[TN-Butterflies] Bradley, Meigs Counties
- From: Avian Pursuits Nature Tours <naturetours@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: TN-Butterflies@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 18:21:11 -0700 (PDT)
Today (August 15), Doug Bruce, Harold Howell, Mike Nelson and I made a Butt
Dragon Moth-ing foray into Bradley and Meigs Counties in east Tennessee. I'm
too
tired to compile the day's results right now, but want to present a summary of
some of the highlights.
Our target destination was the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge, Blythe Ferry Unit,
near
Birchwood, in Meigs County. On the drive over from I-75 Charleston exit) we
wondered if we should stop at any of the stream crossings. Luckily we did.
Our first stop was at Candies Creek in Bradley County. Soon after getting out
of
the car, Doug found a HAYHURST'S SCALLOPWING. This species has only been
officially recorded in about 16 counties in the state - soon to be 17! We
thought we had already found the best butterfly of the day - we were wrong...
After a successful stop at the Sugar Creek crossing, where we photographed a
few
new Meigs County records, we continued to Gunstocker Creek. Here we soon found
some interesting dragonflies, and a few very surprising SOUTHERN DOGFACEs. We
thought surely this would be a new county record, but no, it had been
documented
by someone in the past. Still, we felt we now had our best butterfly of the day
- we were wrong...
In the heat of the day we finally arrived at the Hiwassee Refuge. We found a
few
more county records, and saw a lot more SACHEMs. Some of the Sachems we saw
during the day were very orange on the underwings. A few times we thought maybe
we saw a Delaware Skipper. Doug did find one DELAWARE SKIPPER at Sugar Creek.
However, at Hiwassee, I saw a rather orange skipper, and it was noticeably
larger than those many Sachems seen earlier. I got a brief binocular view
before
it disappeared...we hunted for it and finally saw a second one, with an obvious
white ray on the underwing. This was a lifer for all of us - a DION SKIPPER. It
was well photographed before and after capture and release. We thought NOW we
had the best butterfly of the day.......we were right!!
Photos to be made available soon.
David Trently
Avian Pursuits Nature Tours
...come see the real world!
Knoxville, TN
http://avianpursuits.com/
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