The wife, Barry Martz and I went on a butterfly trip to the Spruce Knob area last Saturday. The weather was beautiful with partly sunny conditions and temps in the 60’s. We got our first rain shower around 3pm but it did not impact any part of the trip. We saw 23 species and I picked up a few lifers (Hobomok Skipper, Indian Skipper, Long Dash, American Copper, Atlantis Fritillary). The Appalachian Swallowtails are pretty much done for the year. The summer brood of Eastern Tiger Swallowtail will become more prevalent now. We did find a Canadian Tiger Swallowtail at Spruce Knob Lake (images below)
*Update: (Email correspondence with someone who has captured small swallowtails at Spruce Knob shows no DNA evidence of Canadian Tiger Swallowtails being present there. These are small Appalachian Tiger Swallowtails)
Here are some of the better images. Click on an image to see a bigger rendition.
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Species List is as follows:
Pipevine Swallowtail
Black Swallowtail (in the valley on the drive up)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail
Canadian Tiger Swallowtail
Cabbage White (in the valley on the drive up)
Clouded Sulphur (including a white variant)
Orange Sulphur
Pink-edged Sulphur
American Copper
Eastern-tailed Blue
Summer Azure
Atlantis Fritillary
Harris’s Checkerspot
Pearl Crescent
American Lady
Red-spotted Purple
Common Ringlet
Silver-spotted Skipper
European Skipper
Indian Skipper
Long Dash
Hobomok Skipper