Folks:
Only a meager 5 folks took part on the Sandhills butterfly trip on Saturday, April 14. I didn't get much word out, though it had been announced on the CBS web site for a month. At any rate, the weather was great, but the winter drought in the Sandhills has caused a drop in the water table. That means -- few seepage coming out on slopes and along roads leading down to creeks. And, Bog Hole continues to be dry. You wouldn't know about this problem if you just looked at the lakes and creeks -- they are at normal pool, but the water table is in dire straights, as the only seepage we saw was alongside the annual burn on Scotland Lane. It was a good trip, but had everyone seen a certain butterfly late in the day at Pinebluff Lake, it would have been great!

Here is the list, with Moore County (Pinebluff Lake) first, then Scotland (Sandhills Game Land):

Zebra Swallowtail 0,1
Spicebush Swallowtail 2,4
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 5,8
Palamedes Swallowtail 1,1
Falcate Orangetip 1,0 female
HESSEL'S HAIRSTREAK 1,0 fresh, landed on a sapling white cedar, but only I got onto it. We saw none during our late morning visit, and this one around 3:30. Mid to late afternoon is best for them. They are difficult to find, in part because once disturbed, they frequently fly high and land up in the cedars, where they spend most of the day. They drop down to nectar, most often after 3 pm, but from time to time earlier in the day. Had this one been nectaring (there was sweetleaf and highbush blueberry in bloom), we all might have seen it. I've had them before here in the second brood, in late July, but this was the first time I've tried for it in spring. Lots of sweet pepperbush blooms in July next to the cedars.
Gray Hairstreak 0,1
Henry's Elfin 2,0 at Pinebluff Lake, getting us excited that they might be Hessel's!
Azure (believed to be Edwards' Spring) 4,10 All seemed quite small, some the size of ETB; all had dirty gray undersides. None were really whitish below, with small black dots. None were moderate sized either, so I feel pretty good they weren't Holly or Summer azures. But -- I would have though that Edwards' might be nearing the end of its single brood, assuming that it has just one brood.
E. Tailed-Blue 0,8 Some very tiny!
Pearl Crescent 1,3
Mourning Cloak 0,1 I don't see it often in the sandhills Red Admiral 0,1 our first of the season
Carolina Satyr 0,1
Silver-spotted Skipper 3,6
cloudywings 0,7 We saw the entire gamut, from absolutely no white spots anywhere (Northern) to large squared bars (Southern). As I mention every year, the spring broods of these things are brutally difficult to ID, and we are guessing on most of them. The second broods in summer DO look more like the field guides. Here is our best guess:
Northern Cloudywing 0,2
Southern Cloudywing 0,4
Confused Cloudywing 0,1
Juvenal's Duskywing 25,40 I still haven't seen a for-sure Horace's this spring
Sleepy Duskywing 2, 18 lots more than I usually see
Wild Indigo Duskywing 0,1 seen only by Derb Carter Zarucco Duskywing 0,1 fresh male
REVERSED ROADSIDE-SKIPPER 0,1 the trip highlight; scarce and a good find; it was perched on Scotland Lane among lots of duskywings and cloudywings, and was so tame it allowed Derb to pick it up for viewing on his fingertip!
Yucca Giant-Skipper 0,11 the colony at the usual spot near Scotland Lane. Always puts on a good show for us!

We spent a lot of time working for Frosted Elfin. The lupine is mostly not yet in bloom, though some were flowering. This seems like a decent year for the plants, after last year's dismal showing (for reasons unknown to me). Searching for Frosteds can be a tremendous waste of time, for there are few butterflies where they occur, and practically none if the lupine isn't yet in bloom! We killed about 30 minutes on this one, and that will be it for me this year, unless some late ones are still around in early May at the Carolina Bird Club meeting.

Harry LeGrand