not attempted before and we found it shorter ( 2-3 miles?) than I expected going through fields full of corn and sunflowers in some areas and forested areas and other fields covered with different legumes like Lespedeza bicolor and other naturalized plants plus some native composites that dominate agricultural fields nowadays. Also came upon a pretty pink colored Sebatia species in flower Walked around the more secluded secondary woodland pond where we had a Wood Nymph and Kim found a (almost) well camouflaged Little Wood Satyr.

An interesting find which we saw twice were Tawny Emperors that has us confused because the upper surface of the hind wings were not characteristically dark and looked more like the Hackberry Emperor with 8 dark spots on edge of the wing, other wise it mostly fit the description of Tawny For a bit till we got close looks we were thinking we had a very worn Variegated Frit (underside view) or a “morph” between the two Emperors? Perhaps the female species? Elizabeth, Charlie and Kim have photos which they will study further.

Addendum: Thanks to Randy Emmitt who verfied that our “morph” Tawny Emporers were indeed females.

Another “uncommon” find (for me) were Common Sootywings found on Lamb’s Quarters (Chenopodium).

25 species, 62 individuals: Hope next year we have some rebound

Pipevine Swallowtail 1
Eastern Tailed Blue 5 (one severely tattered but still flying…considering they don’t have much wing area to loose!)
Carolina Satyr 1
Cloudless Sulphur 5
Cabbage White 5
Red Spotted Purple 3
Hackberry Emperor 2 ( One literally on Charlie’s back)
Tawny Emperor 2
“morph” Tawny Emperor 2
Common Sootywing 2
Tiger Swallowtail 4
Silver spotted Skipper 1
Little Yellow 1
Variegated Fritillary 6
Pearl Crescent 4
Clouded Sulphur 1 (ovipositing on very small Lespedeza where Charlie found a egg)
Common Wood Nymph 1
Little Wood Satyr 2
Horace Duskywing 3
American Snout 3
Whirlabout 1
Common Checkered Skipper 1
Buckeye 3
Sleepy Oranges 2
Fiery Skipper 1

Also had many Widow Skimmers and Amber Wing Dragonflies plus Common Whitetail and Slaty Skimmers at the ponds

Jules Fraytet
Charlotte, NC

On July 19, 2006 the following observers – Jim Nottke, Max Nottke, Lynn Smith, Gail Lankford, Cathy King, Beth Brinson, and Ruth Young – met and counted 26 species of butterflies in the Transylvania Count area. The following leps were seen:

1 Black Swallowtail
2 Spicebush Swallowtails
88 Pipevine Swallowtails
18 Tiger Swallowtails
5 Cabbage White
12 Cloudless Sulfurs
3 Sulfur species
7 Orange Sulfurs
1 Harvester
256 Summer Azures
1 Appalachian Azure
13 Eastern tailed Blues
2 Meadow Frittillary
1 Variegated Frittilalary
2 Silvery Checkerspot
1 Great Spangled Frittillary
9 Pearl Crescents
4 Commas
1 Question Mark
3 Anglewing species
1 Red Admiral
9 Red-spotted Purples
2 Buckeyes
1 Monarch
119 Silver-spotted Skippers
4 Wild Indigo Duskywings
2 Duskywing species
2 Dun
4 Sachem

Ruth Young

The Yancey County butterfly count was held on Saturday 22 July under conditions where the sun peeked through the clouds enough to get some butterflies moving. The count took place in the northeastern part of the county in a fair variety of habitats.. Participants were Jim Nottke and Nancy and Bob Baldwin.

27 species and 327 individuals + one caterpillar were seen.

