Today, July 14 was the annual Clear Creek butterfly count. I have been doing this count since its inception in 2000. I find it to be one of the better counts as we do abandoned railway and some prairie planting areas near Highgate and Muirkirk.There were loads of flowers for nectaring, but butterflies seemed to be sparse. I think the early year had much to do with that as many species were done or near the end or in between broods. As mentioned previously, hairstreaks have been scarce this year, and this count produced only one single Banded Hairstreak!
Eight Fiery Skippers were found, the first in five years. Skippers were low in numbers save for Northern Broken-Dash. Cloudywings were not found.
The trend continues this year for Broad-winged Skippers with 52 recorded, breaking the previous high of 11 in 2004!
Three new species were found for the count history. Common Checkered-skipper was found near Highgate. So, it has reached eastern Chatham-Kent!
Stan Caveney found Wild Indigo Duskywings as the other new butterfly. Wild Indigo has certainly expanded in recent years.
Total species for the count day was at 49. Average is about 46.
Eastern Tailed-Blue
The most interesting bird today was an Acadian Flycatcher that Pete Chapman and I had along the R/R east of Muirkirk.
Thanks to Olav Natvik for hosting the compilation and BBQ as usual at the end of the day!
Calico Pennant
Variable Dancer
Blake,
ReplyDeleteI own the Kenesserie prairie which is sandwiched between the 2 abandoned rail lines on Kenesserie Rd. It’s located about 1 mile south-west of Highgate. I check your Highgate butterfly count numbers each year. I noticed also this past summer that butterfly numbers were down.
The Kenesserie prairie is small ( about 8 acres) but has an attached 4 acre wetland and woodlot. Let me know if you would like a tour sometime and want to include it in your annual butterfly count.
Steve Rankin
srankin@ciaccess.com