Six participants located 36 species of butterflies during the Transylvania NABA count on Wednesday, August, 27, 2014. The morning was cool, about 60 degrees, ending at about 80 degrees by the afternoon. There was full sunshine all day. Here are the results:

Pipevine Swallowtail 24
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 31
Spicebush Swallowtail 2
Cabbage White 8
Clouded Sulphur 55
Orange Sulphur 25
Cloudless Sulphur 8
Little Yellow 1
Gray Hairstreak 2
Eastern Tailed-Blue 39
Summer Azure 31
Variegated Fritillary 35
Diana Fritillary 7 ( one male, six females)
Great Spangled Fritillary 3
Meadow Fritillary 14
Pearl Crescent 8
Eastern Comma 1 (One Polygonia as well)
American Lady 1
Red Admiral 1
Common Buckeye 6
Red-spotted Purple 25
Viceroy 2
Northern Pearly-Eye 1
Carolina Saytr 1
Common Wood-Nymph 1
Silver-spotted Skipper 104
Horace’s Duskywing 2
Wild Indigo Duskywing 8
Clouded Skipper 3
Least Skipper 9
Fiery Skipper 1
Tawny-edged Skipper 1
Sachem 14
Zabuon Skipper 2
Dun Skipper 1
Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper 1

Many thanks to Nancy Cowal, Doug Johnston, Janie Owens, Sue Perry, and Vin Stanton for their participation!
———————————–
Ruth Young

The Southern Lake Norman NABA Butterfly Count was held Sunday August 17, 2014 after being postponed from the previous week. Temperatures were hot but humidity could have been much worse. Seventeen participants in six parties identified 57 species and 1238 individuals, spending 33.5 party hours in the field. Rob Van Epp’s group spent the most hours in the field and appropriately tallied the most species (44). Thanks to all who participated.

Rob Van Epps, Christine Lisiewski, Jeff Lemons, Lenny Lampel, Ethan Lampel, Robert Gilson, Laura Domingo, Thanh Huynh, Taylor Piephoff, Steve Tracy, Chris Talkington, Jan Fowler, Phil Fowler, Gene Schepker, Kevin Metcalf, Tom Sanders, Tammy Sanders.

Pipevine Swallowtail 12
Zebra Swallowtail 4
Black Swallowtail 4
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 81
Spicebush Swallowtail 33
Cabbage White 12
Orange Sulphur 10
Cloudless Sulphur 9
Little Yellow 1
Sleepy Orange 24
Red-banded Hairstreak 1
Gray Hairstreak 7
Summer Azure 26
Eastern Tailed-Blue 69
American Snout 12
Gulf Fritillary 2
Variegated Fritillary 30
Great Spangled Fritillary 4
Pearl Crescent 22
Question Mark 3
Eastern Comma 2
Painted Lady 4
American Lady 1
Red Admiral 6
Common Buckeye 133
Red-spotted Purple 23
Viceroy 5
Hackberry Emperor 8
Tawny Emperor 2
Northern Pearly-Eye 7
Creole Pearly-Eye 4
Appalachian Brown 13
Gemmed Satyr 1
Carolina Satyr 200
Common Wood-Nymph 4
Monarch 20
Silver-spotted Skipper 112
Hoary Edge 8
Southern Cloudywing 3
Northern Cloudywing 2
Horace’s Duskywing 8
Wild Indigo Duskywing 2
Common Checkered-Skipper 9
Common Sootywing 10
Swarthy Skipper 4
Clouded Skipper 22
Least Skipper 40
Southern Skipperling 1
Fiery Skipper 39
Tawny-edged Skipper 2
Crossline Skipper 1
Little Glassywing 21
Sachem 62
Delaware Skipper 25
Zabulon Skipper 45
Dun Skipper 4
Ocola Skipper 19
1238

Taylor Piephoff
Matthews, NC
PiephoffT@aol.com

Butterfliers,

As has been widely reported across the southeastern US, butterfly numbers are dramatically reduced in 2014 in many areas. Results of the 15th Annual NABA Durham Butterfly Count support that trend. Although wet/dewy vegetation and cloudy conditions made for a slow start to the 2014 Durham Count, nine butterfliers persisted and cumulatively tallied 54 species (average=56) composed of 1433 individuals, drastically below our average number of 3726 individuals! Late spring hard freezes seem to be the prevailing theory for depressed numbers in our area.