Pipevine Swallowtail 130
Black Swallowtail 2+ 1 caterpillar
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 6
Spicebush Swallowtail 2
Cabbage White 28
Clouded Sulfur 3
Orange Sulfur 3
Gray Hairstreak 2
Red-banded Hairstreak 1
Eastern Tailed Blue 3
Azures 40
Great Spangled Fritillary 2
Meadow Fritillary 1
Silvery Checkerspot 1
Pearl Crescent 24
Eastern Comma 1
Common Buckeye 1
Red Admiral 1
Red-spotted Purple 1
Carolina Satyr 2
Common Wood Nymph 5
Monarch 4
Silver Spotted Skipper 32
Least Skipper 3
Sachem 24
Zabulon Skipper 4 
Dun Skipper 1 

Bob Baldwin

PS Nature doing her thing isn’t always pretty. Not mentioned in the Yancey Count report was that we observed at one location Whiteface Hornets attacking puddling Pipevine Swallowtails. It seemed that the hornets were stinging the Pipevines and then going on to others. Several bodies were at the site still moving a bit. One, thought to be dead, brought home by Nancy was still moving its antennae this morning.

These attacks probably are common but I don’t recall having seen them mentioned. Of course it is known that hornets are predators. One neighbor who raises horses likes hornets because as he says it “They eat flies.”

Folks,

The Pee Dee NWR count was held this past Saturday, July 29. Charles and Elizabeth Cameron joined me for an extremely hot , but productive day of butterfly counting. We saw 164 individuals of 28 species.

Zebra Swallowtail-3
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail-9
Spicebush Swallowtail-6
Palamedes Swallowtail-3
Orange Sulphur-2
Cloudless Sulphur-16
Little Yellow-3
Sleepy Orange-23
Eastern Tailed-Blue-1
American Snout-17
Pearl Crescent-9
Question Mark-1
Red Admiral-2
Common Buckeye-5
Red-spotted Purple-12
Viceroy-1
Hackberry Emperor-22
Tawny Emperor-4
Monarch-3
Silver-spotted Skipper-5
Southern Cloudywing-3
Northern Cloudywing-1
Horace’s Duskywing-4
Zarucco Duskywing-1
Fiery Skipper-3
Whirlabout-1
Zabulon Skipper-1
Dun Skipper-3

Susan Hennessy
Yadkin-Pee Dee Lakes Project

Butterfliers,

The NABA Durham Butterfly Count on 8/20/2006 was a big success due to a great turnout of folks helping out. Because of higher than average coverage (21 observers comprising 7 parties), we found higher than average numbers of butterflies (over 4500 individuals), but our species diversity was exactly at our 7-year average of 55 species. Most folks mentioned the droughty conditions and general lack of nectar flowers compared to past years as likely causes. Also of note was that we found NO rarities, again despite better coverage than ever.

Conditions were great for butterflying: hot and mostly sunny all day. The humidity was high, making conditions a bit rough for us humans, and at least one party ran into an impressive batch of seed ticks, where all party members spent nearly a half-hour with duck tape removing several hundred tiny ticks from pants & socks, but even that didn’t damper enthusiasm. We had several expert leaders and many brand new folks, and everyone had a great time. My hat is off and thanks extended to all the intrepid volunteers: Bob & Nancy Baldwin, Charles Cameron, Derb Carter, Will Cook, John Dole, Wendy Elliott, Randy Emmitt, Clinton Jenkins, Tom Krakauer, Harry LeGrand, Allison Leidner, Merrill Lynch, David McCloy, Michael McCloy, Meg Millard, Karen Oberhauser, Jeffrey Pippen, Roger Rittmaster, Richard Stickney, Sharna Tolfree, Roger Willington, Chad Shoen, and Barbara Beaman.

In general, we found average numbers of individuals of most of the species we saw. A few exceptions, however, were higher than average numbers of all species of swallowtails, highlighted by a single Zebra Swallowtail found by Randy Emmitt’s group, only the second time this species has been reported on the Durham count. Also record high counts for the Durham Count were set for Cloudless Sulphurs (214), Fiery Skipper (633), and Dun Skipper (32). Relatively insignificant were record low counts only for Summer Azure (6), and Common Sootywing (1).

