Birdingonthe.Net Recent Postings from Carolina Leps > Home > Mail > Alerts Updated on Sunday, May 11 at 09:36 PM ET The most recently received Mail is at the top.	Lazuli Bunting

11 May Madison County, NC, butterflies [Harry LeGrand ] 11 May Haywood County, NC, CBS butterfly foray results [Harry LeGrand ] 10 May Alleghany County, NC 05-10-08 ["Ted Wilcox" ] 9 May Hayhurst's Scallopwing [Salman Abdulali ] 08 May Orange Co. NC 5/3/08 [Will Cook ] 08 May Hayhurst's Scallopwing [Randy Emmitt ] 8 May Carolina Butterfly Society Francis Marion NF field trip 24 May 2008 ["Dennis Forsythe" ] 8 May Wilkes County (P), NC 05/07/08 ["Ted Wilcox" ] 7 May Great Southern White? [Kevin Metcalf ] 7 May early May in Pitt [Salman Abdulali ] 6 May Riverbend Park 5/5 ["Lori Owenby" ] 5 May Forsyth Co., NC ["Lois Schneider" ] 05 May A new website -- Butterflies of America ["Harry LeGrand, Jr." ] 4 May Buncombe Co. ["Gail Lankford" ] 4 May May 4 in Pitt [Salman Abdulali ] 4 May carolinaleps@duke.edu Red Bay (Persea borbonia) ["Harry...Ruthie" ] 3 May Monarch cats 05-03-2008 [Gary Phillips ] 3 May Fwd: 2 questions [Salman Abdulali ] 3 May Big Butterflies in west Forsyth County [nottke1 ] 3 May Newberry Co., SC ["Dennis Forsythe" ] 3 May Pickens CO., SC 2 May 2008 ["Dennis Forsythe" ] 2 May Fwd: 2 questions [Salman Abdulali ] 2 May 2 questions [Salman Abdulali ] 2 May butterfly walk ["Harry...Ruthie" ] 01 May Some Halifax County, NC, butterflies [Harry LeGrand ] 1 May Guilford Co. Leps, Lake Brandt Area ["Harry...Ruthie" ] 1 May No Subject ["Harry...Ruthie" ] 1 May Buncombe's Henry's Elfin Again ["Gail Lankford" ] 30 Apr Snowberry Clearwing [Nathan Dias ] 29 Apr Finally, grass skippers in Robeson County [Harry LeGrand ] 27 Apr Ashe County, NC 04/26/08 ["Ted Wilcox" ] 27 Apr Granville Co., NC 4/27/08 [Will Cook ] 27 Apr Call for Newsletter contributions [nottke1 ] 27 Apr April 27 in Pitt County [Salman Abdulali ] 27 Apr Red Bay ["Dennis Forsythe" ] 26 Apr A few Wake and Robeson butterflies [Harry LeGrand ] 26 Apr April 26 in Pitt County [Salman Abdulali ] 25 Apr Re: Red Bay [ROBERT CAVANAUGH ] 25 Apr Buncombe Co. Henry's Elfin!!! ["Gail Lankford" ] 25 Apr Lovely Afternoon ["Lori Owenby" ] 25 Apr Another red bay question [Clyde Sorenson ] 25 Apr Re: Red Bay [] 25 Apr Re: Red Bay [Nathan Dias ] 25 Apr Red Bay ["Harry...Ruthie" ] 25 Apr Re: Smokies leps, acronyms [Nathan Dias ] 25 Apr Re: Smokies leps, acronyms ["birdranger" ] 24 Apr RE: Smokies leps ["Robin Carter" ] 24 Apr Re: Smokies leps [Alex Grkovich ] 21 Apr Re: B-flies between showers [Paul Cherubini ] 21 Apr RE: B-flies between showers ["Lori Owenby" ] 21 Apr B'flies between showers ["Lori Owenby" ] 21 Apr Butterfly Walk Report [Dennis Burnette ] Subject: Madison County, NC, butterflies From: Harry LeGrand <harry.legrand AT ncmail.net> Date: Sun, 11 May 2008 22:36:19 -0400 Folks: Today (May 11), Will Cook and I went botanizing in the Hot Springs area in Madison County, NC, on the way home from the CBS foray. It had rained heavily overnight, and the morning was mostly cloudy, cool, and very windy. We got rained on around 11 am, but from 11:30 to 2:30, the clouds mostly parted and it got to 65 degrees. The dirt road on the north side of the French Broad River heading toward Paint Rock was crawling, and we had a total of 32 species for this relatively brief window of effort! New species for the county are noted. Pipevine Swallowtail 20 Zebra Swallowtail 25 lots of pawpaw in woods Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 100 Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail 5 Spicebush Swallowtail 25 Cabbage White 3 Orange Sulphur 3 Cloudless Sulphur 1 Red-banded Hairstreak 3 Eastern Tailed-Blue 3 Summer Azure 1 female Variegated Fritillary 2 Silvery Checkerspot 8 Pearl Crescent 15 Question Mark 10 American Lady 2 Red Admiral 15 Red-spotted Purple 30 remarkable number, considering it was missed in Haywood on May 9-10 Viceroy 2 new to county Gemmed Satyr 1 Carolina Satyr 1 Little Wood-Satyr 3 new to county Monarch 1 new to county! (embarrassing it took until 2008) Silver-spotted Skipper 50 Hoary Edge 1 very fresh Northern Cloudywing 2 Dreamy Duskywing 4 Juvenal's Duskywing 5 Clouded Skipper 1 new to county Sachem 6 Hobomok Skipper 1 Zabulon Skipper 6 Harry LeGrand Raleigh Subject: Haywood County, NC, CBS butterfly foray results From: Harry LeGrand <harry.legrand AT ncmail.net> Date: Sun, 11 May 2008 22:16:01 -0400 Folks: I believe a total of 11 people participated on the May 9-10 Carolina Butterfly Society foray to the northern half of Haywood County. As Sunday the 11th was a cloudy, cool, and occasionally wet morning, the foray ended on May 10. The weather for both May 9-10 was good to excellent for butterflying -- partly cloudy to mostly sunny, and temps reaching into the 70s. May 9: We covered the length of Harmon Den Road, from I-40 to Max Patch, starting at noon. As it had rained overnight and early a.m., the dirt road was damp and had hundreds and hundreds of butterflies! It was hard not to run over Pipevine Swallowtails! Even so, we couldn't really muster up a truly red-letter find. May 10: Three of us covered Purchase Knob, a new acquisition of the National Park Service as an addition to Great Smoky Mountains NP, and dirt roads west of I-40 south of Waterville. The other group of 6-7 covered the Cataloochee Valley portion of the eastern end of GSMNP. The latter group had well over a thousand butterflies, whereas the first group had much fewer, as Purchase Knob is still a tad "wintry" on May 10. And, again, we failed to find a red-letter find. We tallied up the results at the Super 8 Motel in Waynesville each evening. Here are the totals for each of the two days -- May 9 and May 10. The two lists of May 10 are combined. Pipevine Swallowtail 1000, 2528 yes, that's over 3500 for the two days! Black Swallowtail -, 1 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 210, 485 Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail 40, 9 Spicebush Swallowtail 20, 6 West Virginia White 10, 14 Cabbage White -, 2 Falcate Orangetip -, 2 Clouded Sulphur -, 1 Orange Sulphur 5, 17 Cloudless Sulphur 3, 3 American Copper -, 11 Red-banded Hairstreak 2, 4 Eastern Tailed-Blue 10, 3 Spring Azure 2, 7 very worn Summer Azure 2, - Appalachian Azure 8, 1 AMERICAN SNOUT 1, - scarce in the mountains; probably a migrant GULF FRITILLARY 1, - very early; migrant Variegated Fritillary -, 9 Meadow Fritillary 2, 3 Pearl Crescent 85, 110 Mimic Crescent -, 4 new to county Question Mark 3, 1 Eastern Comma -, 1 Mourning Cloak -, 1 American Lady -, 1 Red Admiral 1, 7 Common Buckeye 1, 18 Monarch 1, 1 Silver-spotted Skipper 80, 26 Dreamy Duskywing 120, 101 Sleepy Duskywing 3, 8 Juvenal's Duskywing 100, 107 Horace's Duskywing -, 1 Wild Indigo Duskywing 1, - Clouded Skipper -, 1 Sachem 1, 8 Zabulon Skipper 3, 3 Pepper and Salt Skipper 1, - COMMON ROADSIDE-SKIPPER 1, - new to county Total -- 41 species Everyone had a great time, seeing a lot more butterflies than we ever thought we'd see. Harry LeGrand Raleigh Subject: Alleghany County, NC 05-10-08 From: "Ted Wilcox" <ncwings AT gmail.com> Date: Sat, 10 May 2008 21:05:36 -0400 My family and I spent about four hours looking for butterflies