Folks:
The Croatan National Forest count was held yesterday, the 24th, a day after a strong cold front passage. Thus, temps and humidity were down slightly. But, somehow, we were all sweating profusely by 10 am! Maybe the drier air really didn't kick in until later in the day. We were fortunate to have a good group -- 7 in all, so we could split up into two parties. John Fussell and I worked some new areas -- i.e., exploring, whereas Randy Emmitt, Will Cook, Mike Smith, Clancy
Ballenger, and Gail Lankford worked places we've traditionally worked in the past. We had a record count, reaching 51 species; I think the old mark was 48. But -- this is the first time we'd ever split into two groups, so that was the difference! Five of us were still counting until 5:45! We had a remarkable number of things in the shade after 5 pm, adding 3 species to push us over the 50 mark. In general, the heavy rainfall meant lots of water and moisture in ditches, savannas, etc. But, only selected spots had been burned during the year, so good nectar sources weren't abundant. Here's the list:

Black Swallowtail (2)
E. Tiger Swallowtail (19)
Spicebush Swallowtail (19)
Palamedes Swallowtail (450)
Orange Sulphur (1)
Cloudless Sulphur (215)
Little Yellow (35) Very good total
Sleepy Orange (60)
Great Purple Hairstreak (1)
Gray Hairstreak (7)
Red-banded Hairstreak (20)
Eastern Tailed-Blue (4)
Summer Azure (22)
Pearl Crescent (60)
Question Mark (1)
EASTERN COMMA (4) I believe new to count; no previous records for Jones or Craven!
Painted Lady (1) Alas, no American Lady
Red Admiral (1)
Common Buckeye (175)
Red-spotted Purple (9)
Viceroy (7)
Southern Pearly-eye (2) plus 1-2 pearly-eye sp.
Gemmed Satyr (2)
Carolina Satyr (90)
Georgia Satyr (75) excellent count; NABA record??
Common Wood-Nymph (6)
Monarch (2)
Silver-spotted Skipper (30)
Southern Cloudywing (4)
Horace's Duskywing (17)
Zarucco Duskywing (9)
Common Checkered-Skipper (1)
Swarthy Skipper (15)
Clouded Skipper (76)
Least Skipper (3)
Fiery Skipper (11)
Tawny-edged Skipper (18)
Crossline Skipper (1)
Southern Broken-Dash (8)
Little Glassywing (2)
Arogos Skipper (10) second highest; only remaining area in NC
Delaware Skipper (17)
BYSSUS SKIPPER (31) New to count! Seen in maybe 10 or more pots! What gives??
Zabulon Skipper (1)
Dun Skipper (13)
Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper (57) NABA record??
Carolina Roadside-Skipper (113) NABA record; previous record was one we had, at 60 (I believe)
Reversed Roadside-Skipper (3)
Eufala Skipper (1)
Twin-spot Skipper (9) very low count this time
Ocola Skipper (14)

Total: 51 species. Little Metalmark was a bad miss, and maybe a first ever. The third brood simply was late this year. I'll bet they will be common in a few weeks. The third brood normally begins around Aug. 20. This would have been a lifer for a number of the group. Otherwise, this was a great count. It's wonderful being in natural habitat all day, on dirt roads away from traffic, etc. And, to finish the day, we saw a lifer orchid, as John took us to a spot -- in poison-ivy -- where he had discovered the rare Malaxis spicata the previous day!
--
Harry LeGrand
NC Natural Heritage Program
e-mail: harry.legrand@ncmail.net