Tag Archives: North Carolina

Reynolda Gardens 2025 (Winston-Salem, NC)

On Saturday, October 11, 2025, the Triad Chapter of CBS (Carolina Butterfly Society) will hold a butterfly walk at the FORMAL GARDENS area of Reynolda Gardens.

After the CBS walk through the formal gardens, attendees are welcome to stay a little longer and visit other areas of the 134-acre grounds. These other areas include two miles of scenic walking trails, wetlands, paved pathways, thick woodlands, an expansive meadow for visitors to explore and enjoy and a waterfall, located along the Reynolda Village trail. Refer to the website below for a map and additional information.

Meet at the garden entrance greenhouse at 100 Reynolda Village, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27106 (or for those who prefer GPS coordinates, 36.12564, -80.28474). Please RSVP to Barbara Cullen at the email address below if you plan to participate.

Butler Mountain Bald (Buncombe Co, NC)

On Sunday, August 24, 2025, the Carolina Butterfly Society Western NC Chapter will visit Butler Mountain Bald in Buncombe County near Fairview, NC. Our target species is the Incognito Crescent and the trip leader is Sparrel Wood.

We will meet at Ingles Market, 225 Charlotte Hwy, Asheville, NC 28803. GPS coordinates of the Ingles Market parking lot are 35.55105, -82.47340. We will caravan from Ingles so Sparrel can get us all through the gated community to park at his house (a five-mile trip) where we will walk an easy one-quarter mile to the bald. Afterwards, we’ll walk down the same route and enjoy Sparrel’s large butterfly garden. If anyone cannot manage the walk, there is a 4×4-only access to the top.

As stated above, our leader is Sparrel Wood. Please contact him if you plan to attend: sparrel88@gmail.com

Purchase Knob (Haywood Co, NC)

On Saturday, August 23, 2025, the Carolina Butterfly Society Western NC Chapter has special permission to visit the Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center (AHSLC) at the Purchase off Hwy 276 in Haywood County near Waynesville, NC. GPS coordinates of the AHSLC are 35.58602, -83.07328. This gorgeous 235-acre property sits at 5086 feet and became part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2000. If the weather cooperates, we’ll be in for a real treat. The views are amazing. The property features a beautiful house and an 1884 cabin in a meadow.

From the center’s parking lot, we will hike through the meadow; along the road; by the creek; and even through some woods. We should see Monarchs, American Coppers, Great Spangled and Aphrodite Fritillaries, among others.

Bring a bag lunch (the center has a deck and picnic tables). Bathrooms available. Walking is easy-to-moderate. Our leader is Gail Lankford. Please contact her if you plan to attend: whocooksforyou64@gmail.com

Marie Poteat’s Property (Jamestown, NC)

Please mark your calendars for our next butterfly outing on Saturday, August 23rd to Marie Poteat’s property in Jamestown, NC. Of all the triad butterfly reports this year, Marie by far has had the most butterflies. In large part, this is because Marie has spent years reintroducing caterpillar host plants and butterfly nectar plants on what was once her family’s 70-acre+ working farm.

Marie said in an email: “Last year I had the most species of butterflies in mid-August so I think we should plan for August 23rd. Of course, there is no guarantee of what we see, but there should be a lot of swallowtails, skippers, and some hairstreaks, maybe.”

The start time is 9:30 so we can have from 10:00-12:00 to look for butterflies before the main heat of the day.

Parking will be at 1111 Bales Chapel in Jamestown.

Note that no restrooms are available; be sure to make a “pit stop” in town before you continue to the Poteat property. In addition, you will have to bring everything you need, including water, a snack, a folding chair, and a butterfly field guide.

Marie is limiting the number of participants to about 10 – 12 people. If you want to join in on this butterfly walk, you MUST register by contacting her: Marie Poteat <marie.poteat@gmail.com>

Summary: Butterfly walk, 8-23-25, Marie Poteat Property, 1111 Bales Chapel, Jamestown, NC beginning at 9:30 a.m. Limited to 10-12 participants. YOU MUST REGISTER IN ADVANCE IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE!

Coastal North Carolina, Dare County (NC)

This full Carolina Butterfly Society 2-day field trip will be held in coastal North Carolina where we plan on visiting several different locations. Our target butterfly species varies by location and are listed below. The leaders are Harry LeGrand and Lori Arent.

Saturday, September 6, 2025 – Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge – Meet at the small parking lot on the left side of Pamlico Road, about 200 yards from US 264, which is on the south side of the Dare County mainland (GPS coordinates 35.6132, -75.83282). Meet at 10:00 am. This is near the southern end of the large loop of US 264, about 7-8 miles south of Stumpy Point. Note that Pamlico Road is a single-track gravel road, and thus parking along the road is likely impossible; even parking along or very close to US 264 might be tricky or unfeasible.