Brian Bockhahn’s party found the most species of the day (41) including a Great Purple Hairstreak (only the second time for this count). Amazingly, two parties (Bockhahn and Stickney) found a single Harvester each, only the second time for that species on this count. Jeff Pippen’s party found the most individuals (454) and only the second ever Long-tailed Skipper. While we had no terrible “misses”, we also set no record-high counts for any species, and we had too many record or near record low species’ counts to mention. Our avearge # of individuals per party hour was 49 (an all time low). This count averages 120 individual butterflies seen per party hour. While it’s a bummer to not see as many butterflies as usual, it’s great to have some real data that support the various casual and anecdotal observations that “butterfly numbers seem down this year.” Fortunately, insects lay hundreds to thousands of eggs per pair, hence they have a strong capacity to rebound after setbacks by such factors as unusually rough weather. I expect numbers to bounce back up for most species in the next couple of seasons.

Many thanks to all participants who helped with the Count this year: Brian Bockhahn, Randy Emmitt, Owen McConnel, Tom Krakauer, Salman Abdulali, Harry LeGrand, Jeffrey Pippen, Kelly Mieszkalski, and Richard Stickney.

Here are our results for the Durham Butterfly Count, 17 Aug 2014:

4 Pipevine Swallowtail
13 Black Swallowtail
24 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
33 Spicebush Swallowtail
12 Cabbage White
2 Orange Sulphur
85 Cloudless Sulphur
48 Sleepy Orange
2 Harvester
1 Great Purple Hairstreak
17 Gray Hairstreak
107 Eastern Tailed-Blue
62 Summer Azure
1 American Snout
9 Variegated Fritillary
1 Great Spangled Fritillary
99 Pearl Crescent
3 Question Mark
4 Eastern Comma
5 American Lady
5 Painted Lady
15 Red Admiral
66 Common Buckeye
21 Red-spotted Purple
3 Viceroy
12 Hackberry Emperor
4 Tawny Emperor
10 Northern Pearly-eye
1 Appalachian Brown
1 Gemmed Satyr
77 Carolina Satyr
9 Common Wood-Nymph
20 Monarch   http://www.jeffpippen.com/butterflies/monarch.htm
225 Silver-spotted Skipper
1 Long-tailed Skipper
11 Hoary Edge
2 Southern Cloudywing
18 Horace’s Duskywing
1 Zarucco Duskywing   http://www.jeffpippen.com/butterflies/zaruccoduskywing.htm
1 Wild Indigo Duskywing   http://www.jeffpippen.com/butterflies/wildindigoduskywing.htm
3 Com. Checkered-Skipper
17 Swarthy Skipper
41 Clouded Skipper
5 Least Skipper
80 Fiery Skipper
5 Crossline Skipper
20 Southern Broken-Dash
1 Northern Broken-Dash
41 Little Glassywing
102 Sachem
4 Delaware Skipper
50 Zabulon Skipper
5 Dun Skipper
24 Ocola Skipper

For more info about the Durham Count, including data from all years, go here:
http://www.jeffpippen.com/butterflies/durhamcount.htm

Good Butterflying!
Jeff
—
Jeffrey S. Pippen
Durham, NC
http://www.jeffpippen.com/

Seven of us went to Statesville and surveyed mostly Allison Woods and finished the day at the Greenway. We had 30 species and 320 butterflies on a hot day under mostly sunny conditions. In light of a trying butterfly year and sparse nectaring plants in the fields, it was a good effort and fairly good results. Several common butterflies were glaringly missing though. The best finds were probably a Lace-winged Roadside Skipper and Harvester, a “lifer” for several in the group.” Everyone had a good chance to photograph the very accommodating Harvester including some National Guard members working in the park and one of the Allisons, the owners of the site.

