Clear Creek Butterfly Count 2018

Today, Sunday, was the annual Clear Creek butterfly count.  Weather was excellent, at least in the morning.  Along Lake Erie, there were severe thunder storms late morning, so we were lucky to avoid that at Moraviantown while our party searched some sites for butterflies.  I left at noon as skies were not looking all that great.

This count can be quite interesting with many good areas to search, especially old railway lines.  Those railway corridors were my favourite spots in the earlier years, but they have deteriorated to some degree since then.
This is one of the latest counts, so you miss many species.  However, it did quite well last year.  It will be interesting to see what the results are.

Our group (led by resident Darren Jacobs) met around 09:00 at the Tim Horton's/grocery store on the Delaware of the Thames First Nation at Moraviantown.  I had never really checked this area before either for birds or butterflies, although we touched a bit on it in the very first year of this count in 2000.

Wild Bergamot seemed to be the flower of choice today for many of the leps.  We found lots of it!

Giant Swallowtails were in numbers rarely seen, as they were all over the place.  Right now, all places are abundant with them.

Monarchs are doing quite well this year, with higher numbers than in recent years.  I did get a photo of its mimic, the Viceroy.

At the north end of the community, there is a trail and some prairie plantings along the Thames River. (just above "Moraviantown" in the above Google Maps photo).  We checked that out just before heading out for lunch as thunder rumbled to the south.

Note dark skies to the south!

I managed to find a few Tawny Emperors.  There is a lot of Hackberry, the larval foodplant, along the banks of the Thames.

At one point I caught sight of a hairstreak which turned out to be a Hickory.  It is getting late for the satyrium hairstreaks, but Hickory is one that can be found at this time.  I was not able to get a photo before it took off.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Common Sootywing

Our group ended up with at least 24 species in the morning.
Heard that the total species count for the entire day was 43.  Fairly good for this time of year!

Before we met in the morning, I stopped by the Tecumseh Monument area east of Thamesville.  It is a nice spot for a walk and to learn about early history of the area.  Interpretive signs tell about the War of 1812 and Chief Tecumseh who was killed nearby.  The area has a rich history, and significant events happened here during the War of 1812.