Southeastern North Carolina butterflies
Will Cook
cwcook at duke.edu
Wed Sep 1 09:25:57 EDT 2004
Leps-L,
Since traffic on this list has slowed to a trickle, I thought I'd share
these photos sightings reports from last weekend...
I've just added or revised more than a dozen butterfly pages on my site
with photos from last weekend's awesome counts in southeastern North
Carolina:
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/pix/butterflies.html
I added a series of individuals of Byssus Skipper and Carolina Roadside-
Skipper, a couple of more Arogos, lots of Dukes's, Twin-spot,
Brazilian, Reversed Roadside, and, perhaps my favorite, a nectaring
Little Metalmark. I invite you to take a look and let me know what you
think.
I also created a page for the fearsome butterfly predator, the Green
Lynx Spider, which was seemingly waiting at every Liatris blossom for a
victim:
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/pix/greenlynxspider.html
Below are the full count results from Harry LeGrand, as posted to
Carolinaleps (http://www.duke.edu/~jspippen/carolinaleps.htm).
Harry is the author of the "Notes on the Butterflies of North Carolina"
(available online only at http://www.ncsparks.net/butterfly).
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 12:53:27 -0400
From: Harry LeGrand <harry.legrand at ncmail.net>
Subject: Wilmington count results
Folks:
We ran a day ahead of T.S. Gaston, so the weather for the Wilmington
count on Sat., August 28 was "normal" -- about 60% sun, fairly light
wind, and sticky/humid; no rain. Jeff Pippen, Will Cook, Parker
Backstrom, and Mike Smith (from VA) helped. With 2 parties, we covered
a good amount, and we had a nice day, though the finish was a
disappointment (see Salt Marsh Skipper).
12 Black Swallowtail
1 Giant Swallowtail a great surprise on the mainland at Castle
Hayne
4 E. Tiger Swallowtail
4 Spicebush Swallowtail
91 Palamedes Swallowtail
31 Cabbage White
4 Orange Sulphur
225 Cloudless Sulphur
3 Little Yellow
11 Sleepy Orange
1 Great Purple Hairstreak
1 Juniper Hairstreak
29 Gray Hairstreak
42 Red-banded Hairstreak
5 Summer Azure
2 Little Metalmark Rare in the area
25 Gulf Fritillary
5 Variegated Fritillary
30 Pearl Crescent
4 American Lady
1 Red Admiral
36 Common Buckeye
4 Red-spotted Purple
1 Viceroy
1 Southern Pearly-eye
10 Carolina Satyr
100 Silver-spotted Skipper
5 Long-tailed Skipper
7 Horace’s Duskywing
10 Zarucco Duskywing
10 Common Checkered-Skipper
4 Swarthy Skipper
52 Clouded Skipper
23 Least Skipper
4 Southern Skipperling
140 Fiery Skipper
1 Tawny-edged Skipper
16 Whirlabout
14 Southern Broken-Dash
4 Delaware Skipper
13 Byssus Skipper
40 Broad-winged Skipper
11 Dion Skipper
50 Dukes’ Skipper previous NC record = 11; close to national high
2 Dun Skipper
4 Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper maybe new to count
4 Eufala Skipper
6 Twin-spot Skipper
5 Brazilian Skipper excellent total; several sites
2 Salt Marsh Skipper 350 last year; Figure Eight I nearly devoid
of butterflies
39 Ocola Skipper
Total species = 51
This was a great count, maybe a record species total (I haven’t checked
previous counts). Even so, I am thinking of running a count at
Southport/Fort Fisher next year to replace this – as after 7-8 years, I
get bored with the same count circle.
Harry LeGrand
NC Natural Heritage Program
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Mon, 30 Aug 2004 13:18:42 -0400
From: Harry LeGrand <harry.legrand at ncmail.net>
Subject: Croatan NF count results
Folks:
As with the day before, we marched a day ahead of Gaston, as he was
now (Sunday, Aug. 29) dumping heavy rain on the Wilmington area where
we counted yesterday. We did have a passing shower at 8 am, but
otherwise a few drops in mid-afternoon hardly was a problem. The
weather was about 50% sunshine, and humid, but there WAS wind up to 15-
20 mph, which blew the blazing-stars in the powerline clearings more
than what we wanted. But, that wind didn't really hurt the count. Here
are the results, essentially all from USFS land in Carteret and Craven
counties. Counters, besides myself, were: Jeff Pippen, Will Cook,
Parker Backstrom, Mike Smith, John Fussell, and Jack Fennell.
5 Black Swallowtail
7 E. Tiger Swallowtail
1 Spicebush Swallowtail
156 Palamedes Swallowtail
170 Cloudless Sulphur
1 Little Yellow
7 Sleepy Orange
1 Great Purple Hairstreak
21 Gray Hairstreak
85 Red-banded Hairstreak
23 Little Metalmark good count
1 Variegated Fritillary
38 Pearl Crescent
2 American Lady
14 Common Buckeye
1 Red-spotted Purple
2 pearly-eye sp?
1 Gemmed Satyr
54 Carolina Satyr
88 Georgia Satyr record national count?
13 Common Wood-Nymph
76 Silver-spotted Skipper
1 Long-tailed Skipper
5 Southern Cloudywing
2 Horace’s Duskywing
6 Zarucco Duskywing
26 Swarthy Skipper
39 Clouded Skipper
65 Fiery Skipper
25 Tawny-edged Skipper
3 Crossline Skipper
8 Whirlabout
35 Southern Broken-Dash
4 Arogos Skipper
23 Delaware Skipper
15 Byssus Skipper
1 Zabulon Skipper
4 Dun Skipper
40 Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper
37 Carolina Roadside-Skipper
8 Reversed Roadside-Skipper new NC high count
1 Eufala Skipper
95 Twin-spot Skipper record national count?
8 Ocola Skipper
Total species = 44
We all had a great time, as the rain held off, and lots of blazing-star
in bloom was a bug magnet (yes, a magnet also for preying mantids, lynx
spiders, and crab spiders, all taking a toll on butterflies).
This is an average species total, and we were hurt by true
butterflies, especially brushfoots. No anglewings, Red Admiral, Viceroy
or Monarch, and no blues/azures. But, we like to concentrate on
skippers anyway in the savannas and powerlines. It's great to get away
from civilization and concentrate on counting Little Metalmarks,
Georgia Satyrs, Arogos Skippers, and the like! And, we usually lead the
nation each year in high counts for a few species -- not a reason for
doing the count, but nice to see the publicity anyway!
Harry LeGrand
NC Natural Heritage Program
------- End of forwarded message -------
--
Charles W. "Will" Cook w 919-660-7423
http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook cwcook at duke.edu
Box 90340, Biology Dept., Duke Univ., Durham, NC 27708
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