Black Swallowtail 1
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 15
Cabbage White 1
Clouded Sulphur 2
Sleepy Orange 7
Harvester 1
Gray Hairstreak 2
Eastern Tailed-blue 7
Summer Azure 22
American Snout 1
Pearl Crescent 2
Question Mark 1
Eastern Comma 1
Common Buckeye 110
Red-spotted Purple 19
Hackberry Emperor 5
Northern Pearly-eye 34
Carolina Satyr 43
Appalachian Brown 1
Silver Spotted Skipper 1
Common Checkered/White Skipper 4
Clouded Skipper 2
Least Skipper 1
Tawny-edged Skipper 1
Crossline skipper 2
Northern Broken-dash 1
Little Glassywing 6
Sachem 5
Zabulon Skipper 21
Lace-winged Roadside Skipper 1

30 species, 320 butterflies

Compiler, Gene Schepker

Here are the totals for the Wake County butterfly count, held last Friday (August 15). John Connors sent it to participants only, in an Excel file. I copied the two relevant columns. Note that I haven’t gone thru and removed excess lines of species not seen.

We did manage 55 species, a very good total, considering the struggle to find butterflies this year. Several were new to the count, which started in 1995 — Brazilian Skipper and Great Spangled Fritillary, both seen by me. Neither is new for the county, and the Fritillary probably should have been gotten earlier, but we lie a tad southeast of the edge of the range. I did manage a photo of the Fritillary, but the Brazilian was not about to let me get close for an iPhone photo! Note a few other goodies, such as Great Purple Hairstreak, Harvester, Byssus Skipper, etc. And, note the absence of anglewings — not a surprise this year.

