Butterfliers,

Despite droughty conditions for the last several months and oppressively humid weather last Saturday, Thirteen intrepid butterfliers enjoyed a record-setting day of butterflying on the NABA Durham Butterfly Count! We tallied a Durham count record high of 8038 individuals and tied the state
record of 60 species. Contributing significantly to the total individual count was a probable new national single day record high for a whopping 1236 Common Buckeyes and an amazing new national high for Sachems -- 2707
(previous record was only 1838, set by us two years ago)!

Additionally, we tallied record high numbers for the Durham count (conducted annually since 1999) for several other species, most notably Sleepy Orange, Gray Hairstreak, Variegated Fritillary, and Ocola Skipper. On the other hand, numbers of anglewings and American Lady were
conspicuously low. We also found five species that were new to the Durham Count: Great Purple Hairstreak, Appalachian Brown, Northern Cloudywing,
Hayhurst's Scallopwing, and Dion Skipper.

Tremendous thanks to Brian Bockhahn, Sandra Cavalieri, Derb Carter, Will Cook, Randy Emmitt, Bonnie Forbes, Laura Gardner (on her birthday -- Happy Birthday Laura!), Tom Krakauer, Paula LaPoint, Harry LeGrand, Roger Rittmaster, and
Richard Stickney for their counting perseverance! Also deserving is a special thanks to Tom Krakauer and the NC Museum of Life and Science on Murray Ave. for providing a place for us to congregate and compile!

Conditions for the count were mostly sunny, hot (80-90s), and very humid with only an occasional breeze. Here are the totals:

12 Pipevine Swallowtail
35 Black Swallowtail
708 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
78 Spicebush Swallowtail
1 Cabbage White
20 Clouded Sulphur
41 Orange Sulphur
168 Cloudless Sulphur
1 Little Yellow
554 Sleepy Orange
2 Great Purple Hairstreak
6 Juniper Hairstreak
110 Gray Hairstreak
12 Red-banded Hairstreak
266 Eastern Tailed-Blue
100 Summer Azure
10 American Snout
628 Variegated Fritillary
9 Great Spangled Fritillary
41 Silvery Checkerspot
479 Pearl Crescent
3 Question Mark
3 Eastern Comma
4 American Lady
6 Red Admiral
1236 Common Buckeye
32 Red-spotted Purple
9 Viceroy
10 Hackberry Emperor
4 Tawny Emperor
14 Northern Pearly-Eye
8 Appalachian Brown
90 Carolina Satyr
4 Gemmed Satyr
3 Common Wood-Nymph
24 Monarch
77 Silver-spotted Skipper
18 Hoary Edge
5 Southern Cloudywing
1 Northern Cloudywing
3 Hayhurst's Scallopwing
45 Horace's Duskywing
3 Zarucco Duskywing
1 Wild Indigo Duskywing
31 Com. Checkered-Skipper
10 Common Sootywing
10 Swarthy Skipper
30 Clouded Skipper
39 Least Skipper
104 Fiery Skipper
18 Crossline Skipper
23 Southern Broken-Dash
7 Northern Broken-Dash
25 Little Glassywing
2707 Sachem
9 Delaware Skipper
61 Zabulon Skipper
3 Dion Skipper
21 Dun Skipper
56 Ocola Skipper

60 Total Species
8038 Total Individuals

Jeff Pippen, Durham Count Compiler

Sleepy Orange, Eurema nicippe their were at least 20 Sleepy Oranges on this lone yellow composite.