We had a very successful Soddy-Daisy count on Saturday, August 26. Participants
included: Nancy Williams, Libby Wolfe, Tommie Rogers, David, Scott and Jon
Spicer, Julius Basham and Bill Haley. We split into four parties to better
cover the count circle and it certainly paid off, as we found the most species
(57) of any count so far this year. Temperature was 71-85 F, winds were 2-6
MPH. The sun was only out about 50% in the morning and maybe 35% in the
afternoon, but no rain and butterfly activity was strong all day. Total party
hours of effort was 25. We collectively walked 7 miles, and 5 miles via boat.
To highlight how It pays to split into different parties, Bill Haley and Nancy
Williams found 7 species nobody else found, Tommie Rogers and Libby Wolfe found
4 species nobody else found, Dave, Scott and Jon Spicer found 5 species nobody
else found, and Julius Basham found 3 species nobody else found. Some
highlights include; 1 female Diana Fritillary, the only one seen on any of my
counts this summer. (This was #10.), 1 Creole Pearly-Eye, 1 Common Sootywing, 2
Peck's Skippers, 1 Broad-winged Skipper, 2 Dion Skippers. Some "expected"
species, such as Cabbage White, American Snout, Eastern Comma, Hoary Edge,
Southern Cloudywing, Southern Broken-Dash, or Lace-winged Roadside Skipper
were not found. We tallied an amazing 22 skipper species, with the possibility
of maybe adding one more as photos are studied! It was clearly a day of "find a
skipper that is NOT a Fiery or a Sachem".
Here are the totals:
Pipevine Swallowtail 4, Black Sw. 4, E. Tiger Sw. 18, Spicebush Sw. 15, Giant
Sw. 1, Checkered White 1, Clouded Sulphur 5, Orange Su. 5, Cloudless Su. 139,
Little Yellow 2, Sleepy Orange 29, Gray Hairstreak 18, Red-banded Ha. 16, E.
Tailed Blue 37, Summer Azure 13, Gulf Fritillary 57, Variegated Fr. 7, Diana
Fr. 1, Great Spangled Fr. 13, Silvery Checkerspot 6, Pearl Crescent 40,
Question Mark 1, Am. Lady 4, Painted Lady 3, Red Admiral 1, Com. Buckeye 25,
Red-spotted Purple 48, Viceroy 4, Hackberry Emperor 11, Tawny Emp. 11, N.
Pearly-Eye 1, Creole Pearly-Eye 1, Gemmed Satyr 3, Carolina Satyr 54, Common
Wood Nymph 4, Monarch 6, Silver-spotted Skipper 7, Long-tailed Sk. 3, N.
Cloudywing 1, Horace's Duskywing 6, Wild Indigo Duskywing 9, Common Checkered
Sk. 11, Com. Sootywing 1, Clouded Sk. 16, Least Sk. 7, Fiery Sk. 56, Peck's Sk.
2, Tawny-edged Sk. 5, Crossline Sk. 10, N. Broken-Dash 4, Little Glassywing 3,
Sachem 357, Delaware Sk. 18, Zabulon Sk. 4, Broad-winged Sk. 1, Dion Sk. 2, Dun
Sk. 7, Ocola Sk. 1. Unidentified: dk. Sw. sp. 5, Lady sp. 1. Total: 57
species, 1100 individuals.
We have one scheduled count remaining in 2017, Lookout Mountain, GA, on
Thursday, Sept. 7. (Just a few miles south of the TN state line).
Bill Haley, Count compiler
Chattanooga, TN