in Alleghany County today. If you are interested in viewing some of today's photos, here is a link: http://www.ncwings.com/daily/05-10-08.html Alleghany County, NC 05-10-08 9 Pipevine Swallowtails 5 Black Swallowtails (males) 10 Eastern Tiger Swallowtails 7 Spicebush Swallowtails 2 Falcate Orangetips (1 male, 1 female) 6 Orange Sulphurs 3 Cloudless Sulphurs 1 Sleepy Orange 4 American Coppers 8 Eastern Tailed-Blues 5 Azure sp. 1 Meadow Fritillary 25 Pearl Crescents 2 Mourning Cloaks 8 American Ladies 1 Red Admiral 1 Monarch 5 Silver-spotted Skippers 7 Dreamy Duskywings 10 Juvenal's Duskywings 2 Cobweb Skippers (males - 1 extremely worn, 1 fairly fresh) 1 Zabulon Skipper (fresh male) -- Ted Wilcox http://www.ncwings.com/ Subject: Hayhurst's Scallopwing From: Salman Abdulali <abdulalis AT ecu.edu> Date: Fri, 9 May 2008 18:57:37 -0400 Today (2008-05-09) I saw and photographed two Hayhurst's Scallopwings at the edge of Boyd Lee Park in Winterville, Pitt County. This is a new county record according to the 15th approximation of NBNC. However, the BAMONA website (http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org) has it previously recorded from Pitt County. Salman Abdulali Greenville, NC Subject: Orange Co. NC 5/3/08 From: Will Cook <cwcook AT duke.edu> Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 22:33:08 -0400 I kept track of butterflies at Mason Farm in Chapel Hill while participating in the spring bird count... Orange Co., NC 5/3/08 - 24 spp. 1 Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus) 1 Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) 9 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) 1 Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) 1 Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme) 8 Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) 1 Sleepy Orange (Eurema nicippe) 19 Red-banded Hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops) 8 Eastern Tailed-Blue (Everes comyntas) 1 Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia) 5 Silvery Checkerspot (Chlosyne nycteis) - plus one caterpillar on Wingstem 18 Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) 1 Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis) 2 Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma) 2 American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis) 14 Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) 3 Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) 1 Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) 1 Gemmed Satyr (Cyllopsis gemma) 8 Carolina Satyr (Hermeuptychia sosybius) 2 Juvenal's Duskywing (Erynnis juvenalis) 5 Common Checkered-Skipper (Pyrgus communis) 1 Clouded Skipper (Lerema accius) 7 Zabulon Skipper (Poanes zabulon) -- Will Cook - Durham, NC http://www.carolinanature.com Subject: Hayhurst's Scallopwing From: Randy Emmitt <birdcr AT concentric.net> Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 08:15:38 -0400 Folks, On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday I had a Hayhurst's Scallopwing here in the Emmitt-Millard garden in Rougemont. Been seeing anglewings, Zabulon Skippers, and Northern Cloudywings (mated even) as well as the more common species. The hayhurst's are a once in every 3 years or so thing around here. Cheers, Randy Emmitt Rougemont, NC Subject: Carolina Butterfly Society Francis Marion NF field trip 24 May 2008 From: "Dennis Forsythe" <dennis.forsythe AT gmail.com> Date: Thu, 8 May 2008 07:50:03 -0400 Hi All, Remember the CBS Field trip to the Francis Marion NF, Charleston Co., SC on 24 May. Details below 24 May 2008. The Carolina Butterfly Society will have a butterfly trip to the Francis Marion National Forest. Dennis Forsythe will lead. Meet Dennis at the Seewee Visitor and Environmental Center, 5821 N. Hy 17, Awendaw at 09:30 EDT. The center is 16.3 mi N of the junction of Hy 41 and 17 in Mt. Pleasant., SC. Bring close-focus binoculars, lunch, water, bug spray etc. Questions: email Dennis at dennis.forsythe AT gmail.com or call at 843.795.3996 (home) or 843.708.1605 (cell). Cheers, Dennis -- Dennis M. Forsythe PhD Charleston, SC 29412 843.795.3996-home 843.953.7264-fax 843.708.1605-cell dennis.forsythe AT gmail.com Subject: Wilkes County (P), NC 05/07/08 From: "Ted Wilcox" <ncwings AT gmail.com> Date: Thu, 8 May 2008 00:31:17 -0400 While in Wilkes County on 05/07/08, my wife and I spent about 4 hours looking for butterflies. If you are interested in viewing some of today's photos, here is a link: http://www.ncwings.com/daily/05-07-08.html 05/07/08 Wilkes County (P), NC 75+ Eastern Tiger Swallowtails 12 Spicebush Swallowtails 3 Cloudless Sulphurs 4 Sleepy Oranges 4 Red-banded Hairstreaks 6 Eastern Tailed-Blues 2 Azure sp. (worn) 1 Silvery Checkerspot (fresh) 32 Pearl Crescents 1 Anglewing sp. 5 American Ladies 4 Red Admirals 1 Common Buckeye 6 Red-spotted Purples (fresh) 13 Carolina Satyrs (fresh) 10 Silver-spotted Skippers 1 Hoary Edge (fresh) 25 Dreamy Duskywings 1 Sleepy Duskywing (worn) 30 Juvenal's Duskywings 1 Clouded Skipper (male) 2 Hobomok Skippers (fresh males) 4 Zabulon Skippers (fresh - 1 male - 3 females) 1 Dusted Skipper (fresh) 1 Common Roadside-Skipper (fresh male) -- Ted Wilcox http://www.ncwings.com/ Subject: Great Southern White? From: Kevin Metcalf <skermetcalf AT earthlink.net> Date: Wed, 7 May 2008 22:15:16 -0400 Carolina Leps, Yesterday, May 6 I saw a large, (Cloudless Sulphur sized) gleaming white Pierid, in Mecklenburg County, NC. I can only presume it was a Great Southern White, a species I have seen in Florida. I know how unlikely this would seem in both location and season, so I am just putting the word out so that others can keep their eyes open. I am also curious as to whether anyone has word from areas to our south having a greater than normal abundance of this species. I am of course familiar with the much smaller cabbage and checkered (and west virginia) whites. I did catch a glimpse of some dark edging on the outer margin of the forewing as it passed. I am at a loss as to what else this could have been. I see quite a few Cloudless Sulphurs (and Tiger and Zebra Swallowtails, among others) at this location, and the size and flight was pretty unmistakable. I would love for someone else to report this species out-of-range in the Carolinas this spring or summer, in hopes of helping validate this record. This species has a track record for wandering - as there are records as far north as the Dakotas. Sincerely, Kevin Metcalf Manager, Northwest Nature Preserve District Mecklenburg County, NC Subject: early May in Pitt From: Salman Abdulali <abdulalis AT ecu.edu> Date: Wed, 7 May 2008 17:52:02 -0400 A few butterlfies seen this week. All locations are in Pitt County. Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (ECU campus, Greenville, 2008-05-05) Cabbage White (Winterville, 2008-05-07) Orange Sulphur (Winterville, 2008-05-06) Summer Azure (Winterville, 2008-05-06) American Snout (River Park North, 2008-05-07) Variegated Fritillary (Winterville, 2008-05-06) Common Buckeye (Winterville, 2008-05-06) American Lady (Winterville, 2008-05-07) Carolina Satyr (Winterville, 2008-05-06) Common Checkered Skipper (Winterville, 2008-05-07) Clouded Skipper (Winterville, 2008-05-06) Salman Abdulali Greenville, NC Subject: Riverbend Park 5/5 From: "Lori Owenby" <loriowenby AT gmail.com> Date: Tue, 6 May 2008 07:33:08 -0400 Wow! What a difference a day can make. On Sunday, I was out on the Green trail and hardly saw a butterfly--but yesterday was a totally different experience. Here is my list: Tiger Swallowtail 20 Black Swallowtail 2 Pipevine Swallowtail 1 (worn--1st record for park) Red-spotted Purple 3 (fos) Red Admiral 1 American Lady 6 Orange Sulphur 3 (fos) Cloudless Sulphur 2 Pearl Cresent 5 Red-banded Hairstreak-80+ (they were EVERYWHEWRE) Carolina Satyr 5 Gemmed Satyr 1 Juvenal's Duskywing 1 (very worn) Silver-spotted Skipper 2 -- ----- Lori Owenby Catawba County Parks Conover, NC Subject: Forsyth Co., NC From: "Lois Schneider" <loissch AT gmail.com> Date: Mon, 5 May 2008 22:14:43 -0400 Jim Nottke and I spent about an 1 1/2 hrs at Archie Elledge Sewage Treatment Plant and noted the following: Tiger Swallowtails 22 American Ladies 6 Buckeyes 14 Common Sootywings 3 Juvenal's Duskywings 1 Sleepy Orange 1 Eastern Tailed Blue 1 Pearl Crescent 8 Blue Azure 3 Pipevine Swallowtail 2 Hayhurst Scallopwing 1 Silvery Checkerspot 2 Sachem 1 Clouided Skipper 1 Fiery Skippers 2 (copulating) Also we saw a large number of Dragonflies and Blue Damsels. Gene Schepker Subject: A new website -- Butterflies of America From: "Harry LeGrand, Jr." <harry.legrand AT ncmail.net> Date: Mon, 05 May 2008 08:16:57 -0400 Carolina lepsters: We already have a Butterflies and Moths website for NORTH America -- the BAMONA site), but here is one devoted to butterflies of both North America and Central America. Our own Jeff Pippen is a scientific advisor. You'll probably want to bookmark the site (first link below). I haven't had a chance to look over it much, but I'm sure there is already a wealth of photos and other information on the website. (The BAMONA website has only one photo of a species; this has multiple). The website also has a detailed listing of all species and subspecies (3rd link below). Harry LeGrand ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hello everyone, I wanted to let you know about an exciting development in the butterfly world! We have launched a new website which we think will really make your experience and study of North American and Central American butterflies more complete. Read about it here: ---------BEGIN INCLUDED CONTENT------------------------ Everyone, On behalf of the authors and advisors of “butterfliesofamerica” (see below), it is a great honor and pleasure for me to present: http://butterfliesofamerica.com/ http://butterfliesofamerica.com/intro.htm Our aim is to develop a comprehensive online resource devoted to American butterflies, that will include information on the geographic distribution, geographic variation, taxonomy, systematics, identification, ecology (including larval foodplants and immature biology) and bibliography for all butterfly taxa in the region, including all species, subspecies and undescribed geographic segregates. Please see the Interactive Listing of American Butterflies: http://butterfliesofamerica.com/list.htm At this time, the Interactive Listing of American Butterflies includes about 2938 species and just over 5000 subspecies (and undescribed segregates) of butterflies, occurring from Alaska and arctic Canada through Panama, Hawaii, and on the Caribbean Islands (excluding Trinidad, Tobago, and islands off the Venezuelan coast). Within a few months, distributional information will be completed for all taxa (currently lacking for some, mostly Nearctic butterflies), and many more images will be added. The authors of Butterflies of America are: Andrew Warren, Kim Davis, Jon Pelham and Mike Stangeland: http://butterfliesofamerica.com/authors.htm Our Board of Advisors includes: Jim Brock, Kenn Kaufman, Bob Pyle: http://butterfliesofamerica.com/advisors_general.htm George Austin, Andrew Brower, Nick Grishin, Paul Opler: http://butterfliesofamerica.com/advisors-scientific.htm Charles Bordelon, Bill Bouton, Jan Dauphin, Kim Garwood, Ed Knudson, Jeff Pippen, David Robacker and Todd Stout: http://butterfliesofamerica.com/advisors_content.htm As of today (2 May 2008), we have posted over 15,000 images of butterfly adults, immatures, larval foodplants and habitats to the site, all donated by about 90 generous and talented photographers. For each butterfly taxon in the area covered, we aim to eventually include images of pinned and live adults, immature stages, larval foodplants and habitats, as well as complete synonymies (taken from Pelham 2008 for taxa occurring in the USA and Canada), and specific bibliographies. Here are a few examples of “complete” presentations, which we hope to prove for all 5000+ taxa over the next few years: http://butterfliesofamerica.com/brephidium_e_exilis.htm http://butterfliesofamerica.com/asterocampa_celtis_antonia.htm http://butterfliesofamerica.com/asterocampa_clyton_louisa.htm http://butterfliesofamerica.com/chlosyne_j_janais.htm http://butterfliesofamerica.com/anthanassa_tulcis.htm This is a long-term project that depends largely on users for feedback and growth; we are always seeking to add images to our photo collections, even for taxa already well documented. If you have excellent photos of pinned or live adults, immature stages of any species, or larval foodplants and habitats, we encourage you to submit them! All contributions are greatly appreciated! See the following page for more information on contributing images: http://butterfliesofamerica.com/photo_contributions.htm The authors and advisors of Butterfliesofamerica.com hope that you will find our site useful, and that you will contribute what you can to make this a comprehensive resource on the butterflies of America, a site that will benefit everyone, and hopefully, the butterflies! Thank you and enjoy! Best wishes, Andy www.butterfliesofamerica.com Andrew D. Warren, PhD 215 McGuire Hall McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity Florida Museum of Natural History University of Florida SW 34th Street and Hull Road P. O. Box 112710 Gainesville, FL 32611-2710 Museo de Zoología “Alfonso L. Herrera” Departamento de Biología Evolutiva Facultad de Ciencias Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Apdo. Postal 70-399 México, DF 04510 México Subject: Buncombe Co. From: "Gail Lankford" <whocooksforyou AT skyrunner.net> Date: Sun, 4 May 2008 19:22:59 -0500 Today Ruth Young came over to see the Henry's Elfin. She got to see 2 - one somewhat worn/faded, the other fresh looking. Same spot. Also we saw, for my first time this year, Clouded and Orange Sulphurs, Clouded and Zabulon Skippers. Last forecast I heard for this wkend is cloudy on Thurs and rain on Friday. Today was perfect - dry, sunny, and 68. I hope the forecast changes and we still have the foray. Suppose everyone will keep a close watch on forecast. GAil Lankford Weaverville Subject: May 4 in Pitt From: Salman Abdulali <abdulalis AT ecu.edu> Date: Sun, 4 May 2008 15:35:02 -0400 Today (2008-05-04) in Winterville, Pitt County, NC American Lady Red Admiral Variegated Fritillary Southern Pearly-eye Carolina Satyr Silver-spotted Skipper Salman