Folks,

After leaving the Dare County, NC butterfly count I found a motel in Edenton, NC and hoped that the heavy rains would subside in the mourning so I could butterfly the Great Dismal Swamp like I'd planned for months. I didn't have anyone interested in joining me on this remote trip so I did it solo.

My luck prevailed on the rain as it was done in the morning, yet the area called for a 70% chance of rain in the area! I also had this kind of luck in Ohio a few weeks back, as it rained the entire week in NC while Ohio was gorgeous.

I started out along highway 17 on the southeast end of the swamp and headed northward. True butterflies were out in fair numbers, yet skippers were hard to find. I checked out a few spots along hwy 17 mostly Jewelweed had Palamedes Swallowtails and Cloudless Sulphurs on it. There was a little Mist Flower, Goldenrod and Joe-pye-weed that did some other butterflies on it. At noon I headed back south on hwy 17 and headed west on hwy 158 and checked a huge over grown field with lots of Goldenrod and found considerably less numbers of species than Will Cook and I had last year, I did find a Dion Skipper though.

Next I decided to finally put on bug spray and head up the only trail along hwy 158 in NC in the Dismal Swamp. Well I didn't hardly need the bug spray as the mosquito population must have been sprayed because of West Nile Virus. My girlfriend's yard in Durham has three times the mosquitoes I saw in the swamp.Two Pearl Crescents and a Sleepy Orange was all I found in a 1/4 mile walk of the road.

I had heard on September 7 a Zebra Longwing was found along the George Washington Ditch in the VA portion of the swamp, so I walked about 3 miles of it. Again no mosquitoes to speak of, about half the ditch was bone dry and all of the swamp was dry. I did find several goodies along the trail including 2 female Tawny Emperors (not recorded in NE NC at all) and 9 Southern Pearly-eyes.. Also a fresh Red Admiral and Question Mark made them selves known along the trail. The coolest thing I found was a Clamp-tipped Emerald hammering in eggs in the sand bar that's supposed to be the Washington Ditch!

After exiting the Washington Ditch I headed north and found a huge patch of Joe-pye-weed, granted it was very cloudy by now and yet most butterflies were hiding. I did find 4 Ocola Skippers and a Tawny-edged Skipper. I headed up to the Jericho Ditch at 3:30pm and it was gloomy out and only a Common Buckeye showed up there, yet birding was picking up. All day I did not run into one migrant flock, yet now with rain ready to let go I found a huge flock of Gray Catbirds (they surrounded me), Red-eyed Vireo, White-eyed Vireo, American Red Start and Magnolia Warbler. Other warblers were present but with failing light and eventual rain I had to leave.

Here's the lists:

Camden County, NC (sunny to partly cloudy)

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (7)
Palamedes Swallowtail (5)
Cloudless Sulphur (65)
Sleepy Orange (2)
Great Purple Hairstreak (1)
Gray Hairstreak (3)
Red-banded Hairstreak (11)
Eastern Tailed-Blue (5)
Pearl Crescent (5)
Common Buckeye (12)
Viceroy (2)
Monarch (1)
Silver-spotted Skipper (4)
Common Checkered Skipper (3)
Clouded Skipper (3)
Least Skipper (2)
Fiery Skipper (2)

Chesapeake City VA (partly cloudy)

Zebra Swallowtail (1)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (4)
Palamedes Swallowtail (6)
Cabbage White (1)
Orange Sulphur (1)
Cloudless Sulphur (65)
Sleepy Orange (3)
Gray Hairstreak (2)
Red-banded Hairstreak (2)
Variegated Fritillary (3)
Pearl Crescent (2)
Common Buckeye (1)
Red-spotted Purple (2)
Viceroy (1)
Carolina Satyr (3)
Monarch (1)
Silver-spotted Skipper (3)
Common Checkered Skipper (1)
Clouded Skipper (1)
Fiery Skipper (1)
Ocola Skipper (2)

Pasquotank County NC (overcast skies)

Zebra Swallowtail (1)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (4)
Palamedes Swallowtail (3)
Spicebush Swallowtail (2)
Cloudless Sulphur (20)
Sleepy Orange (3)
Common Buckeye (3)
Monarch (1)
Silver-spotted Skipper (2)
Common Checkered Skipper (1)
Fiery Skipper (1)
Dion Skipper (1)

Suffolk City VA (overcast and partly sunny)

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (16)
Palamedes Swallowtail (16)
Cloudless Sulphur (60)
Sleepy Orange (2)
Eastern Tailed-Blue (1)
Summer Azure (3)
Pearl Crescent (10)
Question Mark (1)
American Lady (1)
Red Admiral (1)
Common Buckeye (5)
Red-spotted Purple (2)
Viceroy (8)
Tawny Emperor (2) females!
Southern Pearly Eye (9)
Carolina Satyr (50)
Silver-spotted Skipper (12)
Clouded Skipper (2)
Least Skipper (3)
Fiery Skipper (2)
Tawny-edged Skipper (1)
Ocola Skipper (4)

Randy Emmitt
Rougemont, NC