10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

Results from the Saturday NABA count at Congaree National Park, Hopkins, SC (Richland County, SC)

Overall numbers were low. Species diversity comparable to last year’s count

Thank you to our count participants! (21) -JG Santini, Dave Kastner, Marty Kastner, Stephanie Eaddy, Robert Eaddy, Raymond Bennett, Emily Bennett, Hannah Anderson, Sarah Schulte, Beth Walker, Bret Hegler, Steven McNamara, Kimberly Meitzen, Sudie Thomas, John Grego, Doug Allen, Jim Stiver, Brandon Cambell, Krista Tomaro, Dennis Forsythe, and Christina Hulslander.

Temperatures ranged 87 a.m. to 97 p.m. degrees

Cloud cover- scattered clouds

1. Zebra*, Eurytides Marcellus-10
2. Eastern Tiger*, Papilio glaucus 2
3. Palamedes*, Papilio palamedes-5
4. Checkered White*, Pontia protodice-6
5. Orange/Alfalfa Sulphur*, Colias eurytheme-2
6. Cloudless Sulphur*, Phoebis sennae-2
7. Sleepy Orange*, Eurema nicippe-54
8. Gray Hairstreak*, Strymonmelinus-4
9. Spring/summer Azure*, Celastrina sp.-2
10. Eastern TailedBlue*, Everes comyntas-5
11. Snout*, Libytheana carinenta-2
12. Variegated Frittilary*, Euptoieta Claudia- 2
13. Phaon Crescent, Phycoides phaon-1
14. Pearl Cresent*, Phycoides tharos-27
15. Red Admiral*, Vanessa atalanta-2
16. Common Buckeye*, Junonia coenia-51
17. Red-spotted Purple*, Limenitis arthemis astyanax-7
18. Hackberry Emperor*, Asterocampa celtis-4
19. Tawny Emperor*, Asterocampa clyton-4
20. Southern Pearly-Eye*, Enodia portlandia-1
21. Creole Pearly-Eye*, Enodia creola-9
22. Appalachina Brown*, Satyrode Appalachia-7
23. Gemmed Satyr*, Cyllopsis gemma-1
24. Carolina Satyr*, Hermenuptychia sosybius-11
25. Common Wood Nymph*, Cercyonis pegal-1
26. Silver-spotted skipper*, Phocides pigmalion-3
27. Horace’s Duskywing*, Erynnis horatius-26
28. White Checkered Skipper-6
29. Common Sootywing*, Pholisora Catullus-1
30. Clouded Skipper*, Lermema accius-1
31. Fiery Skipper*, Hylephila phyleus-11
32. Sachem*, Atalopedes campestris-8
33. Dun Skipper*, Euphyes vestis-3
34. Lace-winged Roadside Skipper*, Amblyscirtes Aesculapius-16
35. Crossline/Tawny-edged skipper -1

TOTALS-

35 species
297 individuals (462 individuals observed in 2009)

Other wildlife- luna moth, underwing moth, juvenile barred owl(2 unidentified species may be added later after digital photo identification efforts.)

Thanks to all of our dedicated participants!

Christina S. Hulslander
Cayce, South Carolina 29033

Here are the results from the SC portion of the Aiken-Augusta NABA count held Saturday the 17th. One group counted at Silver Bluff Audubon Center and one person checked other areas of western Aiken County.

Red Admiral    6
Pearl Crescent   2

Tiger Swallowtail     3
Red-spotted Purple  6
Gulf Fritillary     3
Hoary Edge       5
Summer Azure  2
Silver-spotted Skipper 4
Viceroy              4
Palamedes Swallowtail 3
Fiery Skipper   26
Eastern Tailed-Blue    1
Southern Cloudywing 1
Spicebush Swallowtail 3
American Snout   16
Question Mark      3
Tawny Emperor    1
Hackberry Emperor 1
Horace’s Duskywing 2
Sleepy Orange     71
Zebra Swallowtail- 3
Cloudless Sulphur- 5
Gray Hairstreak-    1
Variegated Fritillary- 5
Common Buckeye-    2
Zarucco Duskywing- 1
White/Common Checkered-skipper 6
Whirlabout- 7

—
Lois Stacey
North Augusta, SC (Aiken Cnty)

