As with the day before, we marched a day ahead of Gaston, as he was now
(Sunday, Aug. 29) dumping heavy rain on the Wilmington area where we
counted yesterday. We did have a passing shower at 8 am, but otherwise a
few drops in mid-afternoon hardly was a problem. The weather was about
50% sunshine, and humid, but there WAS wind up to 15-20 mph, which blew
the blazing-stars in the powerline clearings more than what we wanted.
But, that wind didn't really hurt the count. Here are the results,
essentially all from USFS land in Carteret and Craven counties.
Counters, besides myself, were: Jeff Pippen, Will Cook, Parker
Backstrom, Mike Smith, John Fussell, and Jack Fennell.
5 Black Swallowtail
7 E. Tiger Swallowtail
1 Spicebush Swallowtail
156 Palamedes Swallowtail
170 Cloudless Sulphur
1 Little Yellow
7 Sleepy Orange
1 Great Purple Hairstreak
21 Gray Hairstreak
85 Red-banded Hairstreak
23 Little Metalmark good count
1 Variegated Fritillary
38 Pearl Crescent
2 American Lady
14 Common Buckeye
1 Red-spotted Purple
2 pearly-eye sp?
1 Gemmed Satyr
54 Carolina Satyr
88 Georgia Satyr record national count?
13 Common Wood-Nymph
76 Silver-spotted Skipper
1 Long-tailed Skipper
5 Southern Cloudywing
2 Horace’s Duskywing
6 Zarucco Duskywing
26 Swarthy Skipper
39 Clouded Skipper
65 Fiery Skipper
25 Tawny-edged Skipper
3 Crossline Skipper
8 Whirlabout
35 Southern Broken-Dash
4 Arogos Skipper
23 Delaware Skipper
15 Byssus Skipper
1 Zabulon Skipper
4 Dun Skipper
40 Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper
37 Carolina Roadside-Skipper
8 Reversed Roadside-Skipper new NC high count
1 Eufala Skipper
95 Twin-spot Skipper record national count?
8 Ocola Skipper
Total species = 44
We all had a great time, as the rain held off, and lots of blazing-star
in bloom was a bug magnet (yes, a magnet also for preying mantids, lynx
spiders, and crab spiders, all taking a toll on butterflies).
This is an average species total, and we were hurt by true butterflies,
especially brushfoots. No anglewings, Red Admiral, Viceroy or Monarch,
and no blues/azures. But, we like to concentrate on skippers anyway in
the savannas and powerlines. It's great to get away from civilization
and concentrate on counting Little Metalmarks, Georgia Satyrs, Arogos
Skippers, and the like! And, we usually lead the nation each year in
high counts for a few species -- not a reason for doing the count, but
nice to see the publicity anyway!
Report by Harry LeGrand.
Return to Carolina
Butterfly Society Home Page