Folks:
The second and last CBS field trip to Shocco Creek Game Land in Franklin Co., NC, was held yesterday, April 27. It was even more successful than the first, as more butterflies were out and the weather was good again, though there were many pesky clouds and some wind. There were only 7 folks this time (Derb Carter, Randy Emmitt, Sharon Funderburk, Jeff Pippen and John and Susan Bumgarner, and myself). Maybe competing with the Carolina Bird Club meeting in Clemson took away a few folks.

We added two Franklin County records, and one was a FIRST for the EASTERN Piedmont! We had FOUR species of roadside-skippers, more than
the total of confirmed duskywings (three for sure). And, we failed to see any cloudywings, anglewings, etc., that could have pushed our totals into the 30+ species range. But, we saw 29 species, with many of them target species. Here's the list (A few of these were seen at Sharon's nursery, a few miles away but still in Franklin Co.):

Pipevine Swallowtail (6)
Zebra Swallowtail (1)
Black Swallowtail (2) females
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (75)
Spicebush Swallowtail (6)
Orange Sulphur (6)
Sleepy Orange (2)
Frosted Elfin (10) target; state high count
Eastern Pine Elfin (2)
Gray Hairstreak (1)
Red-banded Hairstreak (10)
Eastern Tailed-Blue (30) Spring Azures finished; no azure species out
Pearl Crescent (60)
Red-spotted Purple (3)
American Lady (15)
Red Admiral (1) a first for the year for most; poor year in the making?
Gemmed Satyr (2)
Carolina Satyr (15)
Silver-spotted Skipper (3) That's all!
Juvenal's Duskywing (150) plus a maybe Horace's or two
Wild Indigo Duskywing (4) secondary target
Mottled Duskywing (1) fresh female; oviposited on Ceanothus (host
plant); expected a handful, so this is a disappointing total; major
target and well seen, so everyone happy!
Common Sootywing (1) at Sharon's
Cobweb Skipper (10) excellent count, with all but two females; target
Dusted Skipper (2) target; very fresh
Pepper and Salt Skipper (2) fresh; target species
Carolina Roadside-Skipper (2) target, but seen two weeks ago
REVERSED ROADSIDE-SKIPPER (1) New to eastern Piedmont! Photo by Randy;
seen by Derb, Jeff, and me in the powerline clearing; cane nearby along
a creek through the powerline
Common Roadside-Skipper (1) New to Franklin Co; seen by Derb and Randy; expected here sooner or later

29 species

Dragonflies -- we had some debate over the spiketails, but .. Sundragons are essentially finished for the year.
Common Green Darner (1)
Swamp Darner (12) some seen perched; imposing!
Harlequin Darner (20) only one that perched did so on Derb's back, so he couldn't see it! He could only see John's photo!! This species is annoying -- flying past you all the time, seldom perching on twigs, etc.
Springtime Darner (5)
Ashy Clubtail 50?
Lancet Clubtail 50? We had about 100 clubtails, roughly in equal abundance, and no effort made to ID each and every one
Common Baskettail (20)
Brown Spiketail (2) we debated over Twin-spotted, which we saw well 2 weeks ago. These guys seemed a bit smaller, close to size of Stream Cruiser, and colored a bit like the brown of that species. T-S is a BIG guy and quite blackish on the abdomen. Brown is known from Franklin Co., and Jeff and I had seen Browns in the mtns. in May a year ago.
Stream Cruiser (3)
Blue Corporal (10)
Common Whitetail (12)
Painted Skimmer (2)
Eastern Pondhawk (3) MANY more to come later
Carolina Saddlebags (1)

We also spent time with the birds, which were in good numbers -- Ovenbirds, Hooded Warblers, and Summer Tanagers always seemed to be in hearing range. Sharon spotted a female tanager in pines not far from a Summer Tanager that we guys decided had to be a Summer, even though she IDed it as a Scarlet. It did look a bit greenish-yellow rather than a warm orangish yellow, but we had 5-10 Summers and no Scarlets at that time. Not 30 seconds later, a silent male Scarlet appeared, and the female flew off with it! Scarlet it was! We also enjoyed watching Broad-winged Hawk, Yellow-throated Vireo, and many other things. We heard just one Wood Thrush, a sad story these days.

The main downer of the day was that the Wildlife Resources Commission is heavily thinning the pine stands now, and slash, clearings, heavy equipment, etc., are everywhere. And, the trees left in the thinned area are marked with blue paint -- not scenic at all. At least, on Sundays they are not working, so it was bad on the eyes but easy on the ears.

I'm sure I'm omitting a lot of non-bugs of interest, but you get the picture. We had a great time, finding all the target butterflies, and seeing plenty of dragonflies, birds, flowers, etc.
--
Harry LeGrand
NC Natural Heritage Program
e-mail: harry.legrand@ncmail.net