You know it will be an interesting day of butterflying when at 9:30 am it is 69 degrees, heavily overcast, starting to rain, and 14 people show up for a morning butterfly walk at Historic Bethabara Park in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County;

http://www.cityofws.org/Home/Departments/RecreationAndParks/BethabaraPark/Articles/BethabaraPark

But a Tiger Swallowtail flew over, and we were never out of sight of a Tiger Swallowtail the rest of the morning. After walking around the Community Gardens while deciding whether to hike or quit, we split into two groups – one did the greenway down to the Beaver Pond and the other did the Old Wagon Trail. Both groups did pretty well while trying to keep cameras and binocs under ponchos. My group watched a Pearl Crescent crawl under a leaf to get out of the drizzle. Our combined list;

49 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
1   Spicebush Swallowtail
11 Eastern Tailed Blue
9   Azure
19 Pearl Crescent
2   Red Spotted Purple
1   Northern Pearly-Eye
1   Carolina Satyr
16 Silver Spotted Skipper
1   Swarthy Skipper
4   Least Skipper
4   Fiery Skipper
2   Sachem
1   Zabulon Skipper

Only 14 species, but 121 individuals. No whites, sulphurs, or Fritillaries, which were plentiful last week in the blazing sun. No Monarchs!

Hope to see a few of you next weekend at the Surry County count on Saturday, Aug 7, or at the Forsyth Count on Sunday, Aug 8

Jim Nottke
Saturday, July 31, 2010

After some effort (I’m sweating), I managed to get results from an Excel file (which can’t be attached) to an e-mail! Here is what was found on the Wake County count last Friday (Aug. 6), as compiled by John Connors:

Pipevine Sw.- Battus philenor – 8
Black Sw. -Papilio polyxenes – 4
E. Tiger Sw. – Papilio glaucus – 206
Spicebush Sw.- Papilio troilus – 13
Cabbage Wh. -Pieris rapae – 6
Clouded Sul. -Colias philodice – 3
Orange Sulp.- Colias eurytheme – 6
Cloudless Sul- Phoebis sennae – 6
Little Yellow- Eureme lisa – 1
Sleepy Orange- Eurema nicippe – 19
Gray Hrstk – Strymon melinus – 7
E Tailed Blue- Everes comyntas – 29
Summer Azure- C. neglecta – 61
A Snout- Libytheana carinenta – 3
Variegated Frit-Euptoieta claudia – 11
SilveryCheckersp-Chlosyne nycteis – 11 new to count
Pearl Crescent-Phyciodes tharos – 71
Question Mark- Polygonia interrogationis – 5
E Comma- P. comma – 4
A. Lady- Vanessa virginiensis – 1
Red Admiral- V. atalanta – 16
C. Buckeye- Junonia coenia – 71
Red-sp.Purple-Limenitis arthemis – 23
Viceroy- L. archippus – 2
Hackberry E.-Asterocampa celtis – 10
Tawny Emperor- A. clyton – 1
No. Pearly-eye- E. anthedon – 25
Creole P.-eye- E. creola – 2
App.Brown-Satyrodes appalachia – 4

Gemmed Satyr-Cyllopsis gemma – 8
Car.Satyr-Hermeuptychia sosybius – 154
C. Wood-Nymph-Cercyonis pegala – 2
Monarch– Danaus plexippus – 5
Silver-spot Sk.-Epargyreus clarus – 42
SoCloudywing-Thorybes bathyllus – 2
Horace’s Duskywing- E. horatius- 9
Zarucco Duskywing- E. zarucco – 2
Wild Indigo Duskyw- E. baptisiae – 1
C.Checkered Skip-Pyrgus communis – 7
C. Sootywing- Phollisora catullus – 3
Swarthy Skip- Nastra Iherminier – 1
Clouded Skip- Lerema accius – 10
Least Skip-Ancycloxypha numitor – 43
Fiery Skip-Hylephila phyleus – 37
Crossline Skip- P. origenes – 7
So.Broken-Dash-Wallengrenia otho – 13
Little Glassywing-Pompeius verna – 55
Sachem- Atalopedes campestris – 119
Zabulon Skip- Poanes zabulon – 106
Dun Skip- Euphyes vestris – 31
Lace-wingRdside-Amblyscirtes aesculapius – 17
Eufala Skip- Lerodea eufala – 1
Dion Skipper Euphyes dion – 14

53 species.

