The inaugural Southport butterfly count was held on Saturday, Aug. 30
under typical weather and skies for the place and time -- very warm,
partly cloudy, and VERY humid, with a few sprinkles in the northern part
of the circle in the afternoon. Seven people participated, include one
person from Ontario! Thanks to Jeff Pippen, Will Cook, Ted Gilliland,
Taylor Piephoff, John Cromer, and John Lamey for helping me with a
successful count. Here are the results:
Giant Swallowtail 1 Caswell Beach yard
E. Tiger Swallowtail 4
Spicebush Swallowtail 4
Palamedes Swallowtail 152
Cabbage White 1
Cloudless Sulphur 460
Little Yellow 8
Sleepy Orange 87
Gray Hairstreak 12
Red-banded Hairstreak 14
E. Tailed-Blue 2
Gulf Fritillary 210 abundant in Southport
Variegated Fritillary 61
Phaon Crescent 51 Fort Fisher; might be new to NC counts, but very
common here
Pearl Crescent 4
lady sp. 1 (American or Painted)
Common Buckeye 25
Viceroy 4
Carolina Satyr 3
Monarch 8
Silver-spotted Skipper 26
Long-tailed Skipper 13
Horace’s Duskywing 21
Zarucco Duskywing 8
Common Checkered-Skipper 6
Swarthy Skipper 9
Clouded Skipper 7
Least Skipper 4
Southern Skipperling 25 almost all in one large abandoned field near
Southport
Fiery Skipper 97
Whirlabout 17
Southern Broken-Dash 22
Delaware Skipper 4
Byssus Skipper 2
Yehl Skipper 1
Broad-winged Skipper 5
Dun Skipper 9
Eufala Skipper 17
Twin-spot Skipper 20 Boiling Spring Lakes powerline area
Salt Marsh Skipper 46
Ocola Skipper 15
Total – 41 species
Comments: Brushfoots were scarce, as has been the case all summer, even
inland. No Red Admirals, practically no ladies, anglewings (not much
habitat), satyrs/browns scarce, etc. But, we did well on typical
migrants – Little Yellow, Long-tailed Skipper, Ocola Skipper, etc. And,
we got a decent variety of wetland skippers, mainly in the Boiling
Spring Lakes area – Yehl, Twin-spot, Delaware, Byssus, Broad-winged,
etc. Fort Fisher and Carolina Beach were disappointing, but Fort Fisher
can be very good in October and late September. Several vacant
lots/fields, full of verbena, in the Southport area, were quite good.
Harry LeGrand
Raleigh, NC
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