Beautiful weather and abundant butterflies make Butterfly Day in Rappahannock a success

by Pam Owen, Summer 2007

The weather at Butterfly Day in Rappahannock was as nice this year as it was hot and sticky last year. It was warm and dry enough for butterflies, but cool enough for the thirty people who attended.

Mary Willeford Bair, Natural Resource Specialist with the National Park Service and initiator of Shenandoah National Park's butterfly count, repeated her role as presenter and guide. The event was again held at Bruce and Susan Jones' property. Following Mary's talk on butterfly habitat, their importance as pollinators, and how to identify common Virginia species, she and Bruce led the attendees through the Jones' naturalized fields and forests to identify butterflies and talk about their habitat.

Seven new species were spotted this year, with a total count of twenty—two more than last year. (Some species spotted last year were not seen this year.)

To make a positive ID and get a better look at species' identifying characteristics, some butterflies were captured with nets temporarily and then released. As with last year, our most enthusiastic and best catchers were the four kids who attended. Below is the complete list of species identified in the last two years.

Butterfly Species Identified Family/Subfamily/Species 2006 2007 Gossamer-Wing (Lycaenidae) Blues (Plyommatinae) Azure, Summer (Celastrina neglecta) √ Blue, Eastern Tailed (Everes comyntas) √ √ Hairstreaks (Theclinae) Hairstreak, Red-banded (Calycopis cecrops) √ √ Brushfoots (Nymphalidae) Admiral, Red (Vanessa atalanta) √ Admiral, White, in Red-Spotted Purple phase (Limenitis arthemis) √ Brushfoots (Nymphalinae) Checkerspot, Silvery (Chlosyne nycteis) √ Crescent, Pearl (Phyciodes tharos) √ √ Longwings (Heliconiinae) Fritillary, Great Spangled (Speyeria cybele) √ √ Fritillary, Meadow (Boloria bellona) √ √ Fritillary, Variegated (Euptoieta claudia) √ √ Milkweed (Danainae) Monarch (Danaus plexippus) √ √ Satyrs & Wood Nymphs (Satyrinae) Wood-Nymph, Common (Cercyonis pegala) √ Skippers (Hesperiidae) Skippers, Open-Winged (Pyrginae) Skipper, Silver Spotted (Epargyreus clarus) √ √ Skippers, Grass (Hesperiinae) Glassywing, Little (Pompeius verna) √ Sachem (Atalopedes campestris) √ Skipper, European (Thymelicus lineola) √ √ Skipper, Least (Ancyloxypha numitor) √ Whites, Sulphurs & Orange-Tips (Pieridae) Sulphurs (Coliadinae) Sulphur, Clouded (Colias philodice) √ Sulphur, Orange (Colias eurytheme) √ √ Whites (Pierinae) White, Cabbage (Pieris rapae) √ √ Swallowtails (Papilionidae) Swallowtail, Black (Papilio polyxenes) √ Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger (Papilio glaucus) √ √ Swallowtail, Spicebush (Papilio Troilus) √ √ Swallowtail, Zebra (Eurytides Marcellus) √ [Unidentified] Elfin (?) √ TOTAL 18 20

 

Top four Butterfly Day photos by Carl Zimmermann; bottom photo by Paula Endo.