Harry LeGrand
NC Natural Heritage Program
DENR Office of Planning, Conservation, and Community Affairs
1601 MSC
Raleigh, NC 27699-1601
(919) 715-8697 (work)
e-mail: [email protected]

—————————————————–
Notice: E-mail correspondence to and from this address may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and therefore may be disclosed to third parties.

On Saturday, August 7, twelve of us (*) enjoyed a beautiful day of butterflying in Surry County from Horne Creek Historic Farm to the banks of the Yadkin River to Pilot Mountain. In each of the first four years of this count we have added at least one new species to the county record, but we were unable to do so this year, in spite of targeting a few species that are known from every county adjacent to Surry.But Charlie did find a unique Curved-Lined Owlet caterpillar, which eats Greenbriar – see

http://bugguide.net/node/view/31924.

And we found a very high density colony of Silvery Checkerspot caterpillars.

The big outbreak of Eastern Tiger Swallowtails is on the decline in Surry – numbers were much higher a week ago.

I thank the Horne Creek Park staff for helping to make the count a success and for a tour of their beautiful new Visitor Center.

Dennis Burnette has posted some photos of the count at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisburnette/sets/72157624682411634/?photo_de

The tentative count date for 2011 is Saturday, August 13.

1   Pipevine Swallowtail

1   Black Swallowtail

61 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

9   Spicebush Swallowtail

4   Orange Sulphur

2   Cloudless Sulphur

4   Sleepy Orange

4   Gray Hairstreak

61 Eastern Tailed Blue

21 Azure

3   Variegated Fritillary

1   Great Spangled Fritillary

9   Silvery Checkerspot plus a few hundred caterpllars

29 Pearl Crescent

4   Question Mark

1   Eastern Comma

9   Red Admiral

14 Common Buckeye

43 Red Spotted Purple

6   Hackberry Emperor

5   Northern Pearly-eye

3   Creole Pearly-eye

25 Carolina Satyr

5   Common Wood Nymph

8   Silver Spotted Skipper

3   Southern Cloudywing

1   Northern Cloudywing

11 Least Skipper

21 Little Glassywing

8   Sachem

8   Delaware Skipper

14 Zabulon Skipper

5   Dun Skipper

8   Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper

34 species

412 individuals

Jim Nottke

(*) – John & Margaret Barlow, Lee Beatty, Dennis Burnette, Charlie Cameron, Nita Colvin, Carol Gearhart, Gregg Morris, Jim Nottke, Elizabeth Riggs, Gene Schepker, Lois Schneider

The “Jeff Pippen NABA Count Model” still works; spread several parties of butterfliers across a lot of diverse habitats and you will find a lot of butterflies! On Sunday, August 8, under perfect butterflying conditions, 17 butterfliers (*) covered 9 major sites (**) and found a record number of species and total number of butterflies for a Forsyth NABA count. I thank all the participants and the staff at the count sites for their help with this 16th annual Forsyth County Butterfly Count. Most notable this year were the large numbers of Tiger Swallowtails and numerous eggs and caterpillars found.

The 2011 Forsyth Count is planned for Saturday, July 30.

3     Pipevine Swallowtail
0     Zebra Swallowtail 30 eggs and 1 caterpillar
2     Black Swallowtail
332 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
10   Spicebush Swallowtail
9     Cabbage White
2     Orange Sulphur
11   Cloudless Sulphur
1     Little Yellow
20   Sleepy Orange
5     Gray Hairstreak
62   Eastern Tailed Blue
22   Azure
5     American Snout plus 1 caterpillar
9     Variegated Fritillary
15   Great Spangled Fritillary
3     Silvery Checkerspot plus 45 caterpllars
82   Pearl Crescent
4     Question Mark plus 1 caterpillar
1     Eastern Comma
1    American Lady
10  Red Admiral
81  Common Buckeye
21  Red Spotted Purple
4    Viceroy
7    Hackberry Emperor
1    Tawny Emperor
4    Northern Pearly-eye
3    Creole Pearly-eye
2    Appalachian Brown
41  Carolina Satyr
2    Common Wood Nymph
23   Monarch plus several eggs and a caterpillar
107 Silver Spotted Skipper
1     Southern Cloudywing
3     Horace’s Duskywing
2     Zarucco Duskywing
1     Common Checkered-Skipper
32   Common Sootywing
1     Swarthy Skipper
1     Clouded Skipper
23   Least Skipper
5     Fiery Skipper
13   Tawny-edged Skipper
6     Crossline Skipper
1     Southern Broken-dash
31   Little Glassywing
162 Sachem
14   Delaware Skipper
48   Zabulon Skipper
16   Dun Skipper
7     Ocola Skipper