Targets: Palatka, Aaron’s, Berry’s, Yehl, Dion, Broad-winged, Twin-spot, Tawny-edged, and Carolina Roadside skippers.

We will have lunch in the field. There are no restrooms here. Depending on our time and success, whether the roadsides have been mowed, whether coastal storms have damaged the vegetation and the road, etc., we MAY make a short drive to a different site in the afternoon, on the northern side of US 264. That site has a different set of flowers — more Mistflower instead of the dominant Bitter Sneezeweed at Pamlico Road. If the roadsides have not been mowed or otherwise impacted, the target species are about the same; there is a higher chance (but still iffy) of Berry’s Skipper here, but less chance for brackish marsh species like Aaron’s Skipper. Just before the end of the day, we plan a brief stop to check the Lantanas at the Roanoke Island Visitor Center.

Sunday, September 7, 2025 – Various sites on the Dare County Outer Banks in the Kill Devil Hills, Duck, and Southern Shores areas; and perhaps also including a long drive to central mainland Currituck County – Meet at the large parking lot of Lowe’s Home Improvement, in the corner closest to US 158 and West Landing Drive (GPS coordinates 36.02594, -75.66886), in Kill Devil Hills. Meet at 9:00 am. The turn off US 158, the main north-south highway on the Banks, is the first major road to the west after passing the Wright Brothers National Memorial if driving from the south. If driving from the north, Lowe’s is just before you reach the Memorial.

Targets: Dukes’ Skipper, Eastern Giant Swallowtail, Brazilian Skipper.

At the meeting place, we will need to review what uncommon/rare species have been recently seen in the area, as this information will determine where we visit. We hope to find Dukes’ Skipper in the Duck area, as a few were seen in late July or early August and have been seen there years ago as well. If missed there, some or many folks may want to make the rather long drive to central Currituck County, where a rather large colony of Dukes’ Skipper has been seen in September in the past few years. We expect to visit a few gardens and other plantings in the Duck area to search for the Giant Swallowtail and the rare and sporadic Brazilian Skipper, and other species.

Lunch will presumably be in the field, but as there are numerous fast-food restaurants along US 158, with restrooms. Details for Sunday afternoon are wide open and will be determined by the successes of the morning.

For lodging, most of you have hopefully already made motel/hotel reservations, as this trip was announced in late winter or early spring. Certainly, lodging on the Outer Banks, and less so at Manteo on Roanoke Island, is expensive in early September, and many or most of these may well be already booked completely.

As stated previously, Harry LeGrand and Lori Arent will lead. Either register on the CBS website (using the “Register” link above) or RSVP to Harry at hlegrandjr@gmail.com or Lori at ljarent1@gmail.com if you plan to participate. Please bring water, lunch, binoculars, cameras and field guides. Sunscreen, bug spray, long pants and close-toed shoes are highly recommended.

CLOSED – Post-Symposium Walk – Jordan Lake Tailrace and Deep River State Natural Area (Moncure, NC)

CLOSED – We have had an overwhelming response to this year’s symposium and must close registrations due to resource limitations.

This is a post-symposium butterfly walk but anyone is welcome whether they plan on attending the symposium or not.

We will meet at the Jordan Lake Tailrace. The address is 2060 Jordan Dam Road, Moncure, NC 27559 (or GPS coordinates 35.65231, -79.06748). We will walk around the fields and outflow area to look for butterflies. Going will be slow, with level to moderate terrain, some mowed field edges or walking through grassy fields. Be prepared for some exploring. Brian Bockhahn will lead.

Restrooms are available on the property. Please bring water, lunch, binoculars, cameras and field guides. Sunscreen, bug spray, a hat, long pants and close-toed shoes are highly recommended.

After 45 minutes or so, we’ll drive 3 miles, about 6 minutes away, to a relatively new section of Deep River State Natural Area. This area has not been visited much, so we really don’t know what to expect; most sightings will be new for the property. The trailhead is behind the Moncure Community Health Center. The address is 7228 Moncure Pittsboro Road, Moncure, NC 27559 (or GPS coordinates 35.63146, -79.09675). We will hike a series of old roads, first through a recently logged area, around an old home site and pond, then down into the rich floodplain and an old rock quarry along the Deep River. The terrain will not be level, and the trail is not maintained.

Please use the symposium registration form if you are attending the symposium and plan to participate. If you are NOT attending the symposium, you can register for this walk online at the CBS website or RSVP to Brian Bockhahn at the email address below.

