Sunday's Butterfly Count and More Insects

Sunday was the annual Skunk's Misery Butterfly Count.  Things were certainly different this year as we did not meet for lunch and did not meet for a BBQ and tally at the end of the day.  However, a good number of counters were out in their usual areas.

I did my usual morning route along Centreville Drive in the Mosa Forest area.  It takes about three hours to cover from the west end to near Dogwood Road.  It was a not day, but most of my area has forest cover for shade.  I started on my own first thing.

At the get-go, I was greeted by a curious Chestnut-sided Warbler.

Hairstreaks starting adding up, and seemed to be an indication that it was going to be a good day for those.

As time went on, I found bunches of them!  Most were Hickory, but there were a lot of Banded and Striped.
Hickory Hairstreaks were the talk of the town for me, as I tallied at least 93.  Certainly the most I have seen in this area.

Tawny Emperors were big in numbers as well.  A week previous, I noted several hundred especially along Sassafras Road.  A number of Hackberry Emperors were mixed in as well.

I found several other species, but nothing really of note.


A few moths were seen as well.  A Le Conte's Haploa moth was seen in a usual area, but got away from the camera.
A larger one caught my eye.

Virginia Creeper Sphinx Moth

Oblique Banded Leaf Roller Moth

Large Lace Border Moth

Common dragonflies were seen.  Some years, other things of note come up, like the Great Blue Skimmer I saw several years ago.

Blue Dasher

After some lunch (in the shade), I headed to the NW section of the circle.  I was not finding much in the heat, so I left by 1:30 p.m.

On the way home, I stopped at Florence, but the river was still too high for my liking.

Clubtail from Midland

Dancer with a Blue Tip

Still not done, I stopped by Reid for a quick look.  A number of hairstreaks were seen, but I think the heat kept the numbers down.  While there, I was surprised to see Quinten.  I showed him around a bit and gave some advice on searching for odes at McKeough.

Late this afternoon, despite the heat, I went up to Reid again due to bordem!   I actually found lots of hairstreaks.  When it clouded over a bit, the hairstreaks seemed to come out of the woodwork!  Once again, likely the heat had something to do with it.

I found one Oak Hairstreak.  We are at the end of the life cycle of this species here, so perhaps it may be the last one I see this year.

It seems to be a good year for hairstreaks in our area.  Nothing like the year 2008, but nice to see my favourites!