Here is the list for the count, mostly in Durham Co., but a bit in Orange Co.:

18 Pipevine Swallowtail
1 Zebra Swallowtail
18 Black Swallowtail
608 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
108 Spicebush Swallowtail
3 Cabbage White
13 Orange Sulphur
214 Cloudless Sulphur
109 Sleepy Orange
19 Gray Hairstreak
3 Red-banded Hairstreak
70 Eastern Tailed-Blue
6 Summer Azure
10 American Snout
359 Variegated Fritillary
4 Great Spangled Fritillary
15 Silvery Checkerspot
85 Pearl Crescent
8 Question Mark
4 Eastern Comma
4 American Lady
2 Red Admiral
256 Common Buckeye
32 Red-spotted Purple
29 Viceroy
22 Hackberry Emperor
11 Tawny Emperor
8 Northern Pearly-eye
10 Gemmed Satyr
92 Carolina Satyr
3 Common Wood-Nymph
137 Monarch
135 Silver-spotted Skipper
5 Hoary Edge
1 Southern Cloudywing
31 Horace’s Duskywing
1 Zarucco Duskywing
5 Wild Indigo Duskywing
28 Com. Checkered-Skipper
1 Common Sootywing
16 Swarthy Skipper
13 Clouded Skipper
40 Least Skipper
633 Fiery Skipper
3 Tawny-edged Skipper
92 Crossline Skipper
50 Southern Broken-Dash
5 Northern Broken-Dash
34 Little Glassywing
1389 Sachem
6 Delaware Skipper
19 Zabulon Skipper
1 Dion Skipper
32 Dun Skipper
16 Ocola Skipper

Non-Adults

3 Pipevine Swallowtail cats
15 Black Swallowtail eggs
11 Black Swallowtail cats
1 Red Admiral cat
1 Common Buckeye cat
17 Monarch cats

55 Total Species
4577 Total Individuals

Good Butterflying!

Jeff
http://www.duke.edu/~jspippen/nature.htm

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Jeffrey S. Pippen
http://www.duke.edu/~jspippen/nature.htm

Folks,

After several years of cloudy days, afternoon showers, high humidity, and hot/windless afternoons, we were finally rewarded with a perfect day for butterflying!! It not only increased the numbers, but it really felt good! As temperatures rose from 65 to 90 under a cloudless sky, eight of us* spent from 9 am until 5:30 pm counting butterflies in northern Iredell County. Mostly on the Allison Woods Estate and along the Iredell County Greenway, which has recovered well from the disastrous flood of a few years ago. Most spectacular was a 50 ft tall wall of blooming kudzu in full sun on the side of the Allison Woods airstrip, alive with butterflies, although the long stretch of Joe Pye and Ironweed in full bloom on the Greenway was also impressive.

17 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail [and 1 caterpillar]
1 Spicebush Swallowtail
1 Cabbage White
7 Clouded Sulphur
1 Orange Sulphur
37 Cloudless Sulphur
4 Sleepy Orange
3 Gray Hairstreak
1 Red-Banded Hairstreak
13 Eastern-Tailed Blue
15 Azure
7 Variegated Fritillary
19 Silvery Checkerspot
7 Pearl Crescent
3 Questionmark
1 Red Admiral
36 Common Buckeye
11 Red-Spotted Purple
6 Hackberry Emperor
1 Tawny Emperor
2 Northern Pearly-eye
1 Creole Pearly-eye
206 Carolina Satyr
7 Monarch [and 21 caterpillars]
28 Silver-Spotted Skipper
1 Horaces Duskywing
1 Common-Checkered Skipper
1 Common Sootywing
8 Clouded Skipper
2 Least Skipper
28 Crossline Skipper
3 Whirlabout
2 Northern Broken-Dash
3 Little Glassywing
537 Sachem
4 Delaware Skipper
46 Zabulon Skipper
1 Dun Skipper [and 1 dead Dun]
2 Ocola Skipper

39 Species
1074 Adult butterflies

* Bob & Nancy Baldwin, Charlie Cameron, Elizabeth Riggs, Lislott Harberts, Jean Cheendrlek, Peggy Johnson, and Jim Nottke

Jim Nottke

Folks:

We had nice — sunny but hot — weather on Saturday, Aug. 26, for the Wilmington, NC, count. Jeff Pippen, Will Cook, Parker Backstrom, and I worked in 1-2 parties. Results were rather bland, despite no hindrance from the weather. The drought in FL and other Gulf states meant very few northbound migrants. But, what is going on with brushfoots such as Polygonia and Vanessa species? They are way down across most of NC right now. The area has had normal rainfall. Here are the so-so results, barely reaching the minimum 40 species for which I consider “passable”:

