tn-butterflies Digest Sun, 10 May 2009 Volume: 02 Issue: 092
In This Issue:
[TN-Butterflies] Re: A two-white day at Kentucky Manor - May
[TN-Butterflies] Why not "Butterflies I've Seen"?
[TN-Butterflies] May 9, Polk County Appalachian Butterflie
[TN-Butterflies] FOY - Hamilton County
[TN-Butterflies] submission of butterfly data: bamona vs. bi
[TN-Butterflies] Blount Co. FOYs
[TN-Butterflies] FOY Greene County
[TN-Butterflies] FOY's for Washington Co
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From: "Michael Lee Bierly" <mlbierly@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [TN-Butterflies] Re: A two-white day at Kentucky Manor - May 9,
2009
Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 08:02:21 -0500
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Sitting on the front step for a nana second I thought Cabbage White as =
the
'fly came by close, then saw the flight was erratic and fast, faster it
seemed than Cabbage, and it had all these black markings on it. The =
female
Checkered White made my day and it was already later afternoon. This was =
a
surprise for the yard. Hadn't really thought of the possibility of it
occurring. This was the seventh identified species for Kentucky Manor =
for
the season and a new one for me. A female Cabbage White had already =
ventured
by so this made a two-white day at Kentucky Manor.=20
=20
=20
May, 9, 2009. Kentucky Manor, 5211 Kentucky Avenue, Nashville, Davidson
County, TN=20
360934N (36.15944) and 0865102W (-86.85055)
=20
Checkered White - 1 female; digital.
Cabbage White - 2, at least one female; digital.
=20
Michael Lee Bierly, Nashville, Davidson County, TN
------------------------------
From: "LeGrand Family" <elegrand@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [TN-Butterflies] Why not "Butterflies I've Seen"?
Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 08:34:20 -0500
In regard to the posting a couple of days ago by Steve Stedman on BAMONA's
desire for all butterfly records on special EXCEL spreadsheets, this would
have been an excellent idea had not NABA already established the very user
friendly site, "Butterflies I've Seen"
(http://www.nababis.org/servlets/Sightings). This seems to be the
butterflier's answer to eBird; i.e., why would you use anything else for
your records?
Sorry, but I don't know about the politics of the two organizations, but
it
would seem like BAMONA should work with Butterlies I've Seen to improve
it,
get the data (ask for local reviewers), and encourage people to use it.
-Ed LeGrand
Cumberland County
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 11:20:00 -0400
From: "J. Basham" <jbasham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [TN-Butterflies] May 9, Polk County Appalachian Butterflies
It was good to get out for a while on Saturday. The sun shone between
thunderstorms just long enough for a few butterflies to get out and wing
around. Stephen Johnson and I had our first Appalachian Azure of the
year, a nice male, and some more beautiful Appalachian Tiger
Swallowtails. Found a new colony of Golden-banded Skippers, saw 32 of
them, and estimate 200-300 individuals on the mountainside. Was lucky
enough to find my first ever Rare Spring Moth, had seen the Common
Spring Moth, but this little fellow was black with blue jeweling,
fantastic. Reminds one of some of the blue, spread wing skippers in
Mexico and Central America. Had the last Cobweb Skipper of the year.
It's amazing how almost unrecognizable they become at the end of their
season.
Look at the difference in size and color between the two Appalachians
and the two Easterns in the one photo. Also note the almost total lack
of blue on dorsal hindwing on the two Appalachians. The Appalachians are
a much paler yellow as well.
Julius Basham
------------------------------
From: "David Spicer" <dspicer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [TN-Butterflies] FOY - Hamilton County
Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 11:39:17 -0400
I had a Hackberry Emperor flitting around the deck out back this morning.
Dave Spicer
Ooltewah, TN
------------------------------
From: "Steve Stedman" <birdsongteam@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [TN-Butterflies] submission of butterfly data: bamona vs. bis
Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 13:43:32 -0500
As most of you know, the Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA)
website presents information about the distribution of lepidoptera that is
probably more accurate and more current than are the distributional data
available at any other online or published butterfly (or moth) source.
BAMONA provides distributional data down to the county (for US) and state
(for Mexico) level about each of the species covered by the website (and
the list of species gets longer each year, mainly as more and more moth
species are added to the database). Efforts to include BAMONA coverage of
the Canadian provinces are also proceeding. If you were to look for a
website that provided distributional information of comparable
completeness and accuracy for any other large group of related taxa in
North America, you would probably look in vain. Certainly no such website
is available for the birds of North America. The only competitor might be
the website for North American dragonflies and da
mselflies--which as a group is far smaller than the group of butterflies
and moths.
