The Yancey County butterfly count was held on Saturday 22 July under
conditions where the sun peeked through the clouds enough to get some
butterflies moving. The count took place in the northeastern part of the
county in a fair variety of habitats.. Participants were Jim Nottke and
Nancy and Bob Baldwin.
27 species and 327 individuals + one caterpillar were seen.
Pipevine Swallowtail 130
Black Swallowtail 2+ 1 caterpillar
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 6
Spicebush Swallowtail 2
Cabbage White 28
Clouded Sulfur 3
Orange Sulfur 3
Gray Hairstreak 2
Red-banded Hairstreak 1
Eastern Tailed Blue 3
Azures 40
Great Spangled Fritillary 2
Meadow Fritillary 1
Silvery Checkerspot 1
Pearl Crescent 24
Eastern Comma 1
Common Buckeye 1
Red Admiral 1
Red-spotted Purple 1
Carolina Satyr 2
Common Wood Nymph 5
Monarch 4
Silver Spotted Skipper 32
Least Skipper 3
Sachem 24
Zabulon Skipper 4
Dun Skipper 1
Bob Baldwin
PS Nature doing her thing isn't always pretty. Not mentioned in the Yancey
Count report was that we observed at one location Whiteface Hornets
attacking puddling Pipevine Swallowtails. It seemed that the hornets
were stinging the Pipevines and then going on to others. Several bodies
were at the site still moving a bit. One, thought to be dead, brought
home by Nancy was still moving its antennae this morning.
These attacks probably are common but I don't recall having seen them
mentioned. Of course it is known that hornets are predators. One
neighbor who raises horses likes hornets because as he says it "They eat
flies."
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