chris_rorabaugh's Identifications

Bull Creek butterfly count with Don Fraser; we were one of four groups and were the only group in Triple N Ranch WMA. The weather at the start was sunny and 78 degrees ("feels like" 85) with a light breeze. We drove two loops, for distances of about 17 miles driven and 3.5 miles walked over 7.5 hours. This was my first visit to Triple N, and it consists mostly of beautiful fire-maintained Longleaf Pine flatwoods. Possibly owing to the drought, few species were flowering (Nuttall's Thistles were nearly done for the year). We saw almost no Pickerelweed and no White Beggarticks. However, Rosy Camphorweed was abundant in places and in full bloom. Gray Hairstreaks were ridiculously abundant, mostly nectaring on Rosy Camphorweed; our group saw 168, and the total count for the four groups was 661! We did rather well with skipper diversity (our group got a few species missed otherwise), but numbers were very low. All records here represent different individuals. We met the other groups at the Triple N entrance at 1600 and left at 1649. The weather at the end was sunny and 95 degrees ("feels like" 104) with a light breeze. I got home at 2121.

Birds added to my Osceola County list were Red-bellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, and Carolina Wren photographed or audio-recorded, and Brown-headed Nuthatch observed and photographed.

Don's and my butterfly totals were:

Zebra Swallowtail -- 7
Black Swallowtail -- 1
Giant Swallowtail -- 2
Spicebush Swallowtail -- 4
Palamedes Swallowtail -- 7
Barred Yellow -- 2
Dainty Sulphur -- 1
Gray Hairstreak -- 168!
Ceraunus Blue -- 8
Little Metalmark -- 1
Variegated Fritillary -- 3
Phaon Crescent -- 2
Pearl Crescent -- 3
Common Buckeye -- 12
Carolina Satyr -- 4
Georgia Satyr -- 1
Northern Cloudywing -- 3
Confused Cloudywing -- 1
Horace's Duskywing -- 1
Zarucco Duskywing -- 3
Meske's Skipper -- 1
Tawny-edged Skipper -- 1
Whirlabout -- 1
Sachem -- 1
Delaware Skipper -- 2
Palmetto Skipper -- 2
Dusted (Loammi's) Skipper -- 3
Twinspot Skipper -- 1

28 species for our group; 52 species overall (including a Western Pygmy-Blue by Ed Perry and Delia Smith)!

Smaller and longer-legged than the tiger beetles I usually see.