Abdulali Greenville, NC Subject: carolinaleps@duke.edu Red Bay (Persea borbonia) From: "Harry...Ruthie" <hking22 AT triad.rr.com> Date: Sun, 4 May 2008 13:00:01 -0400 Red Bay (Persea borbonia) Any idea where I can buy a tree? Harry Greensboro Subject: Monarch cats 05-03-2008 From: Gary Phillips <carolinensis AT yahoo.com> Date: Sat, 3 May 2008 18:32:00 -0700 (PDT) hi y'all, a friend at Murrells Inlet has had 15+/- Monarch cats on A. currasavica this week. 2 of them moved to Conway this p.m. along with 2 of the plants. a number of Palamedes on Blue Flag iris (I. virginica) in G'town Cty today. cheers, Gary Phillips Conway, SC "A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton." (Darwin) ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ Subject: Fwd: 2 questions From: Salman Abdulali <abdulalis AT ecu.edu> Date: Sat, 3 May 2008 15:06:20 -0400 1. After poring through descriptions and photos on several websites, I have convinced myself that the Azure is a Summer Azure based on (a) the place and time make that most likely, though there are later records for Holly Azures, and, (b) the very white underside with light black markings seems to occur in Summer Azures, but not in Holly Azures. I would appreciate comments from the experts. 2. There seems little doubt that the Swallowtail is a Black Swallowtail. Thanks to Alex Grkovich for a detailed analysis. Salman Begin forwarded message: From: Salman Abdulali Date: May 2, 2008 6:45:04 PM EDT To: carolinaleps AT duke.edu Subject: Fwd: 2 questions It seems that the links below got mangled for some people, due to their lengths. Both photos are now viewable at http://personal.ecu.edu/abdulalis/ufo.html Salman Begin forwarded message: From: Salman Abdulali Date: May 2, 2008 5:03:30 PM EDT To: carolinaleps AT duke.edu Subject: 2 questions 1. Which Azure is this? It always sat with its wings closed, but seemed a pale blue color in flight. 2. Is this a Black Swallowtail? It lacks a hindwing cell spot, but has a complete row of spots beyond the cell. Both photos takes today (2008-05-02) at River Park North, Pitt County. (the links are temporary, but they should work for the next several days.) Other butterflies seen at the same location today were Cloudless Sulphur American Lady Common Buckeye Variegated Fritillary Viceroy Salman Abdulali Greenville, NC Subject: Big Butterflies in west Forsyth County From: nottke1 <nottke1 AT earthlink.net> Date: Sat, 3 May 2008 14:12:54 -0400 (GMT-04:00) Today the yard seems full of large butterflies, a few seen for the first time this year. 1 Pipevine Swallowtail 1 Zebra Swallowtail first of the year 2 Black Swallowtail both ovipositing on fennel and Queen Annes Lace, over 50 eggs so far today. 1 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 2 Spicebush Swallowtail one ovipositing on Sassafras 2 Falcate Orangetip 1 Cloudless Sulphur 5 Sleepy Orange 1 Great Purple Hairstreak first for the year 2 Eastern Tailed Blue 3 American Lady 1 Buckeye 3 Red Spotted Purple first for the year 6 Monarch 4 ovipositing on Common Milkweed and Butterfly Weed 1 Horaces Duskywing first for the year Jim Nottke Pfafftown, NC Subject: Newberry Co., SC From: "Dennis Forsythe" <dennis.forsythe AT gmail.com> Date: Sat, 3 May 2008 08:58:14 -0400 Hi All, One the way home yesterday, I spent about 1 hour driving through portions of the Sumter NF in Newberry Co., SC. Here is the list: Pipevine Swallowtail-1 E. Tiger Swallowtail-1 Spicebush Swallowtail-1 Zebra Swallowtail-1 Cloudless Sulfur-2 Variegated Fritillary-1 Common Buckeye-1 Pearl Crescent-6 Red-spotted Purple-3 N. Cloudywing-1 Dennis -- Dennis M. Forsythe PhD Charleston, SC 29412 843.795.3996-home 843.953.7264-fax 843.708.1605-cell dennis.forsythe AT gmail.com Subject: Pickens CO., SC 2 May 2008 From: "Dennis Forsythe" <dennis.forsythe AT gmail.com> Date: Sat, 3 May 2008 08:54:34 -0400 Hi All, Acting on information from Brian Scholtens's graduate student, I spent mid-day in the Lower Eastatoe River Gorge Pickens Co., SC. My target species was West Virginia White -and I saw one! Here is my list: E. Tiger Swallowtail-8 Spicebush Swallowtail-1 WEST VIRGINA WHITE-1 Cloudless Sulfur-1 Rd-banded Hairstreak-8 Eastern Pine Elfin-1 E. Tailed-Blue-1 Spring Azure (?)-1 Pearl Crescent-5 Carolina Saytr-6 Silver-spotted Skipper-2 Northern Cloudywing-1 Sleepy Duskywing-1 Horace's Duskywing-2 Duskywing sp.-5 Clouded Skipper-2 Zabulon Skipper-3 Cheers, Dennis -- Dennis M. Forsythe PhD Charleston, SC 29412 843.795.3996-home 843.953.7264-fax 843.708.1605-cell dennis.forsythe AT gmail.com Subject: Fwd: 2 questions From: Salman Abdulali <abdulalis AT ecu.edu> Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 18:45:04 -0400 It seems that the links below got mangled for some people, due to their lengths. Both photos are now viewable at http://personal.ecu.edu/abdulalis/ufo.html Salman Begin forwarded message: From: Salman Abdulali Date: May 2, 2008 5:03:30 PM EDT To: carolinaleps AT duke.edu Subject: 2 questions 1. Which Azure is this? It always sat with its wings closed, but seemed a pale blue color in flight. 2. Is this a Black Swallowtail? It lacks a hindwing cell spot, but has a complete row of spots beyond the cell. Both photos takes today (2008-05-02) at River Park North, Pitt County. (the links are temporary, but they should work for the next several days.) Other butterflies seen at the same location today were Cloudless Sulphur American Lady Common Buckeye Variegated Fritillary Viceroy Salman Abdulali Greenville, NC Subject: 2 questions From: Salman Abdulali <abdulalis AT ecu.edu> Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 17:03:30 -0400 1. Which Azure is this? It always sat with its wings closed, but seemed a pale blue color in flight. 2. Is this a Black Swallowtail? It lacks a hindwing cell spot, but has a complete row of spots beyond the cell. Both photos takes today (2008-05-02) at River Park North, Pitt County. (the links are temporary, but they should work for the next several days.) Other butterflies seen at the same location today were Cloudless Sulphur American Lady Common Buckeye Variegated Fritillary Viceroy Salman Abdulali Greenville, NC Subject: butterfly walk From: "Harry...Ruthie" <hking22 AT triad.rr.com> Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 12:22:12 -0400 What was the dates of the butterfly walk in May down at the Smoky Mis. (Harmon Den) Subject: Some Halifax County, NC, butterflies From: Harry LeGrand <harry.legrand AT ncmail.net> Date: Thu, 01 May 2008 21:45:04 -0400 I got to do work at newly acquired (International Paper) tracts at Medoc Mountain SP, Halifax County, NC, today (May 1). Weather was sunny and mild-warm, but windy in the open. One tract was burned in the "largest wildfire in Halifax County history" according to a ranger I saw today. The dirt road through the burned clearcuts were nearly devoid of butterflies, despite flowers. The fire must have been 2 months ago, but there was no refugia -- everything burned. (A message to land managers about doing prescribed burns -- never burn all of a site at once.) The second tract -- a dirt road through a middle-aged pine plantation, had lots of butterflies (somewhat similar to the logging roads