It was a beautiful, not too hot July day (high 80's and lower humidity than
usual) at Draper Wildlife Management Area, Saturday for our CBS/NABA count
but there were not as many leps as we have had in previous years. Not sure
if it is the dry spell we had in the spring. Thanks to Charlie Cameron,
Elizabeth Riggs, Kim Coffey, Bob and Nancy Baldwin for helping search for
butterflies today.
We walked almost the entire road that meanders through this refuge,
something I had not attempted before and we found it shorter ( 2-3 miles?)
than I expected going through fields full of corn and sunflowers in some
areas and forested areas and other fields covered with different legumes
like Lespedeza bicolor and other naturalized plants plus some native
composites that dominate agricultural fields nowadays. Also came upon a
pretty pink colored Sebatia species in flower Walked around the more
secluded secondary woodland pond where we had a Wood Nymph and Kim found a
(almost) well camouflaged Little Wood Satyr
An interesting find which we saw twice were Tawny Emperors that has us
confused because the upper surface of the hind wings were not
characteristically dark and looked more like the Hackberry Emperor with 8
dark spots on edge of the wing, other wise it mostly fit the description of
Tawny For a bit till we got close looks we were thinking we had a very
worn Variegated Frit (underside view) or a "morph" between the two Emperors?
Perhaps the female species? Elizabeth, Charlie and Kim have photos which
they will study further.
Addendum: Thanks to Randy Emmitt who verfied that our "morph" Tawny Emporers were
indeed females.
Another "uncommon" find (for me) were Common Sootywings found on Lamb's
Quarters (Chenopodium)
25 species, 62 individuals: Hope next year we have some rebound
Pipevine Swallowtail 1
Eastern Tailed Blue 5 (one severely tattered but still flying...considering they don't have much wing area to loose!)
Carolina Satyr 1
Cloudless Sulphur 5
Cabbage White 5
Red Spotted Purple 3
Hackberry Emperor 2 ( One literally on Charlie's back)
Tawny Emperor 2
"morph" Tawny Emperor 2
Common Sootywing 2
Tiger Swallowtail 4
Silver spotted Skipper 1
Little Yellow 1
Variegated Fritillary 6
Pearl Crescent 4
Clouded Sulphur 1 (ovipositing on very small Lespedeza where Charlie found a egg)
Common Wood Nymph 1
Little Wood Satyr 2
Horace Duskywing 3
American Snout 3
Whirlabout 1
Common Checkered Skipper 1
Buckeye 3
Sleepy Oranges 2
Fiery Skipper 1
Also had many Widow Skimmers and Amber Wing Dragonflies plus Common
Whitetail and Slaty Skimmers at the ponds
Jules Fraytet
Charlotte, NC
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