Cloudless Sulphurs galore in Md.

Rob Hilton robert at csa.com
Sat Sep 5 21:09:26 EDT 1998


Hi, 

Back after a few days away.  I quickly scanned messages from the prior
week, so I may have missed a few.  

This is a fairly detailed account of my adventures with Cloudless Sulphurs
in Maryland today.  Since I am a birder and not a butterfly watcher I may
have missed a flight like this in years past.  Continuing the theme of
reports of this and other southern species, I want to share my observations.  

This afternoon Lisa Shannon and I drove from Washington, DC, to Point
Lookout State Park in St. Mary's County, Md.  We saw the immature Wood
Stork (out of range southerner; a bird (-;) snoozing at the edge of the
(large) pool north of the point parking lot, where it has been for roughly
a week.  

Now to the butterflies!!  

On a ten mile stretch of Md. 235 between the west edge of the Patuxent
Naval Air Station at Lexington Park and the junction of routes 235 and 5,
we counted 32 Cloudless Sulphurs some time before 2 pm.  Over half of these
were heading north/northeast.  

On the next 5 miles of road, between the 235 x 5 junction and the beginning
of the causeway heading in to the park, we counted 48 Cloudless Sulphurs.  

We counted 17 more along the road to the immediate point area.  

At the point area they were everywhere!  I did a one minute count looking
out in to the bay.  Through binoculars I counted 42 in 60 seconds, all
heading in a generally southeasterly direction, though there was one back
tracker.  We were there for at least an hour, and the sulphurs were coming
through at about the same rate during our entire stay.  (You do the math).
I was totally amazed at the spectacle.  I am sure looking through my
spotting scope would have greatly increased the count.  5 or more were
normally within 1/10 mile of me.  

On the way back home to Washington, DC, after 3 pm, the numbers on the 5
and 10 mile stretches of road were perhaps half the number of a couple
hours earlier.  

On Md. 4 north, I noted 14 in Calvert County, the last, northernmost about
a mile south of the town of Prince Frederick, sometime around 4 pm.  

Other butterflies I was able to identify at Point Lookout were: 
Buckeye -- at least 5 at a time; I don't think they were migrating; two
were mating.  
Sleepy Orange -- 1; my first, not a perfect view however.  
Monarch -- 3 to 5 during our stay.  
Tiger Swallowtail (3 different individuals), Pearl Crescent, Alfalfa Orange
(just 1), Cabbage White (2 or 3), and some skippers.  

Best, 

Rob Hilton
robert at csa.com
Bethesda, Md


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