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