Another Gray Hairstreak!!

BUCKEYE

Saturday I participated in the Point Pelee butterfly count. My party worked the south half of the park and came up with 30 species. I suppose the highlight was a Gray Hairstreak near the south end of West Beach Trail. There were a lot of butterflies in that area, but of course most were Cabbage White. This time, the butterfly co-operated for some good photos.

Just after that, we caught a glimpse of an Olive Hairstreak. The Olive was more of our target for the afternoon.

Regarding hairstreaks, later we heard that a White M Hairstreak was sighted at the north end of the park the previous week. I think this was no surprise considering the butterflies that are around this summer.

To add further to that, later in the evening I heard that a Marine Blue was discovered just outside Leamington. This is a butterfly of the US southwest, and a small colony was discovered near Toronto earlier this summer. They were seen at Pelee in 1993 and 1999. It has been an interesting summer for butterflies.

Back to our count, we also had a Snout land on Paul Carter's hand. I sighted this butterfly and it flew around us until it settled down.

Starting off the day at White Pine, we saw a worn Hackberry in the parking lot. Ironically, the last butterfly I looked at in the afternoon was a ragged Hackberry in the VC parking lot! They are at the end of their first brood.

There was a strong NW wind but we checked the west beach off White Pine to start the day. There were quite a few butterflies there including a Bronze Copper.

In the old maintenance compound, we encountered our first Buckeye. Later we had four or five down West Beach trail.

At the end of Shuster Trail, we checked the sedge marsh and came up with the trusty Duke's Skippers. There were at least six in that small area. This is always a reliable spot for the species.

DUKES' SKIPPER

Giant swallowtails were very plentiful, as they sometimes are at Pelee. We had almost 40.

Lots of Painted Lady as well, and a few Tawny Emperors.