On Sunday afternoon, 7/19/09, 6 members of the Triad Chapter of the Carolina
Butterfly Society made an impromptu foray into southern Alamance County, NC
to look for butterflies. The weather was pleasant for humans though not
ideal
for butterflies. It was warm but progressed from partly sunny to
mostly
cloudy as the afternoon progressed. We had a good time, but
butterflies were
a bit scarce. The butterfly ³slump² that has hit other
places in the Piedmont
seems to have done so in Alamance, as well. We saw
only 37 individuals of 12
species in a three-hour period at two locations.
We spent the first hour
and a half in Cedarock Park, a county park with
extensive meadows as well as
woodlands. Unfortunately, much of the meadow
habitat had been mowed recently,
so we concentrated on woodland edges. We
found a colony of Silvery
Checkerspots but no Pearl Crescents, oddly.
Despite being in the right
habitat, there were no Red-spotted Purples, and
we saw only one swallowtail.
There were no Cabbage Whites. The only sulphurs
we spotted were two Sleepy
Oranges. The best sighting was two American
Snouts ovipositing on the same
young Hackberry tree at and just above eye
level.
We spent the next
hour or so at the Alamance Battleground State Historic
Site. There were even
fewer butterflies there, probably due in part to the
sky being mostly cloudy
and the lateness of the day. We saw a second E.
Tiger Swallowtail and two
Clouded Sulphurs on the way there.
Despite the low count of butterflies,
it was an enjoyable trip and several
participants saw one or more life
butterflies. Here are the details:
Alamance County: Cedarock Park,
Alamance Battleground, roadside
7/19/09, 2:00 5:00
Partly sunny to
cloudy, about 81°
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 2
Clouded Sulphur 2
Sleepy Orange 3
Eastern Tailed Blue 1
Summer Azure 2
American Snout 2
Silvery Checkerspot 4
Pearl Crescent 1
Hackberry Emperor 4
Gemmed Satyr
3
Carolina Satyr 12
Least Skipper 2
Species: 12; Individuals: 37
--
Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC
Guilford County
deburnette@triad.rr.com
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