through Shocco Creek Game Land). The main nectar plant was dewberry (Rubus flagellaris), the trailing blackberry that blooms a few inches off the ground. I did see one very nice butterfly, which like many of them was getting nutrients from muddy spots in the dirt road thru the pine plantation. Pipevine Swallowtail 2 nice surprise; my first of 2008 E. Tiger Swallowtail 5 Spicebush Swallowtail 1 expected more Cloudless Sulphur 2 Red-banded Hairstreak 1 E. Tailed-Blue 3 I still have seen NO azure of any kind in 2008! I will in the mountains in a week! Pearl Crescent 80 most worn, and most quite tiny Red-spotted Purple 5 American Lady 5 Common Buckeye 1 Gemmed Satyr 4 Carolina Satyr 40 Silver-spotted Skipper 2 Southern Cloudywing 1 fresh Juvenal's Duskywing 10 worn; I'm ready for them to be "done with" for the year Horace's Duskywing 1 PEPPER AND SALT SKIPPER 1 not new to county, but at E edge of range Harry LeGrand Raleigh Subject: Guilford Co. Leps, Lake Brandt Area From: "Harry...Ruthie" <hking22 AT triad.rr.com> Date: Thu, 1 May 2008 18:23:16 -0400 I went for my usual walk yesterday from 2:30 - 4:00pm down Palmetto Trail. There were lots of butterflies despite the temperatures being cool. Eastern Tiger Swallowtails - 9 Pipevine Swallowtail - 1 female Red Banded Hairstreak - 6 Eastern Tailed Blue - 8 Pearl Crescent - 4 American Painted Lady - 2 Carolina Satyr - 7 Gemmed Satyr - 8 Juvenal's Duskywing - 2 Hobomok Skipper - 2 I have got to get a good camera Harry King Greensboro Subject: No Subject From: "Harry...Ruthie" <hking22 AT triad.rr.com> Date: Thu, 1 May 2008 17:14:06 -0400 I went for my usual walk yesterday from 2:30 - 4:00pm down Palmetto Trail. There were lots of butterflies despite the temperatures being cool. Eastern Tiger Swallowtails - 9 Pipevine Swallowtail - 1 female Red Banded Hairstreak - 6 Eastern Tailed Blue - 8 Pearl Crescent - 4 American Painted Lady - 2 Carolina Satyr - 7 Gemmed Satyr - 8 Juvenal's Duskywing - 2 Hobomok Skipper - 2 I have got to get a good camera Harry King Subject: Buncombe's Henry's Elfin Again From: "Gail Lankford" <whocooksforyou AT skyrunner.net> Date: Thu, 1 May 2008 15:38:34 -0500 This afternoon, went back to the spot I saw it last Friday and saw the Henry's as it changed perches at top of young poplars every few seconds for about an hour. This time I noted the HW tails, especially good views when it was horizontal against the sky. Also saw the white outlines at either end of the HW median separation line several times. Plus the outer HW frosting. There were 3 Elfins at this spot, as I saw them circling each other high above multiple times. As I only saw one perched at a time, I do not know if there were 1, 2 , or 3 Henry's. I had a brief look at one perched close to me, that at the angle I had, I thought was a Brown. However, all the other looks I had that were close and clear, were of a Henry's. Since seeing my first RB Hairstreak on 4/24, I have seen many. Today I had at least 6. One stayed perched on the side of our house under the front porch for over 24 hours during the cold spell. Dreamys are also very common now, plus still seeing Juvenals and Sleepys, although most are very worn.Saw a Horace at Big Creek yesterday. Harry, I found no satyrs today, unfortunately, to resolve that little mystery. Gail Lankford Weaverville Subject: Snowberry Clearwing From: Nathan Dias <diasn AT yahoo.com> Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:24:09 -0700 (PDT) A week or so ago, I had a Snowberry Clearwing for 3 evenings in a row.  It was nectaring at some Louisiana Iris. The neighborhood has multiple nice Coral Honeysuckle vines, so I hope to see more Hemaris diffinis in the future. Nathan Dias - Charleston, SC ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ Subject: Finally, grass skippers in Robeson County From: Harry LeGrand <harry.legrand AT ncmail.net> Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:24:45 -0400 Today (Apr. 29) was a rough day for butterflying -- quite windy and a high of about 60 degrees, despite full sun. In Robeson County, NC, I managed to see a Clouded Skipper and a Fiery Skipper, my first of each on 2008. The Fiery was at a site with dozens of E. Pondhawks buzzing around, so it has my blessing! Did get to see 5 or more Anhingas circling over Dunahoe Bay, a well-known heronry. I can't see into the bay, which has had over 200 Cattle Egrets and 2-3 other waders nesting in recent years. The bay is full of water, so I hope that the other species either haven't arrived, or were simply not flying around. Harry LeGrand Raleigh Subject: Ashe County, NC 04/26/08 From: "Ted Wilcox" <ncwings AT gmail.com> Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:02:35 -0400 I spent a few hours yesterday looking for butterflies in Ashe County from 10:00am to 1:00pm. Ashe County, NC 04/26/08 5 Pipevine Swallowtails 5 Eastern Tiger Swallowtails 2 Spicebush Swallowtails 8 Cabbage Whites 3 Clouded Sulphurs (plus 4 unidentified Colias sp.) 1 Sleepy Orange 2 Brown Elfins 1 White-M Hairstreak 3 Eastern Tailed-Blues 3 Azure sp. 2 Meadow Fritillaries 2 Pearl Crescents 1 Mourning Cloak 1 American Lady 1 Red Admiral 1 Dreamy Duskywing 14 Juvenal's Duskywings 1 Common Checkered Skipper -- Ted Wilcox http://www.ncwings.com/ Subject: Granville Co., NC 4/27/08 From: Will Cook <cwcook AT duke.edu> Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:59:50 -0400 I saw good numbers of butterflies today while participating in the Durham Spring Bird Count near Falls Lake. Nothing rare, but it was a fun day. Also saw 94 species of birds while I was out looking for butterflies, as well as a bunch of fun odes (loads of Swamp Darners, a Pondhawk munching on an ETB), and other stuff (2 species of dung beetles wheeling away their quarry). Granville Co., NC 4/27/08 14 Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) 2 Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus) 5 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) 6 Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus) 5 Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) 5 Sleepy Orange (Eurema nicippe) 3 Red-banded Hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops) 30 Eastern Tailed-Blue (Everes comyntas) 2 Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia) 80 Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos) 1 Question Mark (Polygonia interrogationis) 2 Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma) 2 American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis) 1 Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) 1 Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) 10 Gemmed Satyr (Cyllopsis gemma) 15 Carolina Satyr (Hermeuptychia sosybius) 1 Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) 2 Northern Cloudywing (Thorybes pylades) - nearly unmarked 9 Juvenal's Duskywing (Erynnis juvenalis) 4 Zabulon Skipper (Poanes zabulon) -- Will Cook - Durham, NC http://www.carolinanature.com Subject: Call for Newsletter contributions From: nottke1 <nottke1 AT earthlink.net> Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:48:16 -0400 (GMT-04:00) Folks, As we can all tell from the recent posts, the butterfly season is heating up (no pun