The Congaree National Park butterfly count on Saturday June 25 was conducted
in rainy, cloudy conditions which persisted throughout the day. Seemed like
last year all over again, EXCEPT that the sun never really showed up this
time! Despite the weather, it was nice to have an enthusiastic group of 18
volunteers with diverse skill levels help with this year's count. Amazing
folks kept up such good spirits considering the mosquitoes were practically
draining us of blood! I know I heard a lot of conversation about who would
discover the "next great bug repellent".
I am particularly grateful to CBS members Jim Nottke, Charlie Cameron, Diane
Curlee, Sudie Daves, and Mike Turner who generously provided guidance and
aid to the novice participants. Thank you all for sharing your experience,
expertise, and enthusiasm for butterflying.
As for the final numbers of the count...believe it or not...despite the
steady cloud cover and rain...we managed to find 21 species! I am
surprised, and pleased (considering the weather).
Here is the what we saw when visiting several locations throughout the park
(Sims trail to Wise Lake, maintenance compound, Dawson's Cabin field, After
hours parking lot and field, entrance road, long leaf pine/red cockaded
woodpecker site)
Zebra Swallowtail, Eurytides marcellus -1
Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio glaucus -3
Spicebush Swallowtail, Papilio trolius -2
Palamedes Swallowtail, Papilio palamedes-3
Gray Hairstreak, Strymon melinus-2
Banded Hairstreak, Satyrium calanus-1 (now deceased since it was grabbed and
eaten by a
dragonfly while under observation!)
Azure sp. -2
Eastern Tailed Blue, Everes comyntas-2
Pearl Crescent, Phycoides tharos-23
Question Mark, Polygonia interrogationis-2
Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta-1
Common Buckeye, Junonia coenia-25
Red-spotted Purple, Limenitis arthemis astyanax-1
Viceroy, Limenitis archippus-1
Tawny Emperor, Asterocampa clyton-1 (plus one unidentified emperor larva)
Carolina Satyr, Hermenuptychia sosybius-16
Little Wood Satyr, Megisto cymela-6
Cloudywing sp., Thorybes sp.-1 (unidentified species)
Horace's Duskywing, Erynnis horatius-5
Clouded Skipper, Lermema accius-1
Fiery Skipper, Hylephila phyleus-1
Dun Skipper, Euphyes vestis-1
Little Glasswing, Pompeius verna- 1
It'll be nice to conduct this count in favorable weather
conditions...perhaps next year!
Thanks again for those of you that helped out this year, I very much
appreciate it!
All the best,
Christina
Christina S. Hulslander
Cayce, South Carolina
ploverbug@msn.com
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