Hi,

Just a quick note about the count. Pettigrew State Park is located
7 miles south of Creswell, NC - just off Highway 64 east of Plymouth, NC. First just Harry LeGrand and myself - don't know what I can do to get more help - I think seeing button bush and verbena swarming with hundreds of Zebra Swallowtails, Sleepy Oranges along with lesser numbers of Red Admirals, American Lady's, Variegated Fritillaries; the potential for a few unusual species, Palakta, Broadwing and Lacewing Roadside Skipper
is worth the trip. Throw in the usual bear, rattlesnake and other
potential wildlife sightings make this a very enjoyable count.

At any rate we tallied a respectable 36 species in less than 6 hours of counting - including several brief rain showers, ( the rain was a very significant sighting for me;), before the bottom fell out. No really unusual species - guess Whirlabout was good for us - have had it once before. Noticeably absent were wetland skippers - lace-winged, yehl, broadwing etc... no Eufala or Ocola - though I had Ocola last week at Morrow Mountain State Park near Albermarle, NC. Fiery skippers were abundant to say the least,(I saw them in my sleep all night). we estimated 800.

Here's the butterfly list:

240 Zebra Swallowtail
1 Black Swallowtail
9 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
3 Spicebush Swallowtail
4 Palamedes Swallowtail
84 Cabbage White
35 Orange Sulphur
14 Cloudless Sulphur
35 Sleepy Orange
18 Gray Hairstreak
20 Red-banded Hairstreak
3 Eastern Tailed-Blue
1 Summer Azure
280 Variegated Fritillary
175 Pearl Crescent
1 Question Mark
55 American Lady
1 Painted Lady
32 Red Admiral
200 Common Buckeye
1 Red-spotted purple
14 Viceroy
1 Southern Pearly-eye
38 Carolina Satyr
9 Silver-spotted skipper
42 Horace's Duskywing
1 Zarucco Duskywing
18 Common Checkered Skipper
35 Common Sootywing
9 Clouded Skipper
55 Least Skipper
800 Fiery Skipper
1 Whirlabout
3 Sachem
5 Dion Skipper
2 Dunn Skipper

Scott Hartley
Weymouth Woods - SNP
Southern Pines, NC