[TN-Butterflies] Re: Little Yellow
- From: kjchilds <kjchilds@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: TN Butterflies <TN-Butterflies@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:50:57 -0700 (PDT)
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
HamiltonCounty
________________________________
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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