51   species of adult butterflies
1272 adult butterflies
49   caterpillars
35  eggs

(*) Cornelia Barr, Charlie Cameron, Tommie Castleman, Nita Colvin, Carol Gearhart, Robert Jolly, Ray Kandt, Lois Koufman, Shirley McCabe, Jim Nottke, Lloyd Ramsay, Elizabeth Riggs, Gene Schepker, Lois Schneider, Sharon Spencer, Bill Scurry, Judy Scurry

(**) Archie Elledge Wastewater Treatment Facility, Black Walnut Bottom in Bethania, Historic Bethabara Park, Horizons Park, Mill Creek/Baux Mtn Rd, Nottke Farm, Reynolda Gardens of Wake Forest University, Schepker/Schneider Gardens, Washington Park

Jim Nottke

Jim Nottke
Pfafftown, NC

Folks,
Fifteen participants in six groups counted butterflies as part of the 2010 Southern Lake Norman NABA Count on August 15. The day was mostly overcast with only brief periods of sunshine. Temperatures generally held in the upper 70’s to low 80’s, (as did the humidity levels it seemed) depending on the cloud cover. We did not see the sun until 11:30 AM. Heavy showers developed by 2:30 PM and effectively ended the day for most groups.

Thanks to a record number of participants and amount of coverage, 56 species were tallied.

Zebra Swallowtail             7
Black Swallowtail              16
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 182
Spicebush Swallowtail      4
Cabbage White                 3
Clouded Sulphur               3
Orange Sulphur                55
Cloudless Sulphur             56
Little Yellow                      10
Sleepy Orange                  70
Red-banded Hairstreak    1
Gray Hairstreak               15
Summer Azure                 10
Eastern Tailed-Blue           265
American Snout                1
Gulf Fritillary                    2
Variegated Fritillary        49
Great Spangled Fritillary 3
Silvery Checkerspot         12
Pearl Crescent                   74
Question Mark                  5
Eastern Comma                1
Mourning Cloak               1
Painted Lady                    1
American Lady                 6
Red Admiral                      20
Common Buckeye           609
Red-spotted Purple          16
Viceroy                             27
Hackberry Emperor        9
Tawny Emperor               6
Northern Pearly-Eye       8
Creole Pearly-Eye            3
Gemmed Satyr                5
Carolina Satyr                 384
Little Wood-Satyr           1
Common Wood-Nymph 3
Monarch                          23
Silver-spotted Skipper    54
Hoary Edge                    1
Southern Cloudywing   4
Horace’s Duskywing     12
Common Checkered-Skipper 26
Common Sootywing     20
Clouded Skipper           43
Least Skipper                42
Fiery Skipper                76
Tawny-edged Skipper 1
Crossline Skipper         8
Southern Broken-Dash 2
Little Glassywing         7
Sachem                         236
Delaware Skipper        20
Zabulon Skipper          44
Dun Skipper                 17
Ocola Skipper               3

Taylor Piephoff
Charlotte, NC

Butterfliers,

On Sunday August 18, 2010 the 12th annual NABA Durham Butterfly Count was conducted under mostly to partly cloudy skies and warm, humid conditions. Lots of butterflies cooperated! We had a very successful day, tallying 55 butterfly species and 4616 individuals! We had 5 separate groups (parties) in the field putting in a total of 27.5 party hours and 16.5 party miles.

No new species for the Durham count were found, but Randy Emmitt’s party had an amazing 18 Zebra Swallowtails, a species that is usually missed (due to brood timing) on this count. We set several Durham Count record highs including Zebra Swallowtail (18), Cloudless Sulphur (299), Silvery Checkerspot (117), Red Admiral (60), Common Checkered-Skipper (61), and Swarthy Skipper (95). Tiger Swallowtail numbers were quite low last year but everybody (even non-butterfliers) is noticing them this year! Indeed, while we did not approach our count record for that species, we tallied 697 of them for the day, almost twice average for this count.

