Folks:
Despite the approach of a cold front, thunderstorms held off until>about 4:30, after we were finished for the day. Fortunately, we had enough folks for 3 parties -- Derb Carter covering Figure Eight I., Will Cook and Randy Emmitt covering some spots like Tinga Nursery and Sidbury Road spots, and Mike Smith and I covering Cape Fear River marshes and Castle Hayne spots near the NE Cape Fear. The weather was typical for the place and time, very muggy, reasonably sunny, and temps reaching the upper 80s. Of course, rainfall had been plentiful, so mosquitoes kept us company, and we had a good count of them! The disappointment was the mainly complete destruction of the Eagle Island dikes for butterflies. We were able to work the edges of the fields on the island, but overall we got off to a slow start. Here's the list, with a few comments along the way.

Black Swallowtail (13)
E. Tiger Swallowtail (10)
Spicebush Swallowtail (4)
Palamedes Swallowtail (30) Alas, no Giant Swallowtail this time
Cabbage White (1)
Orange Sulphur (2)
Cloudless Sulphur (355)
Little Yellow (8)
Sleepy Orange (57)
Great Purple Hairstreak (1)
Gray Hairstreak (11)
Red-banded Hairstreak (4) but, no blues/azures
Gulf Fritillary (38)
Variegated Fritillary (5)
Pearl Crescent (28)
Question Mark (1)
American Lady (2)
Painted Lady (3)
Red Admiral (2)
Common Buckeye (102)
Red-spotted Purple (2)
Viceroy (9)
Carolina Satyr (12)
Monarch (10)
Silver-spotted Skipper (82)
Long-tailed Skipper (31)
Southern Cloudywing (1)
Horace's Duskywing (13)
Zarucco Duskywing (6)
Common Checkered-Skipper (2)
Swarthy Skipper (1)
Clouded Skipper (127)
Least Skipper (31)
Southern Skipperling (2)
Fiery Skipper (53)
Whirlabout (9)
Southern Broken-Dash (4)
Delaware Skipper (4) Missed Rare Skipper again
Byssus Skipper (5)
Broad-winged Skipper (19)
Dion Skipper (6)
Dukes' Skipper (2)
Dun Skipper (1)
CAROLINA ROADSIDE-SKIPPER (5) I believe new to the count
Eufala Skipper (4)
Twin-spot Skipper (1)
BRAZILIAN SKIPPER (1) Second for the count
Salt Marsh Skipper (350)
Ocola Skipper (47)

Total: 49 species. Ouch! Where was #50? We have hit 50 on a previous occasion. But, we had fun, and Mike Smith, visiting from upstate VA, got a handful of lifers, so it was nice finding some new things for him. Trouble was -- what party should he go with, to maximize his chances? He went with me, and we failed on a long hot walk to find Rare Skipper again. Via cell phone, we heard of two lifers for him at Tinga seen by Will and Randy, so we went there later on. And, we got the Brazilian Skipper that was missed by them!

This may well be the last count here. Or, I may switch to every two years, alternating with a circle to the south centered at Fort Fisher, to include Bald Head I., Caswell Beach, etc. Yes, 49 species is a fine total. But, there is hardly any public land in the circle, the traffic and new road construction isn't fun to deal with, etc. We shall see.
--
Harry LeGrand
NC Natural Heritage Program
e-mail: harry.legrand@ncmail.net