Folks,

The Caswell County Butterfly Count was a huge success finding 50 species of butterflies and one new county record! We had 12 people in 4 parties out looking in 90 degree heat.

We had a big surprise on the count Tom Krakauer found a new county record a American Copper laying eggs, then later at another location Will Cook found a second American Copper laying eggs also! I bet Will was real bummed that the new Nikon Coolpix 995 he just got didn`t work, so he missed a real good photo opportunity.

Given nectar sources were hard to come by due to a drought and the power company mowing most of the roadside easements the numbers of butterflies were maybe 1/10th of what we found last year. In my group our best nectar sources were thistle and Blazingstar, L. Squarrosa, other groups reported completely different best nectar sources.

Hairstreaks were completely absent except one Red-banded Hairstreak Will found in a private garden. Two days prior I found 3 species of hairstreak in 4 hours of looking , yet 12 people in 4 parties spent 7-8 hours looking and found only one. One thing was clear at the end of the count if we`d only been in one group we would have found 30-40 species as each group had several species others missed. Breaking up into smaller groups covering smaller areas really paid off. Also having along Sandy and Pat that live in the count circle and have butterfly gardens really was a great asset.

Here`s the Butterfly list:

Pipevine Swallowtail (2)
Zebra Swallowtail (1)
Black Swallowtail (1)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (38) *had 318 last year
Spicebush Swallowtail (9)
Cabbage White (4)
Clouded Sulphur (1)
Orange Sulphur (18)
Cloudless Sulphur (2)
Sleepy Orange (23)
American Copper (2) new county record!
Red-banded Hairstreak (1)
Eastern-tailed Blue (27)
Summer Azure (17)
American Snout (7)
Variegated Fritillary (18)
Great Spangled Fritillary (10)
Pearl Crescent (13) *had 211 last year
Question Mark (6)
Eastern Comma (3)
American Lady (23)
Red Admiral (32)
Common Buckeye (5)
Red-spotted Purple (10)
Hackberry Emperor (11)
Tawny Emperor (1)
Appalachian Brown (2)
Gemmed Satyr (1)
Carolina Satyr (75) *only 26 last year
Common Wood Nymph (10)
Little Wood Satyr (1)
Monarch (26) (3 last year)
Silver-spotted Skipper (41)
Hoary Edge (3) *39 last year
Southern Cloudywing (38)
Northern Cloudywing (1)
Horace`s Duskywing (7)
Common Checkered Skipper (7)
Common Sootywing (9)
Swarthy Skipper (2)
Clouded Skipper (2)
Least Skipper (3)
Fiery Skipper (5)
Crossline Skipper (2)
Southern Broken Dash (3)
Northern Broken Dash (1)
Little Glassywing (20)
Sachem (18)
Delaware Skipper (1) photo at right
Zabulon Skipper (17) *89 last year

580 adult butterflies total.

Dragonflies reported on the count by Harry LeGrand and myself were:

Anax junius, Common Green Darner
Dromogomphus spinosus, Black-shouldered Spinyleg
Stylurus laurae, Laura's Clubtail
Macromia alleghaniensis, Allegheny River Cruiser
Macromia illinoiensis, Illinois River Cruiser
Epitheca princeps, Prince Baskettail
Somatochlora linearis, Mocha Emerald
Celithemis eponina, Halloween Pennant
Celithemis fasciata, Banded Pennant
Dythemis velox, Swift Setwing
Erythemis simplicicollis, Eastern Pondhawk
Libellula incesta, Slaty Skimmer
Libellula luctuosa, Widow Skimmer
Libellula lydia, Common Whitetail
Libellula vibrans, Great Blue Skimmer
Pachydiplax longipennis, Blue Dasher
Perithemis tenera, Eastern Amberwing
Sympetrum rubicundulum, Ruby Meadowhawk
Tramea lacerata, Black Saddlebags

Thanks to Bob & Nancy Baldwin, Will Cook, Pat Ewalt, Tom & Janet Krakauer, Harry LeGrand, Judy Murray, Jim Nottke, Roger Rittmaster and Sandy Pruitt for your hard work.

Randy Emmitt
Rougemont, NC
birdcr@concentric.net