Black Swallowtail 18
Giant Swallowtail 1 female ovipositing on Zanthoxylum clava-herculis on Figure Eight I.
E. Tiger Swallowtail 7
Spicebush Swallowtail 10
Palamedes Swallowtail 65
Orange Sulphur 1
Cloudless Sulphur 300
Sleepy Orange 28 but no Little Yellow
Gray Hairstreak 3
Red-banded Hairstreak 11
LITTLE METALMARK 5 2nd or 3rd count
Gulf Fritillary 5 quite low
Variegated Fritillary 6
Pearl Crescent 15
Red Admiral 1
Common Buckeye 25
Viceroy 6
Carolina Satyr 3
Monarch 31
Silver-spotted Skipper 50
Long-tailed Skipper 5 — thankful to see any at all!
Horace’s Duskywing 3
Zarucco Duskywing 2
Common Checkered-Skipper 12
Clouded Skipper 20 very low
Least Skipper 10
Southern Skipperling 15
Fiery Skipper 35
Whirlabout 15
Southern Broken-Dash 3
Delaware Skipper 3
Byssus Skipper 2
Broad-winged Skipper 3
Dion Skipper 1
Dukes’ Skipper 2
Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper 10
Eufala Skipper 3
Twin-spot Skipper 1
Salt Marsh Skipper 70
Ocola Skipper 8

———-
40 species

Harry LeGrand
Raleigh, NC

18 members and guest of the Carolina Butterfly Society and the Ogeechee Audubon Society held a joint field trip to the Tillman Sand Ridge HP, Jasper Co., SC from 9:30AM to 2:00PM The weather was good with only short periods of cloud cover. Only two nectar plants were seen: Mexican Clover (Richardia scabra) and Ironweed (Vernonia acalis). We had a fair diversity of butterfly species but as has been the case all summer low numbers of individuals.

Butterflies seen:
Zebra Swallowtail-1 very fresh
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail-4
Spicebush Swallowtail-1
SOUTHERN DOGFACE-1 Seen by part of the group as we left the Tillman
Cloudless SUlfur-20+
Sleepy Orange-1
Red-banded Hairstreak-5
Gulf Fritillary-6
Variegated Fritillary-1
PHAON CRESCENT-1
Pearl Crescent-3
Question Mark-1
Common Buckeye-3
Red-spotted Purple-5
Creole Pearly-eye-1
Appalachian Brown-1
Gemmed Satyr-1
LITTLE WOOD-SATYR- 1 late?
Monarch-1 very small
Silver-spotted Skipper-1 We saw it being caught and eaten by a Carolina
Mantis
Long-tailed Skipper-1
Southern Cloudywing-1
Horace’s Duskywing-12
Zarucco Duskywing-2
Common/White Checkered Skipper-3
Tropical Checkered-skipper-2 county record
Couded Skipper-8
Least Skipper-3
Fiery Skipper-3
Whirlabout-3
Southern Broken-dash-3
Byssus Skipper-25
Zabulon Skipper-2
Dun Skipper-25 county record
Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper-2

I think I speak for the group in say a good time was had by all.

Dennis

Dennis M. Forsythe PhD, PA

Folks:

I don’t want to hear about how nice the weather was in the Carolinas yesterday. Is it true it didn’t rain on 98% of North Carolina yesterday? The worst weather in the Carolinas was on mainland Dare County, where it was even much worse than the predicted forecast of “mostly cloudy, 30 percent chance of rain, wind 10-15 mph, high 75”. Well, it 30 percented on us for about 2 hours — 3 occasions for about 3/4 inch of rain, wind 15 to occasionally 20 mph, and maybe 10 percent sun, mainly after 3 pm; fortunately, it did make it to 77 degrees late in the day. Oh, the forecast didn’t mention mosquitoes! My unofficial count was around 10,000,000. As I’m typing this, my body can account for a few hundred of these!