On the other hand, this was the first time we’ve missed Hoary Edge and only the second time we’ve missed Southern Cloudywing. Black Swallowtail and Monarch numbers were well below average.

Overall, it was an excellent day with lots of butterflies and relatively comfortable conditions for humans!

Many thanks to all participants: Salman Abdulali, Will Cook, Randy Emmitt, Tom Krakauer, Meg Millard, Glashia O’Rourke, Jeff Pippen, Dorothy Pugh, Lynn Richardson, Toni Rexrode, Richard Stickney, and Bud Webster.

Here’s the final tally:

Total Species
4     Pipevine Swallowtail
18   Zebra Swallowtail
2     Black Swallowtail
697 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
25   Spicebush Swallowtail
10   Cabbage White
1     Clouded Sulphur
15   Orange Sulphur
299 Cloudless Sulphur
3     Little Yellow
521 Sleepy Orange
2     Juniper Hairstreak
40   Gray Hairstreak
7     Red-banded Hairstreak
170 Eastern Tailed-Blue
32   Summer Azure
9     American Snout
67   Variegated Fritillary
9     Great Spangled Fritillary
117 Silvery Checkerspot
205 Pearl Crescent
17  Question Mark
5     Eastern Comma
3     American Lady
60   Red Admiral
639 Common Buckeye
37   Red-spotted Purple
26   Viceroy
12   Hackberry Emperor
2     Tawny Emperor
8     Northern Pearly-eye
6     Gemmed Satyr
98   Carolina Satyr
4     Common Wood-Nymph
39   Monarch
118 Silver-spotted Skipper
2     Northern Cloudywing
6     Hayhurst’s Scallopwing
21   Horace’s Duskywing
4     Wild Indigo Duskywing
61   Com. Checkered-Skipper
1     Common Sootywing
95   Swarthy Skipper
29   Clouded Skipper
13   Least Skipper
240 Fiery Skipper
25   Crossline Skipper
65   Southern Broken-Dash
33   Little Glassywing
599 Sachem
2     Delaware Skipper
32   Zabulon Skipper
6     Dion Skipper
53   Dun Skipper
2     Ocola Skipper

Non-Adults
38   Black Swallowtail cats

Cheers,
Jeff

Jeffrey S. Pippen

Despite the threat of rain, 19 people from North Carolina, South Carolina and Canada participated in the Carolina Butterfly Society field trip to Clemson, SC on Saturday, Aug. 21, 2010. The group was about equally split between CBS members and members of the Friends of the Garden. We also enjoyed the company of a family of three from Canada, including a delightful 7 year-old child who got very excited about butterflies.

The trip leaders, Carolyn and John Turner, had planned a full day of butterflying for us. We spent the morning exploring the new butterfly garden in the South Carolina Botanical Garden in Clemson, where we were joined by staff member Lisa Wagner, who also is a long time member of CBS. This is the garden that CBS helped fund with a grant last year.

John and Carolyn have been volunteers in the botanical garden for more that 10 years. They have spent many hours consulting with garden staff and working to set up the butterfly garden. That hard work shows. They have placed a big emphasis on host plants, and the result is that we found many butterfly caterpillars of several species. Even though it was overcast and eventually began to rain, we also saw quite a few adult butterflies visiting the nectar plants in the butterfly garden and the adjacent children's garden.

When the rain increased, we retreated to a nearby greenhouse. We got in a little more butterflying after the rain tapered off, and then had lunch on the covered back porch of the education building. Many of the participants decided to call it a day at that point. The rest of us made a visit the butterfly garden at Duke Power¹s World of Energy. We were rained out there, so we went to our leaders¹ home where we waited out the rain on their back porch. As always happens, the rain finally ended, so we were able to find several more species and caterpillars in their large (1-acre plus) butterfly garden. We celebrated a good day by going out to dinner together that evening. Many thanks to the Turners for an excellent field trip.

A few of us visited the botanical garden on Friday evening and also on Sunday morning before departing. The trip list below reflects some species seen then, as well as on the 'official' trip on Saturday.

