[TN-Butterflies] Re: Crockett County
- From: "Steve Stedman" <birdsongteam@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <thomaskienzle@xxxxxxx>, <TN-Butterflies@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 6 Sep 2010 09:33:15 -0500
The recent photographic work of Tom and Debra Kienzle in Crockett County
brought to an end the single-digit county butterfly list as a part of the
history of establishing the distribution of Tennessee's butterfly fauna. Never
again can a butterfly-lover enter any Tennessee county and find that there is
almost no information anywhere about what butterflies might reside there. For
every county we can now point to at least 10 species of butterflies that have
been documented to occur there. For the state as a whole, we can now say that
the average list for the state's 95 counties is over 46 species (the comparable
total as recently as 2006 was fewer than 11!). And for about a dozen counties,
we are getting close to knowing almost all the butterflies that exist within
its boundaries, with Polk County perhaps representing the county closest to
having its total butterfly fauna documented and mapped.
Of course, we remain collectively faced with the need for still more upgrading
of the county butterfly lists until such time as all counties have a list of at
least 50 (or more!) documented species of butterflies; the new target of
opportunity for those seeking to participate in this effort are those counties
whose butterfly lists are currently languishing in their teens. But let's not
get too far ahead of ourselves. We should view 2010 as the year when an
important hurdle was crossed in the effort to document the distribution of the
state's 'flies (and it should also be seen as the first year of major
advancement in knowledge of the many moths that inhabit our state).
To be able to provide effective stewardship about any natural resource, we have
to know what it is (there are137+ species of Tennessee butterflies, for
instance), where it is (each butterfly species has a real distribution, and our
efforts to map that distribution as accurately as possible by documenting each
species' presence at the county level is the beginning of getting a handle on
this issue), and how much it might be changing as a consequence of changes
being brought about by non-natural forces (our effort to conduct butterfly
counts at many places across the state might be viewed as the beginning effort
to obtain this information).
So here's to all the folks who have given of their time and energy to bring
Tennessee out of the dark age of knowledge about the distribution of the
state's butterflies. We are now in a better age, whatever we might choose to
call it, with regard to knowledge of where the state's 'flies are, and I hope
we continue that effort on a permanent basis.
Steve Stedman
Cookeville (Putnam County)
----- Original Message -----
From: Thomas Kienzle
To: TN-Butterflies@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, September 05, 2010 5:09 PM
Subject: [TN-Butterflies] Crockett County
The following butterflies were seen and photographed in Crockett County, TN
on Sunday September 5, 2010 by Tom and Debra Kienzle. All are BAMONA records,
photographs of which will be forwarded to Steve Steadman.
Little Yellow Sulphur
Cloudless Sulphur
Painted Lady
Common Checkered Skipper
Sliver-spotted Skipper
Fiery Skipper
Viceroy
Red-banded Hairstreak
Dainty Sulphur
Gray Hairstreak
Pearl Crescent
Phaon Crescent
Red-spotted Purple
Spicebush Swallowtail
Question Mark
Common Buckeye
Tom and Debra Kienzle
Shelby County
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