intended). Cyndy Hummel is putting together the next issue of the Chrysalis newsletter and has some white space to fill. So send her your observations, plans for outings, questions that you might like to pose to the group, forecasts for the season, etc. Just send them this week to Cyndy at mchummel AT mindspring.com Harry - could you summarize the early season finds - seems there have been several. I am writing a shor tarticle on my overwintered chrysalises and cocoons. Thanks, Jim Jim Nottke Pfafftown, NC Subject: April 27 in Pitt County From: Salman Abdulali <abdulalis AT ecu.edu> Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:03:24 -0400 Today, 2008-04-27, at River Park North, Pitt County, under mostly cloudy skies: Pearl Cresent Red-Spotted Purple Variegated Fritillary Eastern Tailed-Blue Salman Abdulali Greenville, NC Subject: Red Bay From: "Dennis Forsythe" <dennis.forsythe AT gmail.com> Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2008 10:12:34 -0400 Hi All, Thursday I led a birding trip to Bear Island and the Donnelley WMAs for the Palm Key Elderhostel and I was surprised not to see any dead Red Bays as I have seen in the past. All the Red Bays I noticed seemed to be green and growing. I hope this was not wishful thinking on my part. I also saw a number of Palamedes Swallowtails at the Donnelley. Cheers, Dennis -- Dennis M. Forsythe PhD Charleston, SC 29412 843.795.3996-home 843.953.7264-fax 843.708.1605-cell dennis.forsythe AT gmail.com Subject: A few Wake and Robeson butterflies From: Harry LeGrand <harry.legrand AT ncmail.net> Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:43:35 -0400 I made a trip to Robeson County, NC, on Thursday (4/23) and to s.e. Wake County, NC , today (4/25). I averaged only about 10 species on each trip -- not real hotspots. The only butterflies of interest were: Horace's Duskywing 1 male, medium wear, Robeson. I don't see first brood males very often. Juniper Hairstreak 1 fairly fresh, Wake; landed and basked at a granite flatrock; lots of red cedar around edge. Gemmed Satyr 1 Wake At the Wake County site -- Marks Creek -- there is a locally very rare Piedmont population of Lupinus perennis. I worked it very hard for Frosted Elfin, but no such luck. I suspect that any Frosted Elfins in the Piedmont are going to use Baptisia. At Shocco Creek in Franklin Co., they oviposit on B. tinctoria, the "common" statewide wild indigo. Odes of interest -- Wake, today, saw a Twin-spotted Spiketail, Harlequin Darner, and a teneral Yellow-sided Skimmer, which is scarce in the general area and about at the front end of its emergence; neat amber leading edge of wings, yellow stigma, and much yellow on sides of thorax and abdomen (like Beaton's book photo on page 283 -- middle). From what data we have, this may be the first April report for the state. The Darner is also a bit uncommon in Wake; more common in the Coastal Plain. Harry LeGrand Raleigh Subject: April 26 in Pitt County From: Salman Abdulali <abdulalis AT ecu.edu> Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:15:42 -0400 I tried to look for butterflies at River Park North today (2008-04-26), only to find that most of it is inaccessible due to high water levels. However, I did see 3 butterflies for which the NBNC database has no April records from Pitt County: Common Buckeye Variegated Fritillary Viceroy Salman Abdulali Greenville, NC Subject: Re: Red Bay From: ROBERT CAVANAUGH <papilio28570 AT yahoo.com> Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:49:27 -0700 (PDT) Red Bay is in the Laurel Family along with Sassafras. Probably closest to you is in Johnston County or Harnett. Can pretty much use I-95 as the dividing line for distribution westward. There may be a specimen at the JC Raulston Arboritum at NC State. Easily ID'd in the field by the many "warts" on the leaves. Bob --- On Fri, 4/25/08, Harry...Ruthie wrote: > From: Harry...Ruthie > Subject: Red Bay > To: carolinaleps AT duke.edu > Date: Friday, April 25, 2008, 2:34 PM > What is a sure fire way to tell Red Bay from other Magnolia? > > Is there some in Greensboro where I could go look at it? > > > > Harry ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ Subject: Buncombe Co. Henry's Elfin!!! From: "Gail Lankford" <whocooksforyou AT skyrunner.net> Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:57:54 -0500 Today (4/25) I walked, for the first time, on the ridge trail on the east end of our cove. I had close view of a Henry's Elfin, perched on the end of a bare twig in the sun. I was amazed and excited, but more amazed to come home and look up the lastest approximation info and learn this is first Buncombe sighting, and only third mountain sighting on record. Apparently the date does not fit with the other 2, but this guy looked fresh. Also, I could not see any holly nearby, although there could have been some on other side of ridge. But there is lots of blueberry. Other BFs up there today (about 3400'): Gemmed Satyr 2 Red-banded Hairstreak 2 Dreamy DW 1 Sleepy DW 2 Juvenal DW 4 Falcate OT 4 SSS 1 Pearl Crescents, Azures, Pipevine, Tiger, and Spicebush STs Yesterday I was at Big Creek in SMNP. Many West Virginia Whites Pipevines, PCs, Tiger STs, couple of Satyrs (sp.), a few Juvenal DWs, Commas, and one Horace DW. Gail Lankford Weaverville Subject: Lovely Afternoon From: "Lori Owenby" <loriowenby AT gmail.com> Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:56:19 -0400 I did some butterflying this afternoon while on my afternoon "patrol" at Riverbend Park in northern Catawba County. I saw a lot! But unfortunately some (especially the satyrs) were not too cooperative. I did see two new plants blooming today: Wild Comfrey and Ground Ivy. Both are firsts for the park. Here's my list: Black Swallowtail 2 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 14 Sleepy Orange 1 Cloudless Sulphur 2 Red-banded Hairstreak 1 (beautiful!) Summer Azure 2 Eastern Tailed-Blue 6 Mourning Cloak 1 American Lady 1 Carolina Satyr 2 Juvenal's Duskywing 2 Horace's Duskywing? 1 (sent a photo to Harry to confirm) -- ----- Lori Owenby Catawba County Parks Conover, NC Subject: Another red bay question From: Clyde Sorenson <clyde_sorenson AT ncsu.edu> Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:42:05 -0400 Anyone know anyone in the Raleigh area that sells red bay? How about native pipevine? Clyde Sorenson Clayton, NC Subject: Re: Red Bay From: jspippen AT duke.edu Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:06:00 -0400 (EDT) Redbay leaves are smaller than Magnolia leaves, and redbay only grows in the NC coastal plain. Try googling them or look at my website for some examples: http://www.duke.edu/~jspippen/plants/persea.htm http://www.duke.edu/~jspippen/plants/magnolia.htm Jeff On Fri, 25 Apr 2008, Harry...Ruthie wrote: > What is a sure fire way to tell Red Bay from other Magnolia? > > Is there some in Greensboro where I could go look at it? > > > > Harry > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Jeffrey S. Pippen Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences Rm A-241 LSRC Bldg, Box 90328 Duke University, Durham, NC 27708 PH: (919) 660-7278 http://www.duke.edu/~jspippen/nature.htm ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Subject: Re: Red Bay From: Nathan Dias <diasn AT yahoo.com> Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:40:54 -0700 (PDT) Red Bay isn't actually in the Magnolia family... Its leaves are stiffer and less succulent than Sweet Bay for instance. The trunk on mature trees has furrowed bark instead of smooth bark like a Sweet Bay. Crush a leaf and the smell will cinch it for you. Some web references below: http://www.cnr.vt.edu/DENDRO/DENDROLOGY/SYLLABUS/factsheet.cfm?ID=302 http://www.floridata.com/ref/P/pers_bor.cfm http://www.forestry.state.al.us/publication/100/Redbay.pdf Nathan Dias - Charleston, SC ----- Original Message ---- From: Harry...Ruthie To: carolinaleps AT duke.edu Sent: Friday, April 25, 2008 2:34:16 PM Subject: Red Bay What is a sure fire way to tell Red Bay from other Magnolia? Is there some in Greensboro where I could go look at it? Harry ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ Subject: Red Bay From: "Harry...Ruthie" <hking22 AT triad.rr.com> Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:34:16 -0400 What is a sure fire way to tell Red Bay from other Magnolia? Is there some in Greensboro where I could go look at it? Harry Subject: Re: Smokies leps, acronyms From: Nathan Dias <diasn AT yahoo.com> Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:54:24 -0700 (PDT) Or instead of a Word Document, perhaps a spreadsheet, with one species name per line in the first column. Then you could put the number of each butterfly species seen in the second column. Then you can put a "1" in the third column next to the species you saw (leavinbg unseen ones blank). Then at the bottom of these last 2 columns, you can put in a formula to add up (sum) all the numbers in that column. So the summation of column 2 would be the total number of leps. Summation of column 3 = number of species for the day. So making a blank template with the species name and formulas filled in, you can use that to save records of each day afield. Nathan Dias - Charleston, SC ----- Original Message ---- From: birdranger To: Robin Carter ; Alex Grkovich ; carolinaleps AT duke.edu Sent: Friday, April 25, 2008 12:53:23 PM Subject: Re: Smokies leps, acronyms Okay all, I OFFICIAL RETRACT MY SUGGESTION ON 4letter acronyms!!!=(It was just a suggestion folks, don't have an e-cow!=) I'd rather be outside watching insects than inside typing emails or reading these endless threads. The one good suggestion was to keep a word doc with all the names and do a copy and paste to save typing them each time. My field notes/acronyms will be mine alone. Brian ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ Subject: Re: Smokies leps, acronyms From: "birdranger" <cbockhahn4 AT earthlink.net> Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:53:23 -0400 Okay all, I OFFICIAL RETRACT MY SUGGESTION ON 4letter acronyms!!!=(It was just a suggestion folks, don't have an e-cow!=) I'd rather be outside watching insects than inside typing emails or reading these endless threads. The one good suggestion was to keep a word doc with all the names and do a copy and paste to save typing them each time. My field notes/acronyms will be mine alone. Brian ----- Original Message ----- From: Robin Carter To: Alex Grkovich ; birdranger ; carolinaleps AT duke.edu Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 1:17 PM Subject: RE: Smokies leps I am against using four-letter acronyms for either butterflies on Carolinaleps or birds on Carolinabirds. Keep in mind that those who read Carolinaleps may be beginners who have not ever heard of all the butterfly species in the Carolinas. Also no small number of those who read Carolinaleps do not even live in our area. Think of the butterfly enthusiast in Oregon planning a trip to the southeastern US. Even a non-beginner from out west might have a lot of trouble tracking down four letter acronyms. If you absolute MUST use acronyms then please use six letter acronyms. I know of no"standard" list of acronyms for North American butterflies. Even if there were such a list it would be regularly out-of-date as more and more Mexican butterflies are discovered in Arizona or Texas, or West Indian butterflies in Florida. I thinks posts to Carolinaleps should be as clear as possible. This means full English language names as much as possible, with scientific names as needed. Robin Carter Columbia, SC USA mailto:rcarter AT sc.rr.com -----Original Message----- From: Alex Grkovich [mailto:agrkovich2003 AT yahoo.com] Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 12:04 PM To: birdranger; carolinaleps AT duke.edu Subject: Re: Smokies leps Follow-=up to Jeff's response to this issue: There is also no such thing as an "App. Eastern Tiger Swallowtail"...(not tring to tell anyone something they don't already know)...But the abbreviations suggested below would drive anyone nuts...A suggestion, for someone that is sick of typing: Try the scientific names, such as "astyannax" for Red Spotted Purple, "philenor" for Pipevine Swallowtail etc. (This may also encourage some folks to learn them). But "SLOR": I wouldn't have immediately guessed what THAT was supposed to be... Alex Peabody, MA birdranger wrote: I just got back from three days backpacking in the smokies, mostly above 5,500' in elevation coming in from Cataloochee, Haywood, NC. Monday brought a decent snow storm so the following warm sunny days brought birds, insects and flowers to a peak in a blanket of melting snow. Not too much, hymenoptera and dipterans stole the show, ground bees and Bombylidae flies were numerous. Spring beauty, trout lily, blue-violet, bloodroot and several others in bloom WVWH - West Virginia White ETSW - App Eastern Tiger Sw RSPU - Red-spotted Purple PISW - Pipevine Sw SPSW - Spicebush Sw SLOR - Sleepy Orange Azure - numerous Duskywing sp's I'd like to suggest we use FOUR letter acronyms like birds and BBS, I'm sick of typing! Harry's call, the only issues are Clouded/Cloudess CLSU and Palatka/Palmetto PASK. I do it for odes. Brian Bockhahn Falls Lake State Park Ranger Falls & Kerr Lake CBC Compiler cbockhahn4 AT earthlink.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. Subject: RE: Smokies leps From: "Robin Carter" <rcarter AT sc.rr.com> Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:17:54 -0400 I am against using four-letter acronyms for either butterflies on Carolinaleps or birds on Carolinabirds. Keep in mind that those who read Carolinaleps may be beginners who have not ever heard of all the butterfly species in the Carolinas. Also no small number of those who read Carolinaleps do not even live in our area. Think of the butterfly enthusiast in Oregon planning a trip to the southeastern US. Even a non-beginner from out west might have a lot of trouble tracking down four letter acronyms. If you absolute MUST use acronyms then please use six letter acronyms. I know of no"standard" list of acronyms for North American butterflies. Even if there were such a list it would be regularly out-of-date as more and more Mexican butterflies are discovered in Arizona or Texas, or West Indian butterflies in Florida. I thinks posts to Carolinaleps should be as clear as possible. This means full English language names as much as possible, with scientific names as needed. Robin Carter Columbia, SC USA mailto:rcarter AT sc.rr.com -----Original Message----- From: Alex Grkovich [mailto:agrkovich2003 AT yahoo.com] Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 12:04 PM To: birdranger; carolinaleps AT duke.edu Subject: Re: Smokies leps Follow-=up to Jeff's response to this issue: There is also no such thing as an "App. Eastern Tiger Swallowtail"...