[TN-Butterflies] Re: Little Yellow
- From: Rita Venable <ritavenable@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: kjchilds@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:44:13 -0500
As I was hobbling about the Flat Rock cedar glade today, here was my
run-down on the sulphurs:
Little Yellow - 13
Southern Dogface - 9
Cloudless Sulphur - 2 (but they were not acting up as the ones in Chester
Co.)
Sleepy Orange - 0
Clouded Sulphur - 0
Orange Sulphur - 0
Dainty Sulphur - 0
I had never seen Little Yellows there before. They were the most abundant
species of sulphur/whites.
Rita Venable, Franklin, TN
Williamson Co.
On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 1:50 PM, kjchilds <kjchilds@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Since the topic of conversation is Little Yellows, I decided to do a quick
> run of the back part of the property to see how many I could find. It's
> about 12 acres and includes some horse pasture and some semi-wild areas. In
> the semi-wild areas I've cut random paths through the brush so I could get
> access to most of it. It seems, quite by accident, that I've created just
> what Little Yellows want because in 15 minutes I found 26 Little Yellows of
> which 2 were very white females.
>
> Lots of other butterflies were seen. Of note was 1 definite Confused
> Cloudywing with another possible one.
>
> Ken Childs
> Henderson, TN
> Chester County
>
> http://www.finishflagfarms.com
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Bill Haley <wgh@xxxxxxxxxx>
> *To:* ritavenable@xxxxxxxxx
> *Cc:* tn-butterflies@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Sent:* Tue, July 27, 2010 7:46:29 AM
> *Subject:* [TN-Butterflies] Re: Little Yellow
>
> I agree with Rita Venable. The Little Yellows I’ve seen this year, on my
> last two north Georgia counts, could be counted on one hand. None were seen
> in what I’d consider dry, sandy areas, nor were they particularly close to
> any dry sandy areas I’m aware of. They are quite uncommon in the area of SE
> Tennessee around Chattanooga , much less common than Sleepy Orange and
> Orange , Cloudy and Cloudless Sulphurs. Last year only three individuals
> were counted on all counts in the NABA Appalachian area ( Tennessee ,
> Kentucky , West Virginia ), all single individuals on three separate counts.
> I didn’t see a single one in 2009. It is good to see that they are having a
> better year in 2010, although they still seem quite scarce around here. It
> is a thrill for me to find even one on a count!
>
>
>
> Julius Basham commented the other day how variables from one year to the
> next can favor one species over another. There are never two butterfly years
> that are exactly the same. One species may be quite common one year, almost
> absent the next. This is one value of NABA butterfly counts, which supply a
> data base spread over years, not just a couple of seasons. When that data
> extends over a number of years it is much easier to judge the relative
> abundance of a species over a span of time. This is why NABA encourages
> folks to continue counts annually once they’ve been started. I’ve been at it
> for 16 years now, compiling 70+ counts in areas around Chattanooga , in
> northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama . Little Yellow has always been a
> very uncommon species, at least in that area. In fact, I don’t think we’ve
> ever seen more than 5 on any one count. Hopefully we’ll see some Little
> Yellows on our Stevenson, AL count this Saturday, July 31. For the past few
> years Stevenson is the only NABA count conducted in Alabama . By the time we
> get around to this count, many of the late summer species are with us, which
> generally includes large numbers of sulphurs. Stevenson is not that far from
> the Tennessee line, and Tennessee butterfliers will NOT be struck blind just
> because we’ve ventured into a nearby state to do a count. We can always use
> some help! My e-mail is wgh@xxxxxxxxxx if you are interested in joining
> us.
>
>
>
> Bill Haley
>
> Chattanooga, TN
>
> Hamilton County
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> *From:* tn-butterflies-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
> tn-butterflies-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Rita Venable
> *Sent:* Monday, July 26, 2010 6:56 PM
> *To:* TN-Butterflies@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* [TN-Butterflies] Little Yellow
>
>
>
> I have yet to find a field guide that does not describe the Little Yellow
> habitat as dry and sandy (Okay, I just found one, Butterflies of the
> Carolinas ). Ditto that they are common in the Southeast. First of all, I do
> not always find them in dry sandy areas in Middle TN, plus they are not as
> common as Orange Sulphurs, Clouded Sulphurs, Sleepy Orange and Cloudless
> Sulphurs here.
>
>
>
> Is it the same in your area (East & West TN, Plateau)? I am curious to see
> if you see them abundantly/commonly and if you find them in dry, sandy
> areas.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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