Madison Butterflies 9/09/2000

[Clay Taylor]

Hi All -

    I thought Rich Chyinski or Lenny Brown would have already reported on the butterfly count for the Madison Biodiversity Day on Sat., Sept 9, 2000, but they probably were waiting for me to send the report.  Here goes.

    The three of us were primarily hunting butterflies, but additional sightings came from Himmelman, Brand, Lemmon, et.al. (the "birders"), as well as sightings from Mike Thomas, Ted Hendrickson, and Noble Proctor.  We mostly covered Hammonasset Beach State Park (hereafter HBSP) and Bauer Park (Town of Madison, hereafter BP), but also checked a few other locations.  

    The list ended up at 32 species by day's end - a VERY respectable total.

Black Swallowtail - HBSP, BP
E. Tiger Swallowtail - BP
Spicebush Swallowtail - BP
Cabbage White
Clouded Sulphur
Orange Sulphur
American Copper
Gray Hairstreak - HBSP (2), BP
E. Tailed-Blue
Summer Azure - HBSP, BP
Variegated Fritillary - HBSP (2), Coan's Pond
Great Spangled Fritillary - BP
Silver-bordered Fritillary - Coan's Pond
Pearl Crescent
Question Mark - HBSP (4)*
E. Comma - HBSP (2)*
Mourning Cloak - HBSP (1)*
American Lady 
Red Admiral - HBSP (over 15!!)*
Common Buckeye
Red-spotted Purple - HBSP*
Appalachian Brown - T.Hendrickson had it inland
Common Wood-Nymph - LaFarge meadows
Monarch
Silver-spotted Skipper
Least Skipper
Fiery Skipper - HBSP (2 at Meig's Pt.), BP (6+ at Zinnias)
Peck's Skipper
Tawny-edged Skipper - BP (1)
Zabulon Skipper
Broad-winged Skipper - BP ( at Zinnias)
Ocola Skipper - BP (1 at Zinnias)

* Species marked with the asterisk were all seen at the smashed Pear-fest on the right-hand roadway of Willard's Island at Hammonasset Beach S.P.  The early group saw 15 (!!!) Red Admirals at once on the fallen fruits, while our group saw all five species at the same time - Outstanding!!

The "Zinnias" at Bauer Park are dense patches of flowers over at the community vegetable gardens, about 100 yards north of the main building at the park.  The multiple Fiery Skippers were being very aggressive, and during its brief visit the Ocola sparred with the male Fierys.

Unfortunately, the afternoon clouded up, and the chances of adding to the list disappeared with the sunshine.  All in all, it was a pretty fun endeavor, and our group has now established the Conn Butterfly Big-Day Record for September at 30 species!  

Clay Taylor


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