Species list:
Pipevine Swallowtail (adults and caterpillars)
Black Swallowtail (caterpillars)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Cloudless Sulphur (adults and caterpillars)
Sleepy Orange (adults and caterpillars)
Gulf Fritillary (adults and caterpillars)
Great Spangled Fritillary
Common Buckeye
Monarch (adults and caterpillars)
Silver-spotted Skipper
Horace¹s Duskywing
Common Checkered-Skipper
Fiery Skipper
Sachem
Pearl Crescent and Red Admiral were seen by Jim Eldrett outside the garden.

Participants: Linda Binic, Rob Bixler, Dennis Burnette, Lynn Burnette, Denise Dupon, Jim Eldrett, Robert Jolly, Dixie Haywood, Lois Kaufman, Bob Perdelwitz, Heidi Perdelwitz, Melinda Schweer, Susan Scott Soyars, Carolyn Turner, John Turner, Lisa Wagner, and three guests from Canada.

Report submitted by

Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC
Guilford County
[email protected]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dennisburnette/

The Carolina Butterfly Society sponsored its annual Butterfly Symposium on Saturday, August 28, 2010, at the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, Wake Co., NC. Nearly 40 people spent the day enjoying and learning about butterflies, moth and butterfly caterpillars, and host plants. Many thanks to Cyndy Hummel for organizing this great event this year.

From 12:30 until around 2:00 pm, we toured the grounds under the guidance of arboretum volunteers. Symposium attendees were divided into two smaller groups, and several participants chose to explore the arboretum on their own. The weather was mostly sunny, about 90 degrees, with a light breeze.

Shortly after we returned to the meeting room, we had a "count down" to make a cumulative record of the butterfly species seen by the groups and individual participants. Although it was impossible to get accurate numbers of individual butterflies, the following is a list of the 29 species reported during the symposium:

Pipevine Swallowtail
Black Swallowtail
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Spicebush Swallowtail
Cabbage White
Cloudless Sulphur
Little Yellow (photographed)
Sleepy Orange
Gray Hairstreak
Red-banded Hairstreak
Eastern Tailed-Blue
Summer Azure
American Snout
Variegated Fritillary
Pearl Crescent
American Lady
Painted Lady (both ladies scarce this year)
Common Buckeye (abundant)
Monarch
Silver-spotted Skipper
Horace¹s Duskywing
Zarucco Duskywing (reported by one participant)
Common Checkered-White
Common Sootywing
Clouded Skipper
Fiery Skipper
Sachem
Crossline Skipper
Southern Broken Dash

Recorder: Dennis Burnette

Folks:

Don’t be misled by the final species total — 42. Last year, 4 people in 3 parties got 44 species. This year, TWELVE people in FOUR parties, including Bald Head Island for the first (and possibly last) time, struggled mightily, and every party gave up an hour or two early, despite a beautiful weather day. What went wrong — the drought of the summer, and perhaps the extended heat as well. Despite 4-6 inches of rain within the last week, that wasn’t enough. Hardly any migrants other than Cloudless Sulphur were present, smaller skippers were hard to find, etc. Maybe this count would be better in mid-September. But, it might not be repeated in 2011. There are other coastal areas I am interested in (e.g., Holly Shelter Game Land), though someone else could try organizing this count.

Here is what we (John Ennis, Taylor Piephoff, Ron Clark, Ed Corey, John Taggart, Salman Abdulali, Carl Ganser, Bud Webster, Randy Emmitt, Roger Rittmaster, Will Cook, and I) managed to find (with a few goodies):

Black Swallowtail 4
GIANT SWALLOWTAIL  1 Fort Fisher area; surprisingly none at Bald Head
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail  1 yes, only one
Spicebush Swallowtail       11
Palamedes Swallowtail      137
Cloudless Sulphur              779
Sleepy Orange                   40 somehow, Little Yellow missed
JUNIPER HAIRSTREAK  5 three parties
Gray Hairstreak                7
Red-banded Hairstreak    1
Gulf Fritillary                   183 not a migrant; resident
Variegated Fritillary        40
Phaon Crescent                58 as expected, all at Ft. Fisher area
Pearl Crescent                 4 awful!
Question Mark               1
American Lady              1 bad summer for them
PAINTED LADY           3 Bald Head Island
Red Admiral                   2
Common Buckeye         32 pitiful
Red-spotted Purple        1
Viceroy                           2
Southern Pearly-eye     1 Carolina Beach SP, I believe
Carolina Satyr               3
Monarch                         57
QUEEN                         32 one at BHI, and a staggering 31 at Fort Fisher! Record state count
Silver-spotted Skipper  30 (but nary a Long-tailed Skipper)
Horace’s Duskywing    42
Zarucco Duskywing     12 respectable total
Common Checkered-Skipper 4
Clouded Skipper           4 awful
Southern Skipperling   2 poor (and, we missed Least Skipper)
Fiery Skipper                92
Whirlabout                   13
Southern Broken-Dash 4
Delaware Skipper         7 Remarkable count; 6 on lantana in Southport!!
Broad-winged Skipper 2 lantana in Southport
PALATKA SKIPPER    1 new to count; lantana in Southport!!
Dion Skipper                 1
Dun Skipper                 7
Eufala Skipper             3
Salt Marsh Skipper     178
Ocola Skipper              2 woeful