BAMONA is in the process of increasing its coverage of the continental lep
fauna from a mainly distribution-related focus to one that encompasses
distribution, abundance, and trend analysis, as well as even more life
history related issues on down the road. To this end, sources of
abundance data are being sought that offer a fairly high degree of
accuracy, to complement the fairly high degree of accuracy that BAMONA
distribution data have had and continue to have based on its two-tiered
system of review (i.e., all BAMONA records pass through a state reviewer
and then pass through a continental reviewer before they are entered into
the database).
A seemingly logical place for BAMONA personnel to look for abundance data
about butterflies is within the archives of the Butterflies I've Seen
(BIS) database maintained by the North American Butterfly Association
(NABA). I am not sure how long NABA has had BIS in operation, but
probably at least a decade, so there are many data housed there. The
problem with the BIS program is that the data entered into it have never
been the subject of any kind of review, so there may be considerable
inconsistency in the quality of the archived data. In order for BIS data
to become useful to BAMONA, a thorough vetting of all the data would need
to be accomplished. This is a large but seemingly doable task, presuming
that both sides are willing to make it happen. The question then becomes
finding out if both sides are indeed willing to make that effort and, if
they are, getting a process in place to vet the data. I will see what I
can learn about prospects for mutual cooperation on thi
s issue from both organizations, whose politics are not entirely known to
me--but what little I do know does not lead me to believe that such a
vetting could be put in place quickly (pehaps not for several years).
In the meantime, we can wait for BAMONA and BIS to become reconciled to
one another data-wise or we can begin to supply BAMONA with the data it
needs to begin its transformation from a website focused on distribution
to a website focused on distribution, abundance, and trend analysis (and
much more). Given this choice, I say let's start supplying BAMONA with
the kind of properly vetted data it wants and hope that NABA and its BIS
data can be brought into the equation as soon as possible.
Besides its BIS data, NABA has also become responsible for the Fourth of
July butterfly counts across the continent. Here is a source of butterfly
abundance data that HAVE been vetted already. Data from each NABA
butterfly count go through the hands of a compiler; then the data receive
a regional review--with our own Bill Haley from Chattanooga serving in
this capacity for all the counts from Tennessee (and Kentucky and West
Virginia) and with Rita Venable, one of Tennessee's most respected field
butterfliers, sometimes assisting Bill in his reviewing efforts; and then
the data go through a continental review before being published. The
problem with getting the NABA butterfly count data to BAMONA is that NABA
itself has butterfly experts who are analyzing the butterfly count data
for what light they can shed on changes in distribution and trends in
butterfly populations. Given its investment in the butterfly counts, NABA
might have qualms about sharing the butterfly count
data with BAMONA. Or it might not; I just do not know.
Let me say that I have been encouraging Tennessee butterfliers to use the
NABA-supported BIS butterfly archive for several years, and I will
continue to do that. But, given that I have not seen much result from the
BIS program in the way of expanded knowledge about, or information access
to, butterflies during the past five years, I view BIS as mainly being a
way to safeguard one's personal butterfly data. Given what I have seen
BAMONA do on a daily basis with the butterfly data going to it in the way
of expanded distributional knowledge of butterflies and moths, I am
inclined to want to share all my more meaningful butterfly counts with
them as well.
How we archive and share our butterfly data (i.e., with BIS and BAMONA) is
not an either/or issue; both ways of perpetuating our butterfly data have
value, and I encourage all Tennessee butterfliers to submit to each of
these worthy programs.
Steve Stedman
Cookeville (Putnam County)
------------------------------
From: "tom howe" <blountbirder@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [TN-Butterflies] Blount Co. FOYs
Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 18:05:53 -0400
Blount Co FOYs
05-09-09
Viceroy at Whites Mill Refuge
Zabulon Skipper at the house in Alcoa
Tom Howe
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 21:26:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: Alice Loftin / Don Miller <pandion@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [TN-Butterflies] FOY Greene County
May 10, 2009
First-of-year sightings for Greene County today:
American Copper
Red-spotted Purple
Sachem
Don Miller
Greeneville, Greene Co., TN
------------------------------
Subject: [TN-Butterflies] FOY's for Washington Co
Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 21:55:10 -0400
From: dnldhlt@xxxxxxx
SUN 10 MAY 2009
circa 11 am
Cherokee Rd., Washington Co., TN
Sachem - FOY
Zabulon Skipper - FOY
Pearl Crescent - FOY
Red-spotted Purple - FOY
Carolina Satyr - FOY
Little Wood Satyr - FOY
Don Holt
Johnson City, TN
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End of tn-butterflies Digest V2 #92
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