(not tring to tell anyone something they don't already know)...But the abbreviations suggested below would drive anyone nuts...A suggestion, for someone that is sick of typing: Try the scientific names, such as "astyannax" for Red Spotted Purple, "philenor" for Pipevine Swallowtail etc. (This may also encourage some folks to learn them). But "SLOR": I wouldn't have immediately guessed what THAT was supposed to be... Alex Peabody, MA birdranger wrote: I just got back from three days backpacking in the smokies, mostly above 5,500' in elevation coming in from Cataloochee, Haywood, NC. Monday brought a decent snow storm so the following warm sunny days brought birds, insects and flowers to a peak in a blanket of melting snow. Not too much, hymenoptera and dipterans stole the show, ground bees and Bombylidae flies were numerous. Spring beauty, trout lily, blue-violet, bloodroot and several others in bloom WVWH - West Virginia White ETSW - App Eastern Tiger Sw RSPU - Red-spotted Purple PISW - Pipevine Sw SPSW - Spicebush Sw SLOR - Sleepy Orange Azure - numerous Duskywing sp's I'd like to suggest we use FOUR letter acronyms like birds and BBS, I'm sick of typing! Harry's call, the only issues are Clouded/Cloudess CLSU and Palatka/Palmetto PASK. I do it for odes. Brian Bockhahn Falls Lake State Park Ranger Falls & Kerr Lake CBC Compiler cbockhahn4 AT earthlink.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. Subject: Re: Smokies leps From: Alex Grkovich <agrkovich2003 AT yahoo.com> Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2008 09:04:07 -0700 (PDT) Follow-=up to Jeff's response to this issue: There is also no such thing as an "App. Eastern Tiger Swallowtail"...(not tring to tell anyone something they don't already know)...But the abbreviations suggested below would drive anyone nuts...A suggestion, for someone that is sick of typing: Try the scientific names, such as "astyannax" for Red Spotted Purple, "philenor" for Pipevine Swallowtail etc. (This may also encourage some folks to learn them). But "SLOR": I wouldn't have immediately guessed what THAT was supposed to be... Alex Peabody, MA birdranger wrote: I just got back from three days backpacking in the smokies, mostly above 5,500' in elevation coming in from Cataloochee, Haywood, NC. Monday brought a decent snow storm so the following warm sunny days brought birds, insects and flowers to a peak in a blanket of melting snow. Not too much, hymenoptera and dipterans stole the show, ground bees and Bombylidae flies were numerous. Spring beauty, trout lily, blue-violet, bloodroot and several others in bloom WVWH - West Virginia White ETSW - App Eastern Tiger Sw RSPU - Red-spotted Purple PISW - Pipevine Sw SPSW - Spicebush Sw SLOR - Sleepy Orange Azure - numerous Duskywing sp's I'd like to suggest we use FOUR letter acronyms like birds and BBS, I'm sick of typing! Harry's call, the only issues are Clouded/Cloudess CLSU and Palatka/Palmetto PASK. I do it for odes. Brian Bockhahn Falls Lake State Park Ranger Falls & Kerr Lake CBC Compiler cbockhahn4 AT earthlink.net --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. Subject: Re: B-flies between showers From: Paul Cherubini <monarch AT saber.net> Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:28:00 -0700 Lori Owenby wrote: > I listed a Painted Lady on my earlier list. I meant to say American > Lady. Sorry! I don't recall seeing any Painted Lady sightings posted to carolinaleps for more than a year! Just lots and lots of American Ladies. Paul Cherubini Subject: RE: B-flies between showers From: "Lori Owenby" <loriowenby AT gmail.com> Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:20:00 -0400 I listed a Painted Lady on my earlier list. I meant to say American Lady. Sorry! -- ----- Lori Owenby Catawba County Parks Conover, NC Subject: B'flies between showers From: "Lori Owenby" <loriowenby AT gmail.com> Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:44:42 -0400 I had the oppourtunity to do a little butterflying here at Riverbend Park (northern Catawba County) yesterday and today, in between brief rain showers both days. Yesterday (4/20) I stayed primarily in our cutover area. Today (4/21) I walked the river trail out to the wetlands. Here are both lists: Sunday, April 20th Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 7 Black Swallowtail 1 Cloudless Sulphur 1 Eastern Tailed-Blue 12 (fresh!) Painted Lady 3 Juvenal's Duskywing 15 Sleepy Duskywing 1 (very fresh female--GORGEOUS!) Monday, April 21st Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 6 "Black" Tiger Swallowtail 2 Cabbage White 1 Falcate Orangetip 5 (all males) Summer Azure 1 (ovipositing on Am. Holly?) Eastern Tailed-Blue 4 Pearl Crescent 2 Satyr sp. 1 Juvenal's Duskywing 11 Common Sootywing 2 Silver-spotted Skipper 1 There were soooo many wildflowers blooming too! I wondered though, with the Choke Cherry in full bloom, why I didn't see a single butterfly nectaring on it? Are they not attracted to it? I seems they would be . . . . ----- Lori Owenby Catawba County Parks Conover, NC Subject: Butterfly Walk Report From: Dennis Burnette <deburnette AT triad.rr.com> Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:50:46 -0400 ------ Forwarded Message From: GREGG MORRIS Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:10:51 -0400 To: Dennis Burnette Subject: Butterfly Walk Report On Saturday, April 19, five of us met in the parking lot of Gibson Park, off Wendover Avenue in High Point, Guilford Co., NC for the latest butterfly walk hosted by the Triad Chapter of the Carolina Butterfly Society. We first walked south on the paved Bicentennial Trail in the hope that the warmth of the asphalt would offset the cool morning temperatures. However, the only butterflies spotted during this portion of the walk were three Eastern Tiger Swallowtails that followed one another over a brief interval. We saw them near the boardwalk that extends from the trail into the swamp, which this year, in contrast to last, actually contained some water. More impressive than the insects at this point was the large number of Yellow-bellied Sliders in the vicinity, a couple of which were by far the largest such critter any of us had ever seen. After about 3/4 of a mile, we exited the paved trail and entered the system of dirt trails that thread through the southern half of Gibson Park. Sightings picked up a bit as the day warmed and we made our way back in the direction of our cars. We recorded an additional six butterfly species for a total of seven. 6 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 8 Spring Azure 1 Pipevine Swallowtail 1 Pearl Crescent 1 Eastern Tailed-Blue 1 Common Checkered Skipper 1 Juvenal¹s Duskywing Gregg Morris High Point, NC ------ End of Forwarded Message