Because of the crappy weather, the five brave souls — Jeff Pippen, Parker Backstrom, Lauren Elich, Mike Smith (from w. VA), and I — decided not to have an official count, but try to just stick out the rain, wind, clouds, and mosquitoes, and just see and photograph some wetland skippers. In the process, we had two separate sightings of black bears standing on roads, a Timber [Canebrake] Rattlesnake seen by several folks, and saw almost all of our target species (except for Berry’s Skipper, whose nectar sources had nearly all been mowed or bulldozed). By the time the day was over, we decided to go ahead and call it an official count, for publication in NABA’s count book, even though we only hit 2-3 of our usual spots. Here are the totals (our lowest species total ever, not because of low butterfly numbers, but because of the poor weather and lack of locales surveyed ):

E. Tiger Swallowtail 3
Palamedes Swallowtail 100
Cloudless Sulphur 40 very low
Sleepy Orange1
Great Purple Hairstreak 8
Gray Hairstreak 12
Red-banded Hairstreak 80
E. Tailed-Blue 1
Pearl Crescent 15
Common Buckeye 10 yep — no ladies or Red Admiral
Red-spotted Purple 3
Viceroy 4
Southern Pearly-eye 3 usually miss this
Common Wood-Nymph 70 remarkable number
Monarch 3
Silver-spotted Skipper 2
Clouded Skipper 9
Fiery Skipper 25
Tawny-edged Skipper 5
Crossline Skipper 3
Southern Broken-Dash 10
Aaron’s Skipper 14 second best state count ever
Yehl Skipper 6
Broad-winged Skipper 25
Palatka Skipper 25
Dion Skipper 12
Dun Skipper 2
Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper 1
Twin-spot Skipper 7
Salt Marsh Skipper 12
Ocola Skipper 4

—————
31 species

Harry LeGrand
Raleigh, NC

Butterfly Trip Report – Carolina Sandhills NWR, SC, 9/23/06

Dennis Forsythe, who did a great job leading the Carolina Butterfly Society field trip last Saturday, asked me to write a report of the day’s activities.

The beautiful refuge, great weather, a good turn out of people, and excellent media coverage combined to make the butterfly walk at Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge a success last Saturday, September 23rd.

This was a joint field trip of the Carolina Butterfly Society and Friends of Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is located outside McBee, SC, near Hartsville about 2 hours east of Columbia. It was established primarily to protect the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker, which the group saw, but also provides a wide variety of habitats for many other animals and plant species including a good selection of butterflies.

Fifteen people set out from the refuge headquarters under the leadership of Dennis Forsythe. Doug DeNeve, a member of the Carolina Butterfly Society and president of the refuge Friends group, was on hand to welcome participants and to help as guide. Several new butterfliers were attending their first butterfly walk due to news releases sent out by the refuge staff. A television reporter, a videographer, and a newspaper photographer/web reporter also joined the group, resulting in the story being on the 11 pm news, in the Sunday morning newspaper, and on the media company’s website.

Participants spent much of the time in very specialized long leaf pine savanna habitat searching for uncommon/rare skipper butterflies. It was a bit late in the season for the target butterflies, and also there were surprisingly few flowers in bloom to provide nectar. None of the target species were conclusively identified on this trip, although a more common Swarthy Skipper was seen a couple of times.

The majority of butterflies for the day were found in a flowering meadow of the “Ox Pen” part of the refuge as well as a few along the nearby roadsides. The following species were recorded by the group: Palamedes Swallowtail, Cloudless Sulphur, Sleepy Orange, Gray Hairstreak, Eastern Tailed Blue, Variegated Fritillary, American Lady, Common Buckeye (including both a caterpillar and an adult), checkered skipper, Swarthy Skipper, Clouded Skipper, Fiery Skipper, Ocola Skipper, and one unidentified skipper seen briefly that seemed to have characteristics of one of the Hesperia species.

This butterfly walk was a lot of fun, and it was a great way to publicize the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge, the Friends of Carolina Sandhills NWR organization, and the Carolina Butterfly Society. Thanks are due to the trip leader, Dennis Forsythe, and to Doug DeNeve and the refuge staff for organizing and hosting the event.

Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC