10th Vischer Ferry 4JC (Albany NY)
Michael Gochfeld
gochfeld at eohsi.rutgers.edu
Wed Jul 11 14:20:29 EDT 2001
The weather was
The VISCHER FERRY COUNT covers the area between Albany and Schenectady,
NY on both sides of the Mohawk River. There are only two parties, and
the coverage is mainly in the River flood plain, including the Vischer
Ferry Preserve. One party also spends a half day in the Albany Pine
Bush (Karner, NY).
This is the tenth year for the count. Coverage has been virtually the
same each year. The main modification has been the disappearance of some
favored fields and the addition of some new ones.
The weather was fair and mostly sunny in the morning and early
afternoon, clouding up gradually by 3 pm and threatening thunderstorms
by 5:30 pm. The number of individuals is shown in the third column and
the status compared to the nine previous counts is given in the 4th
column. Although Black Swallowtails are often common, we only found
one in the last afternoon. Likewise, Tiger Swallowtails were absent,
but we miss them more often than find them at this season. All
specimens obtained at other times of the season have been of Eastern
Tiger Swallowtail, but someday we'll find a Canadian.
Bronze Copper appears to be a declining species in eastern New York, but
it persists in the Mohawk River floodplain. We don't always get it
because of phenology, and this individual was fresh (my category =w1).
ALMOST ALL hairstreaks were found in the Albany Pine Bush. Only the
single Acadian Hairstreak was found at a different location. Banded
Hairstreaks were more numerous than in previous years and Edwards were
much less common than usual. Moreover, virtually all of the Banded
Hairstreaks were worn to very worn and almost all the Edwards were
extremely fresh. I categorize these as w3-w5 for the Banded and w0-w1
for the Edwards.
Karner Blue's (Melissa Blue) has had a relatively good year, due to the
extensive snow cover this past winter. We found over 60 in a 15 min
search around the edge of an extensive lupine bed. Virtually all were
males.
Eastern Tailed Blue: Clovers of several species are super-abundant, but
we never find many Tailed Blues. Wonder why. It doesn't seem to be
solely phenology. The clover is there all season, but the blues aren't.
Summer Azure (C. neglecta), treated here as a distinct species, was
particularly numerous in the Pine Bush, and many were moderately worn.
They were also common and quite worn there a month earlier, so this is
seems to be a second brood. Another puzzle to work out. Seems too soon
to have a second brood, so it might also be a prolonged flight period.
Baltimore Checkerspots: Real Estate agents must track this species.
Virtually every Baltimore colony that we have found has been wiped out
by housing development. Last year we found a thriving new colony, and it
was still there this year, albeit not at full strength (10 individuals
vs 50 last year).
American Lady: 12 individuals was a high count for this species which we
sometimes miss on the count.
Red Admiral: Not surprisingly this was a high count. Admirals were
present throughout the day. About 2/3 were simply moving through,
heading more or less northward. Others were nectaring. None seen
mating.
Browns: I don't find identifying the Browns in the field at all easy.
Some disappear. Some don't afford a good angle, and this year several
were worn. Sometimes the field marks don't jibe with the book. Using
the field marks in Glassberg's book, I am confident that all identified
were S.appalachia. Others might have been either species, including one
in a woodland where S.eurydice has been found before.
Almost all of the Little Wood Satyrs were in the Pine Bush.
Surprisingly virtually none were found in the other habitats visited.
Erynnis spp. One Mottled Duskywing was seen, compared to at least four
seen a month earlier. The host plant, New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus), is
very common in the Pine Bush. A second Duskywing that was extremely
worn, was either a Juvenal's or Horace's. Normally Juvenal's isn't even
around in early June, but this individual was so worn that it could have
been a surviving and late E. juvenalis. Either species would be new for
that count.
There were 40 species (second highest) and 958 individuals (4th
highest). However, since three species: Cabbage, Edwards Hairstreak,
and European Skipper, often account for more than 75% of the
individuals, we compare counts with and without those three species.
Without them the individual count in 2001 was 574, the highest in this
category.
VISCHER FERRY LIST TENTH COUNT Total 2001
2001 July 4, 2001 Compare2001
Party hours on foot 13.6 with prior
Party hours by car 1.5 ## years
Papilio polyxenes Black Swallowtail 1
Papilio glaucus Eastern Tiger Swallowtl 1 4th time
Pieris rapae Cabbage White 310 Medium
Colias philodice Clouded Sulphur 38 Typical
Colias eurytheme Orange Sulphur 3 Low
Lycaena hyllus Bronze Copper 1 5th time
Satyrium titus Coral Hairstreak 10 Medium
Satyrium calanus Banded Hairstreak 48 Highest
Satyrium edwardsii Edwards Hairstreak 46 3rd lowest
Satyrium caryaevorum Hickory Hairstreak 2
Satyrium liparops Striped Hairstreak 2
Satyrium acadica Acadian Hairstreak 1
Lycaedes melissa Karner Blue 67 2nd high
Everes comyntas Eastern Tailed Blue 8 medium
Celastrina neglecta Summer Azure 27 highest
Speyeria cybele Great Spangled Fritily 16 3rd high
Phyciodes tharos Pearl Crescent 2 low
Euphydryas phaeton Baltimore Checkerspot 10 typical
Polygonia interogationisQuestion Mark 4 highest
Polygonia comma Eastern Comma 10 2nd high
Nymphalis antiopia Mourning Cloak 1
Vanessa virginiensis American Lady 12 highest
Vanessa cardui Painted Lady 4 2nd high
Vanessa atalanta Red Admiral 137 highest
Limenitis arthemis Red-spotted Purple Dead
Limenitis archippus Viceroy 1
Satyrodes appalachia Appalachian Brown 7+3? 2nd high
Enodia anthedon Northern Pearly Eye 2
Megisto cymela Little Wood Satyr 38 highest
Cercyonis pegala Common Wood-Nymph 22 3rd high
Danaus plexippus Monarch none
Epargyreus clarus Silver-spotted Skipper 29 medium
Erynnis spp Horace/Juvenal's Duskywing 1 FIRST
Erynnis martialis Mottled Duskywing 1 3rd time
Ancyloxphya numitor Least Skipper 4 typical
Thymelicus lineola European Skipper 28 medium
Hobomok Skipper 4
Wallengrenia egeremet Northern Broken Dash 5 3rd low
Pompeius verna Little Glassywing 12 highest
Atrytone logan Delaware Skipper 8 medium
Euphyes vestris Dun Skipper 32 highest
TOTAL SPECIES 40 2nd high
TOTAL INDIVIDUALS 958 4th high
Total - Cabb & Europe 620 3rd high
Total-Cabb&Europe&Edwards 574 highest
New Species in 2001 1
Cumulative species on count 60
Michael Gochfeld --compiler
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