Carroll County Count 2009-07-04

The weather was abnormally rainy from April through June, so butterfly sightings were low. But with optimism in our hearts and a good forecast from weather.com, we embarked on the annual Carroll Co., MD butterfly count.

Alas, the numbers were low. In all, we saw a mere 24 species. However, the favorites were accounted for.

Swallowtails:

None!!!

Sulphurs:

Orange Colias eurytheme
Clouded Colias philodice -- I'm slightly skeptical inasmuch as we only went by the lemon-yellow color, which is not a reliable separator from the Orange.

Hairstreaks:

Coral Hairstreak Satyrium titus
Edwards Hairstreak Satyrium Edwardsii

We have definitely established the presence of a colony of Edwards' in northern Carroll.

Red-Banded Hairstreak Calycopis cecrops

Coppers:

American Copper Lycaena phlaeas

Blues:

Summer Azure Celastrina neglecta/ladon
Eastern Tailed Blue Everes (Cupido) comyntas

Brushfoots:

Great Spangled Fritillary Speyeria cybele
Pearl Crescent Phyciodes tharos
Baltimore Checkerspot Euphydryas phaeton

The state insect of Maryland, but not so common ...

Buckeye Junonia coenia
Hackberry Emperor Asterocampa celtis
Monarch Danaus plexippus
Little Wood Satyr Megisto cymela
Common Wood Nymph Cercyonis pegala

Found a mating pair.

Appalachian Brown Satyrodes appalachia

These are common in wetlands.

Skippers:

Dun Euphyes vestris

This is a male, as indicated by the tawny patches above. The golden head is the key to separating this "which?" from Little Glassywing and Crossline.

Little Glassywing Pompeius verna

The identification keys are the white "glassy" patches on the wings of the female, and a white band on the antenna just behind the antennal club. Wouldn't ya know, the white band can't be seen in any of these pics. But we checked for it! In the last picture, a male is trying to wiggle his abdomen around to convince the female to mate.

Least Ancyloxypha numitor
Mulberry Wing Poanes massasoit

These bog denizens have a distinct landing habit: they land with wings closed for 1-2 seconds, then casually open up into the jet plane position seen here. As a result, I have yet to get a good shot of the underside.

Silver-Spotted Skipper Epargyreus clarus
Wild Indigo Duskywing Erynnis baptisiae
Horace's Duskywing Erynnis horatius

The silver spot on the forewing cell distinguishes this from the more common Wild Indigo Duskywing.

JRC

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Galveston, TX 6/9/2009 - 6/12/2009

In June we visited Galveston Island, TX. We expected widespread devastation from Hurricane Ike, but at least at the west end of the island, rebuilding was proceeding along. Certainly, the butterfly population was not suffering!

The state park was closed for "rebuilding" -- as a friendly ranger informed me after an hour of photography. Oops. It was a little unclear what needed to be rebuilt, though. The butterfly habitat was doing quite well.

The island has an impressive sulphur diversity. I saw Orange, Large Orange, Little Yellow, Dainty, and Dogface Sulphurs (surely I saw a Cloudless also?! My memory fails here).

Interestingly, there were many Queens on the island, but I could not find any obvious milkweeds there.

Sulphurs:

Orange Colias eurytheme
Little Yellow Eurema lisa -- these were ubiquitous; we saw over 100 of them.
Click for shots

Dainty Nathalis iole -- this individual narrowly missed death by Robber Fly.
Click for shot

Large Orange Phoebis agarithe (perhaps philea?)
Dogface Colias cesonia

Whites:
Checkered White Pontia protodice -- these entirely replaced the Cabbage White.
Click for shots

Male with pollen on his face. The male is extremely white, even more so than P. rapae.

The female is more strongly marked. This one was laying eggs on what appears to be Lepidium, Pepperweed.

Blues:
Reakirt's Blue Hemiargus isola
Click for shot

Hairstreaks:
Gray Hairstreak Strymon melinus -- everywhere I go!

Brushfoots:
Buckeye Junonia coenia
American Lady Vanessa virginiensis
Painted Lady Vanessa cardui
Click for shot

Queen Danaus gilippus -- I saw no milkweeds, but the Queens were common enough!
Click for shots

Phaon Crescent Phyciodes phaon -- these limited themselves to the edges of ponds. Update: it turns out that they were hanging out near their hostplant, Frogfruit Lippia nodiflora
Click for shots

Frogfruit, Lippia nodiflora

Swallowtails:
Black Papilio polyxenes

Skippers:
Fiery Skipper Hylephila phyleus
Southern Skipperling Copaeodes minima

JRC
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Jesse H Jones Park 6/8/09

Jesse H Jones Park, located just north of Houston's Intercontinental Airport, has some really nice butterfly habitat.


In the trip last month, I saw the following:

Palamedes Swallowtail
Spicebush Swallowtail
Pipevine Swallowtail
Red Banded Hairstreak
Gray Hairstreak
Pearl Crescent
Texas Crescent
Gulf Fritillary
Little Yellow
Orange Sulphur
Carolina Satyr
Funereal Duskywing
Horace's Duskywing
Common Checkered-Skipper
Little Glassywing?
Fiery Skipper
Southern Broken-Dash?

On a previous visit in 2008, I saw a White-Striped Long-Tail!

Click for Shots

Funeral Duskywing Erynnis funeralis


Southern Broken Dash Wallengrenia otho? I'm open to correction on this ID.


Common Checked-Skipper Pyrgus communis


This individual demonstrates the blue sheen that sometimes makes these seem like Blues in flight.


Texas Crescent Phyciodes texana

This individual had marked out a 40-ft swath of forest path as his territory. I found him pacing back and forth, lighting and puddling at times.


Gray Hairstreak Strymon melinus
Everywhere I go, there's a Gray Hairstreak! These butterflies are more ubiquitous than even the Cabbage White.


Little Glassywing Pompeius verna?

Frankly, I'm not happy with this ID. The antennae lack the white band behind the club that we use as a field mark here in MD. And the grizzled appearance inside the median is not like any P. verna I see here. However, it's a reasonably close match, and my memory of the topside matches P. verna best. So that's my story for now, until someone corrects me.

JRC
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