Total = 42 species

Thanks to all who came down to help, as only one person — John Ennis — lives in the Wilmington/Southport area. Sorry I had to take $3 from each of you for the count fee, and maybe the Wild Turkey damage to Salman’s car won’t prevent him from doing other counts!

Harry LeGrand, Vertebrate Zoologist
North Carolina Natural Heritage Program
NCDENR Office of Conservation, Planning, & Community Affairs
1601 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1601
Office: (919) 715-8697
[email protected]
www.ncnhp.org

E-mail correspondence to and from this address may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.

Note my new e-mail address (above)

The Transylvania Count was held on August 31st, about two weeks later than previous counts. There were thirteen observers in the field, finding 53 species. Here is the final count:

8     Pipevine Swallowtail
2     Black Swallowtail
214 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
5     Spicebush Swallowtail
10   Cabbage White
14   Clouded Sulphur
24   Orange Sulphur
69   Cloudless Sulphur
3     Little Yellow
21   Sleepy Orange
1     Harvester
1     White M Hairstreak
18   Gray Hairstreak
1     Red-banded Hairstreak
68   Eastern Tailed Blue
88   Summer Azure
446 Variegated Fritillary
13  Diana Fritillary
11  Great Spangled Fritillary
1    Aphrodite Fritillary
466 Meadow Fritillary
10   Silvery Checkerspot
133 Pearl Crescent
6     Question Mark
9     Eastern Comma
3     Polygonia spp.
2     American Lady
2     Painted Lady
3     Red Admiral
176 Common Buckeye
34   Red-spotted Purple
7     Viceroy
1     Hackberry Emperor
1     Tawny Emperor
1     Northern Pearly-Eye
5     Carolina Satyr
1     Common Wood-Nymph
7     Monarch
35   Silver-spotted Skipper
4     Horace’s Duskywing
2     Wild Indigo Duskywing
7     Common Checkered-Skipper
5     Common Sootywing
2     Swarthy Skipper
10   Clouded Skipper
40   Least Skipper
20   Fiery Skipper
475 Sachem
3     Delaware Skipper
12   Zabulon Skipper
2     Dun Skipper
4     Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper
1     Eufala Skipper

Observers: Doug Johnston. Jamie Harrelson, Lynn Smith, Jerry Bright. Janie Owens, Gail Lankford, Jim Nottke, Gene Schepker, Nancy Baldwin, Bill Grow, Simon Thompson, Ruth Young, compiler Thank you to everyone who participated. It was a great day and a count with good results.

I have chosen Wednesday, August 17, 2011 for next year’s count.

Ruth Young

Sunday 13 of us walked Walnut Bottom Bethania in Northwest Forsyth Co. Kim Brand and Lisa Kinnamon brought their children, the Science Friday Naturalists, and 8 other “leppers” from Audubon found the following butterflies:

Summer Azure 11
Red-spotted Purple 6
Common Buckeye 8
Eastern Tailed-blue 7
Monarch 9
Silvery Checkerspot 7
Pearl Crescent 9
Gray Hairstreak 2
Great Spangled Fritillary 2
Red-banded Hairstreak 1
Spicebush Swallowtail 4 (one a caterpillar on a spicebush)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 9
Red Admiral 2 (one a caterpillar on False Nettle)
Cabbage White 2
Carolina Satyr 12
Clouded Skipper 2
Little Glassywing 2
Swarthy Skipper 2
Least Skipper 7
Crossline Skipper 1
Zabulon Skipper 2
Northern Broken-dash 1
Long-tailed Skipper (again the star attraction, this time it had a tail)

25 species 10:00 – 12:30

We spent a lot of time working on hostplants, caterpillars, and skipper identification.

