Our Triad Chapter quest was successful: we found Brown Elfins.
Twenty members of the Carolina Butterfly Society participated in our field
trip to find Brown Elfins at Weymouth Woods - Sandhills Nature Preserve,
Southern Pines, NC. We met at the headquarters at 1:30 under sunny skies,
with a temperature around 55 degrees. Beth Brinson and Cathy King arrived
early and had found our target species about a half mile from the
headquarters, so they were able to lead the rest of the group directly to
the right spot.
There were at least four Brown Elfins, first nectaring on Trailing Arbutus,
and then basking in the sunny spots on the dirt path through the pine woods.
Possibly because of the cool temperature, they were quite cooperative,
giving everyone good looks and allowing close photography.
We went next to the Paint Hill section of the preserve where we found at
least three additional Brown Elfins. Sandhills Pyxie-Moss was in full bloom,
along with more patches of Trailing Arbutus. We watched as one butterfly
spent a lot of time on one of its host plants, but never saw it lay an egg.
We didn't see any other butterflies. On the way out of town, several of us
stopped to check six or seven flowering stands of wild plum. However, no
leps were nectaring on any that we looked at.
This was an enjoyable trip with good companions on a beautiful day in an
excellent nature preserve. The great looks of our target species didn't
hurt, either.
--
Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC
deburnette@triad.rr.com
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