CLOSED – Pre-Symposium Walk – Mason Farm Biological Reserve (Chapel Hill, NC)

CLOSED – We have had an overwhelming response to this year’s symposium and must close registrations due to resource limitations.

This is a pre-symposium butterfly walk but anyone is welcome whether they plan on attending the symposium or not.

We will meet at the parking lot at Mason Farm Biological Reserve trailhead. There is no street address, but the GPS coordinates are 35.89233, -79.01647. The walking loop is about 2 miles or so and is flat. The trail winds through several habitats including hardwood forest, mixed pine forest, open fields, and has a nice boardwalk section through a wetland. Approximately 60+ species of butterflies have been tallied here over the years and seasons. Of course, we will probably not have that diversity in September, but it’s still a nice walk. Jeff Pippen will lead.

No restrooms are available on the property. Please bring water, snacks (or a late lunch), binoculars, cameras and field guides. Sunscreen, bug spray, long pants and close-toed shoes are highly recommended.

Directions – From the north, drive to Finley Golf Course Road in Chapel Hill. Drive around the Finley Golf Club clubhouse and parking lot and past the driving range. Directly after the driving range at the power lines, take the right fork onto Mason Farm Acc Road (which passes under the power lines). After about 0.38 miles, turn to the right on the gravel access road to the creek, then drive over the concrete ford (which always has at least some water flowing over it, but should be passable). The trailhead parking lot is just to the south of the creek.

CLOSED – 2025 Symposium – Stan Adams Training Facility (Chapel Hill, NC)

CLOSED – We have had an overwhelming response to this year’s symposium and must close registrations due to resource limitations. If you were not able to join us this year, we look forward to maybe seeing you next year in South Carolina.

Come and join us for the Carolina Butterfly Society 2025 Symposium that will be held on Saturday, September 13 at the Stanford M. Adams Training Facility in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Check-in will be from 9:00 am to 9:30 am. The cost to attend is $20.00 per person, which includes lunch, drinks and snacks. Please return your registration and lunch form (available using the Symposium Registration and Lunch Form 2025 link below) and payment (see note below) so we receive them by September 10.

Featured Presentations

“My Experiences as a Relatively and Perpetually New Butterflier, or How to take up Butterflying without feeling overwhelmed and intimidated” – Alison Smith, CBS Past-President and Current Secretary
“Our Wild Butterflies: Monitoring Diversity and Trends through Community Science” – Jeff Pippen – Research Specialist Georgetown University and Director, Carolinas Butterfly Monitoring Network
“Monarchs and Migration in North Carolina” – Brian Bockhahn – Education Specialist, North Carolina State Parks
“Butterflies of Western NC Post Helene” – Heather Rayburn – CBS Western NC Chapter Coordinator
“(Mostly) Native Pollinator Gardens for Butterflies” – Debbie Roos – Agriculture Agent of the Chatham County Center of North Carolina Cooperative Extension

There will also be a book signing session. Bring your copies of:

Butterflies of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia – Harry LeGrand, Jeff Pippen
The Flora and Fauna of Edisto Island and the Lowcountry Sea Islands – Tom Austin

Walk – Tour of the “Pollinator Paradise” Garden in Pittsboro, NC, led by Debbie Roos. Directions can be obtained using the Symposium and Walk Directions 2025 link below. Hard copies will also be available at the symposium.

Additional Optional Opportunity – Visit Rachel’s Native Plants nursery in Pittsboro, NC. Directions can be obtained using the Symposium and Walk Directions 2025 link below. Hard copies will also be available at the symposium.

Symposium Registration and Lunch Form – Either click on or copy and paste the following link into your browser of choice – Symposium Registration and Lunch Form 2025

Directions

Symposium – Stanford M. Adams Training Facility
2832 Big Woods Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27517-7657
> 35.77721, -79.04465 = GPS Coordinates for driveway entrance at Jordan Lake Educational State Forest
> 35.77419, -79.04146 = GPS Coordinates for Stanford M. Adams Training Facility parking lot
— From US Hwy 64, travel north on Big Woods Road for 2.8 miles to the entrance of Jordan Lake Educational State Forest.
— Turn right (east) into the State Forest and follow the dirt road for 0.3 miles. The road will end at the parking lot for Stanford M. Adams Training Facility.

Symposium Walks – Either click on or copy and paste the following link into your browser of choice – Symposium and Walk Directions 2025

Lodging can be found in Chapel Hill and Apex, NC.

