[TN-Butterflies] Re: Cloudless Sulphurs
- From: "Doug Bruce" <s137@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <TN-Butterflies@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2010 18:02:28 -0500
Thomas J. Walker discusses Cloudless Sulphur migrations in "Butterfly Migration
in the Boundary Layer," available online here:
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/walker/ms27p704.PDF
Walker's conclusion about the Cloudless fall migration is "that inland flights
are principally toward peninsular Florida," from which I would expect that the
migration in Tennessee would be southerly to southeasterly, depending upon
where in the state the butterfly started. He cites literature, though,
describing how Cloudless Sulphurs in coastal areas migrate along the coastline
instead of following a particular azimuth. Along the Atlantic coast, some
migrations have been reported moving in the "wrong" direction along the coast:
that is, northeasterly away from Florida.
For examples of these northeasterly coastal migrations, Walker cites an article
by Joseph Muller (1977), which I couldn't immediately find online, and he also
references Pyle's description in the Audubon guide.
A little more Googling turned up a description of northeasterly coastal
migrations of Cloudless Sulphurs by Gaddy & Laurie for 1978, 1979, and 1980 in
South Carolina, which is available here:
http://peabody.research.yale.edu/jls/pdfs/1980s/1983/1983-37%282%29166-Gaddy.pdf
I can recall being frustrated several times by not being able to photograph
Cloudless Sulphurs in the fall, because they just kept flying hard in a
relatively straight line into the distance, not pausing for the camera.
Unfortunately, I can't provide any reliable flight directions based on my
memories of these incidents.
Doug Bruce
Oak Ridge
Anderson Co., TN
----- Original Message -----
From: Rita Venable
To: TN-Butterflies@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, December 05, 2010 3:14 PM
Subject: [TN-Butterflies] Cloudless Sulphurs
Hi, everyone,
Happy holidays to you! I have a question: Has anyone noted any directional
movements of Cloudless Sulphurs? In "Butterflies of the East Coast" Cech and
Tudor write for this species, "Why large numbers fly far north in the fall,
never to return, is a mystery."
Has anyone seen this or any other north-south-east-west movements of this
species?
Rita Venable, Franklin, TN
Williamson Co.
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