Harry LeGrand

Species
Paplionidae- Swallowtails
Pipevine Sw.- Battus philenor 3
Zebra Sw. – Eurytides marcellus
Black Sw. -Papilio polyxenes 6
Giant Sw. – Papilio cresphontes
E. Tiger Sw. – Papilio glaucus 19
Spicebush Sw.- Papilio troilus 6
Palamedes Sw. – P. palamedes
Pieridae- Whites & Sulphurs
Checkered W.-Pontia protodice
Cabbage Wh. -Pieris rapae 19
Clouded Sul. -Colias philodice 1
Orange Sulp.- Colias eurytheme 16
So. Dogface – Colias cesonia
Cloudless Sul- Phoebis sennae 4
Little Yellow- Eureme lisa 3
Sleepy Orange- Eurema nicippe 23
Lycaenidae- Harvesters
Harvester – Feniseca tarquinius 1
Lycaenidae- Hairstreaks
Gr. Purple Hrstk- Atlides halesus 1
Coral Hrstk- Satyrium titus
Edwards’ Hrstk- S. edwardsii
Banded Hrstk – S. calanus
Striped Hrstk – S liparops
Southern Hrstk – S. favonius
E. Pine Elfin – C. niphon
Juniper Hrstk – C. gryneus
White-M Hrstk-Parrhasius m-album
Gray Hrstk – Strymon melinus 11
Red-bd Hrstk-Calycopis cecrops 2
Lycaenidae- Blues
E Tailed Blue- Everes comyntas 37
Spring Azure- Celastrina ladon
Summer Azure- C. neglecta 23
Libytheidae-Snouts
A Snout- Libytheana carinenta 1
Nymphalidae- Brushfoots
Gulf Fritillary- Agraulis vanillae
Zebra- Heliconius charitonius
Variegated Frit-Euptoieta claudia 18
GrSpangled Frit-Speyeria cybele 1
SilveryCheckersp-Chlosyne nycteis
Pearl Crescent-Phyciodes tharos 36
QMark- Polygonia interrogationis
E Comma- P. comma
Mourning Cloak-Nymphalis antiopa
A. Lady- Vanessa virginiensis 2
Painted Lady- V. cardui 2
Red Admiral- V. atalanta 2
C. Buckeye- Junonia coenia 69
Red-sp.Purple-Limenitis arthemis 17
Viceroy- L. archippus 9
Hackberry E.-Asterocampa celtis 8
Tawny Emperor- A. clyton
Nymphalidae- Satyrs
So.Pearly-eye- Enodia portlandia
No. Pearly-eye- E. anthedon 6
Creole P.-eye- E. creola 3
App.Brown-Satyrodes appalachia 1
Gemmed Satyr-Cyllopsis gemma 1
Car.Satyr-Hermeuptychia sosybius 32
Little Wood Satyr-Megisto cymelo
C. Wood-Nymph-Cercyonis pegala 1
Nymphalidae-Milkweed Butterflies
Monarch– Danaus plexippus 11
Hesperiidae- Spreadwing Skippers
Silver-spot Sk.-Epargyreus clarus 93
Long-tail Skip- Urbanus proteus
Hoary Edge- Achalarus lyciades 2
SoCloudywing 3
NoCloudywing- T. pylades
Confused Cloudywing-T.confusis
Hayhurst Scallop-Staphylus hayhurstii
Juvenal’s Duskywing-Erynnis juvenalis
Horace’s Duskywing- E. horatius 17
Mottled Duskywing- E. martialis
Zarucco Duskywing- E. zarucco
Wild Indigo Duskyw- E. baptisiae 3
C.Checkered Skip-Pyrgus communis 8
C. Sootywing- Phollisora catullus
Hesperiidae- Grass Skippers
Swarthy Skip- Nastra Iherminier 10
Clouded Skip- Lerema accius 19
Least Skip-Ancycloxypha numitor 57
So.Skipperling-Copaeodes minimus
Fiery Skip-Hylephila phyleus 164
Tawny-edgeSkip-Polites themistocles
Crossline Skip- P. origenes
Long Dash- P. mystic
Whirlabout- P. vibex
So.Broken-Dash-Wallengrenia otho 2
No. Broken-Dash- W. egeremet 1
Little Glassywing-Pompeius verna 21
Sachem- Atalopedes campestris 141
Zabulon Skip- Poanes zabulon 88
Dun Skip- Euphyes vestris 6
Lace-wingRdside-Amblyscirtes aesculapius 2
C. Roadside Skip-A. carolina
Com. Roadside- A. vialis
Eufala Skip- Lerodea eufala
Ocola Skip- Panoquina ocola 29
Other Species
Delaware Skip Anatrytone logan
Yehl Skip- Poanes yehl
Dion Skipper Euphyes dion 1
Braod-wing Skip-Poanes viator
Byssus Skipper 1
Brazilian Skipper 1
Total Species Obseved 55
Total numbers 1064
Date au 15
Weather
temp 65-87
% sun 75
precip 0
# Observers 15
Party miles 18
Party Hours 30
Sites Surveyed
Art Museum garden
Schenck x
Umstead Powerline x
Umstead-Ebenezer bottom x
Pullen
Buckeye Greenway x
Durant Nature Park x
Falls dam/Neuse River x
Blue Jay Pt.
NCSU Arboretum x
Prairie Ridge x
Horseshoe Farm x
Neuse-Anderson Pt x
Durant Rd Landfill Pk x

From Mike Turner:

Today, for the NABA Wake County Butterfly Count, I covered the two above areas; Durant from 9:35am to 1:35pm, and NWLDP from 2pm to 5:30pm. I saw 22 species today, which is my highest one day total this year, but I had to work hard for each one. There were no real highlights, but I did see my first Clouded Skippers of the year. Popular nectar sources were Butterfly-bush at Durant, and Verbena and Sneezeweed at NWLDP. Below are my lists for each place. Good butterflying.

Durant Nature Park

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail-5
Spicebush Swallowtail-2
Sleepy Orange-3
Gray Hairstreak-3
Eastern Tailed-Blue-5
Summer Azure-5
Variegated Fritillary-1
Red-spotted Purple-5
Appalachian Brown-1
Carolina/Intricata Satyr-17
Silver-spotted Skipper-4
Horace’s Duskywing-2
Clouded Skipper-2
Least Skipper-24
Little Glassywing-2
Zabulon Skipper-20
Ocola Skipper-1

NWLDP

Black Swallowtail-2
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail-2
Sleepy Orange-10
Gray Hairstreak-2
Eastern Tailed-Blue-22
Summer Azure-1
Pearl Crescent-2
Common Buckeye-8
Viceroy-1
Fiery Skipper-1