CBA Field trip - 6/03/2001

[Clay Taylor]

Hi all -

    Well, the monsoons of Saturday came as predicted, and the weather-guessers said Sunday was not going to be much better, but we held the Ct. Butterfly Association field trip to Lyme / East Haddam anyway.
It was not raining as I drove down to the meeting place, but the fog was pretty thick, and I was entertaining thoughts of a natural-history-drama entitled "Butterflies in the Mist", with a screenplay and Broadway musical to follow.  However, since I bear no resemblance to Sigourney Weaver, I dropped it.

    
    I arrived at the commuter lot, met the group, and the sun tried to come out for a second!  A good start.  Ten participants in all, we traveled up to the Pleasant Valley Preserve in Lyme, which is a joint effort between the Lyme Land Trust and the Nature Conservancy.

    The weather was still pretty overcast, and we did endure a couple of brief sprinkles of rain, but there were plenty of birds singing (Indigo Bunting, Field Sparrow, Prairie, Blue-winged, B&W and BTG Warblers, etc.), and lots of Little Wood Satyrs everywhere.  Shaking the Red Cedars for Juniper Hairstreaks produced lots more Satyrs, and a possible hairstreak that streaked away before we could get a good look at it.  The best find was a Painted Lady (by Hank Golet), NOT the expected American Lady, while Rich Chyinski completed the double by spotting an Am. Lady in the upper field.  The lower field is starting to get choked with low, woody plants, and that (along with the weather) may have contributed to the lack of skippers, sulphurs and cabbage whites in that spot. We did find Dusted Skippers in the upper field, though.

    We traveled next to the powerline cut at Sahnaghan Road in East Haddam, and were elated to see brighter conditions, and eventually sunshine and blue skies.  The hilltop has recently been posted with No Trespassing signs, so we went down the powerline service road for a half mile.  The butterfly activity picked up greatly, although we still missed sulphurs and whites (so maybe it was the weather, habitat, AND seasonality).   We were also treated to singing E. Bluebirds, Scarlet Tanagers, puddles full of tadpoles, and a beautiful Box Turtle.  

    Especially when leading a walk that is virtually in my backyard, it is easy to intimidate beginning butterfliers with TOO much butterfly knowledge.  However, our fumbling attempts at dragonfly IDs were a great equalizer, and we ALL got lifers on this trip.

Butterfly List:
E.Tiger Swallowtail
Juniper Hairstreak
Azure sp. - 2 (both very worn - at this point I don't know what are the probable / expected species. HELP!)
Am. Copper - 20+
Pearl Crescent - lots
Painted Lady - 1
American Lady - 3
Red Admiral - 7
Red-spotted Purple - 1 (plus two on the pavement of Petticoat Lane)
Little Wood Satyr - hundreds
Northern Cloudywing - 1 (super fresh!)
Juvenal's Duskywing - 3 (all pretty worn)
Tawny-edged Skipper - 1
Hobomok Skipper - 6
Indian Skipper  - 2
Dusted Skipper - 4

Dragonflies ID'd (not including the "maybes")
Calico Pennant
Ashy Clubtail
Dot-tailed Whiteface
Common Whitetail

Thanks to all that participated, and I hope that everyone can visit these places with us on Wed., July 4th for the East Haddam Summer Butterfly Count.


Clay Taylor
Moodus, CT
860-873-9078
     
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