Butterfly Trip Report - Carolina Sandhills NWR, SC, 9/23/06
Dennis Forsythe, who did a great job leading the Carolina Butterfly Society
field trip last Saturday, asked me to write a report of the day's
activities.
The beautiful refuge, great weather, a good turn out of people, and
excellent media coverage combined to make the butterfly walk at Carolina
Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge a success last Saturday, September 23rd.
This was a joint field trip of the Carolina Butterfly Society and Friends of
Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is located outside
McBee, SC, near Hartsville about 2 hours east of Columbia. It was
established primarily to protect the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker,
which the group saw, but also provides a wide variety of habitats for many
other animals and plant species including a good selection of butterflies.
Fifteen people set out from the refuge headquarters under the leadership of
Dennis Forsythe. Doug DeNeve, a member of the Carolina Butterfly Society and
president of the refuge Friends group, was on hand to welcome participants
and to help as guide. Several new butterfliers were attending their first
butterfly walk due to news releases sent out by the refuge staff. A
television reporter, a videographer, and a newspaper photographer/web
reporter also joined the group, resulting in the story being on the 11 pm
news, in the Sunday morning newspaper, and on the media company's website.
Participants spent much of the time in very specialized long leaf pine
savanna habitat searching for uncommon/rare skipper butterflies. It was a
bit late in the season for the target butterflies, and also there were
surprisingly few flowers in bloom to provide nectar. None of the target
species were conclusively identified on this trip, although a more common
Swarthy Skipper was seen a couple of times.
The majority of butterflies for the day were found in a flowering meadow of
the "Ox Pen" part of the refuge as well as a few along the nearby roadsides.
The following species were recorded by the group: Palamedes Swallowtail,
Cloudless Sulphur, Sleepy Orange, Gray Hairstreak, Eastern Tailed Blue,
Variegated Fritillary, American Lady, Common Buckeye (including both a
caterpillar and an adult), checkered skipper, Swarthy Skipper, Clouded
Skipper, Fiery Skipper, Ocola Skipper, and one unidentified skipper seen
briefly that seemed to have characteristics of one of the Hesperia species.
This butterfly walk was a lot of fun, and it was a great way to publicize
the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge, the Friends of Carolina
Sandhills NWR organization, and the Carolina Butterfly Society. Thanks are
due to the trip leader, Dennis Forsythe, and to Doug DeNeve and the refuge
staff for organizing and hosting the event.
Dennis Burnette
Greensboro, NC
deburnette@triad.rr.com
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