Additional Butterfly Walks have also been planned for Friday, September 12, from 1:00 pm until 4:00 pm at Mason Farm Biological Reserve in Chapel Hill, NC, and Sunday, September 14, from 9:30 am until 2:00/3:00 pm at Jordan Lake Tailrace and Deep River State Natural Area in Moncure, NC. Please refer to the Events Calendar on these specific dates for full details. Directions can be obtained using the Symposium and Walk Directions 2025 link above. Hard copies will also be available at the symposium.

Make plans now to bring a friend and join us.

Payment can be made by check (contact Marty Kastner at the email address below for instructions) or via PayPal (which possibly includes credit cards) using the following link.

PayPal Link: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/ADUK6USRRXKJG

Historic Bethabara Park (Winston-Salem, NC)

On Saturday, May 24, 2025, the Triad Chapter of CBS (Carolina Butterfly Society) will hold a butterfly walk at the Historic Bethabara Park Butterfly Garden. The Bethabara Gardens are beautiful, historically significant places to explore. When the Moravians settled Bethabara in the early 1750s, one of the first things they established were the gardens. The Pollinator Garden was not planted by the Moravians, but this new garden preserves their tradition and values of respecting and understanding of the balance of nature. The entire park encompasses 183 acres of preserved wildlife, historic buildings and grounds, walking and birding trails, and protected wetlands but we will initially be exploring the garden listed above. Refer to the website below for a map and additional information.

The park address is 2147 Bethabara Road, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27106 (or for those who prefer GPS coordinates, 36.15470, -80.29618). Please RSVP to Bernyce Pritchard at the email address below if you plan to participate.

Fort Macon SP, Croatan NF, Holly Shelter Game Land (NC)

This full Carolina Butterfly Society 2-day field trip will be held in eastern North Carolina where we plan on visiting three different locations. Our target butterfly species varies by location and are listed below. The leader is Harry LeGrand and possibly Lori Arent.

Saturday, April 12, 2025: Meet at Fort Macon State Park, at the Coastal Education Center parking lot at the end of East Fort Macon Rd, Atlantic Beach, NC (GPS coordinates 34.6977, -76.6787). Meet at 10:00 am. Target species is Crystal Skipper, which should be easy; not many other species are present at this time of year here; Henry’s Elfin (unlikely). Probably eat lunch at the visitor center, outside on benches. Restrooms are available inside the visitor center. (They are not available in Croatan, so best to eat and use the restroom here.)

After lunch, we will travel to several sites in Croatan National Forest, such as Millis Road in Carteret County, and then much farther north to Little Road in Craven County. Millis Road and Little Road are gravel but should be fine for about all vehicles.

Target species are Carolina Roadside-Skipper, Lace-winged Roadside-Skipper, Intricate Satyr, and Holly Azure. Little field work occurs in the forest in spring, and few flowers are blooming then, so we have little previous data here for April. Thus, expectations are low but hopes are high!

Sunday, April 13, 2025: Holly Shelter Game Land. Meet at the eastern end of the Topsail Baptist Church parking lot, closest to the entrance road to the game land, on US 17 (GPS coordinates 34.4099, -77.6571). Meet at 10:00 am. This is about 4 miles northeast of Hampstead. Note that there is another church immediately to the southwest, on the same side (north) of the highway. Obviously, don’t park there; park at the church lot at Topsail church where you can literally see the entrance road to the game land. As this is a Sunday, there likely will be some churchgoers parking in the lot closer to the church anyway.

It may well be a bit too early and “dewy”/cool to start butterflying, so be prepared to look for birds such as Red-cockaded Woodpecker and Bachman’s Sparrow, and look for wildflowers and carnivorous plants, until things warm up. We will carpool here, as the gravel/dirt roads are usually fine for most vehicles but occasionally there are sandy places or wet spots in the road.

Target species (all formerly regular but now may be difficult) are Frosted Elfin, Yucca Giant-Skipper, Reversed Roadside-Skipper, Dusky Roadside-Skipper. Other targets are Dusted Skipper, Holly Azure. It might be slightly early for Little Metalmark, which is regular by late April. We will have lunch in the field. There are no restrooms here (or in Croatan). The gate is “always” open in April but is closed from May to about Labor Day; this helps deter Venus Flytrap poaching. So, yes, we may well look for flytraps here, but they won’t be in bloom.

There are many motels in Jacksonville, which is a good midway point between these two trips. Of course, people may want lodging the day before in the Morehead City or Havelock areas, or the Wilmington area after Holly Shelter.

As stated previously, Harry LeGrand will lead. Either register on the CBS website (using the “Register” link above) or RSVP to Harry at the email address below if you plan to participate. Please bring water, lunch, binoculars, cameras and field guides. Sunscreen, bug spray, long pants and close-toed shoes are highly recommended.