Gene Schepker

Thank you to all who joined us for the fall butterfly count at Congaree National Park (Richland County, SC) We had a wonderful day for butterflying, plenty of bugs moving about and both experienced and beginner participants sharing the day together. For those of you who took photos, please share them with me soon, particularly the Hayhurst Scallopwing ( a new record for the park, and likely the county- I’ll check that soon.)

Our results were as follows.

6 parties -7, 1.5, 2, 1,5, 1.5, 1.5, hours =15 party hours

Miles by foot- 3, Miles by car- 78

Weather- sunny and clear, mid-70s a.m. to mid-90s p.m.

Count participants (22) -JG Santini, Dave and Marty Kastner, Raymond and Emily Bennett, John Grego, Max and Jordan Reitblatt, Sam and Keith Perry; Grant, Tom, and Ben Hetherington, Bill Bardsley, Kevin, Zach, and Alizah High; David Lentz, Jeff and Austin Merrill, Dennis Forsythe, and Christina Hulslander (compiler).

1. Pipevine, Battus philenor – 1
2. Zebra, Eurytides marcellus-3
3. Eastern Tiger, Papilio glaucus 19
4. Palamedes, Papilio palamedes-3
5. Spicebush, Papilio troilus, 3
6. Swallowtail species, unidentified – 1
7. Clouded Sulphur, Colia philodice- 2
8. Orange/Alfalfa Sulphur, Colias eurytheme-7
9. Cloudless Sulphur, Phoebis sennae-159
10. Little Yellow, Eurema lisa – 27
11. Sleepy Orange, Eurema nicippe-33
12. Gray Hairstreak, Strymon melinus-2
13. Spring/summer Azure, Celastrina sp.-4
14. Eastern Tailed Blue, Everes comyntas-14
15. Snout, Libytheana carinenta-1
16. Gulf Frittilary, Agraulis vanillae, 125
17. Variegated Frittilary, Euptoieta claudia- 58
18. Pearl Cresent ,Phycoides tharos-216
19. Question Mark, Polygonia interrogationis, 5
20. Mourning Cloak, Nymphalis antiopa 1
21. American Lady, Vanessa virginiensis, 2
22. Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui, 1
23. Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta-2
24. Common Buckeye, Junonia coenia 100 * observed oviposting on Gallardia
25. Red-spotted Purple, Limenitis arthemis astyanax-25
26. Hackberry Emperor, Asterocampa celtis-4
27. Tawny Emperor, Asterocampa clyton-3
28. Southern Pearly-Eye, Enodia portlandia-2
29. Creole Pearly-Eye,, Enodia creola-3
30. Carolina Satyr, Hermenuptychia sosybius-53
31. Monarch, Danaus plexippus, 5
32. Silver-spotted skipper, Phocides pigmalion-24
33. Long-tailed Skipper, Urbanus proteus, 2
34. Horace’s Duskywing, Erynnis horatius-2
35. Common Checkered Skipper, Pyrgus communis, 105
36. Zarucco Duskywing, Erynnis horatius, 1
37. Duskywing species, 1
38. Clouded Skipper, Lermema accius-132 *observed mating pair
39. Least Skipper, Ancyloxypha numitor, 1
40. Southern Skipperling, Copaeodes minimus, 1
41. Fiery Skipper, Hylephila phyleus-39
42. Whirlabout, Polites vibex, 6 * observed females oviposting eggs on small ½” grass in muddy area
43. Sachem, Atalopedes campestris-1
44. Dun Skipper, Euphyes vestis-2
45. Zabulon Skipper, Poanes zabulon, 1
46. Lace-winged Roadside Skipper, Amblyscirtes Aesculapius-16
47. HAYHURST’S SCALLOPWING, Staphylus hayhurstii 1 * NEW TO THE PARK RECORDS
48. Little Glassywing, Pompeius verna, 249. Viceroy, Limenitis archippus – 18

TOTALS-
49 species
1281 individuals

Other wildlife: Hummingbird moths, wooly caterpillars

Christina S. Hulslander
Cayce, South Carolina