The Buttery Weed and bushes are all in full bloom now at the house and with that there has been an uptick in lep activity. On the moth front a Snowberry and Hummingbird Clearwing are making visits along with the following 11 species of butterflies:
* = FOY ** = New for West Virginia Silver-spotted Skipper 2 Wild Indigo Duskywing 1 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 2 Cabbage White 4 Orange Sulphur 2 Banded Hairstreak 3 Summer Azure 1 American Snout 1 Monarch 1 Red-spotted Purple 2 Hackberry Emperor 2
The last day of a fantastic fourth of July weekend had Barry Marts and myself heading SW to visit one of the best high elevation locations for leps in the state. Spruce Knob at 4,863 ft is the highest point in West Virginia. Spruce Knob Lake at 3,800+ ft is stocked with bass and trout making it a favorite location for fishing. We worked our way slowly up FR 112 and at the first couple of pull offs found seven Banded Hairstreaks trying to warm up in the morning chill. We also found a couple of worn Northern Cloudywings which was a new state lep for both of us. We stopped at many Milkweed stands along the side of the road on the way up and didn’t get to the summit until noon. The high moutain meadows are resplendent in their appearance. Many, many wildflowers abound and consquently many butterflies are in flight. High elevation specialties such as Pink-edged Sulphurs, four species of fritillary (Meadow, Great Spangled, Aphrodite and Altantis), Long Dash Skipper, Common Ringlet and more can be found. We spent a great deal of time just walking the fields. The breeze along with temps in the uppers 60’s was so refreshing. Fritillaries are flying all over the place and you were hoping they would stop to nector so you could get a look. From the tiny Meadow Fritillary to the noticably larger Great Spangled Friillary this is a great location to refine your eastern fritillary ID skills. The in between sized Aphrodite Fritillary with a good deal of its submarginal ventral hind wing (VHW) band being infused with red-brown (Great Spangled’s VHW submarginal band is all cream colored) and amber colored eyes, and the Altantis Fritillary with its blue-gray eyes give you a variable array and display of color. I just love going to these locations and I hope you’ll find time to make a July trip there also. We found 31 species which are itemized below.
* = FOY ** = New for West Virginia Silver-spotted Skipper 12 **Northern Cloudywing 2 Wild Indigo Duskywing 1 European Skipper 100+ Peck's Skipper 1 Long Dash 20 Little Glassywing 6 Dun Skipper 3 Pipevine Swallowtail 6 Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail 1 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 2 Clouded Sulphur 3 Orange Sulphur 5 *Pink-edged Sulphur 8 Banded Hairstreak 7 Eastern Tailed-Blue 4 Summer Azure 6 Monarch 3 Great Spangled Fritillary 5 Aphrodite Fritillary 8 *Atlantis Frillary 9 Meadow Fritillary 2 Silvery Checkerspot 3 Pearl Crescent 1 Eastern Comma 3 Red Admiral 4 American Lady 8 *Northern Pearly-eye 1 Common Ringlet 2 Little Wood-Satyr 2 *Common Wood-Nymph 1
Four of us traveled out to the Green Ridge State Forest area in Allegany county, MD hoping that the Northern Metalmarks seen last year had emerged. It was a brisk, cool morning (rarely do you say that for July 4th) with temps in the upper 60’s upon arrival. We walked along the road until eagle eye Bev spotted one up on the shale hill in the Sun about 15 ft above the road sitting on Woodland Sunflower. The ones we saw were very striking and fresh looking. Metalmarks have that crisp look like they have been etched with metal inlay. We searched another 20 minutes and found four more. There will be more in the coming days. After tooling around GRSF for another hour we then headed out towards our next destination, Cranesville Swamp in extreme eastern Preston county, WV. The swamp is shared by Maryland on its eastern edge. Reminiscent of a Canadian landscape 500 miles further north this unique environment is protected and managed by the Nauture Conservancy. Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources describes the swamp as a “boreal peat bog relic.” Formed 15,000 years ago during the last Ice Age, Cranesville keeps its cool due to its unique geology and location nestled in a mountain valley.
On the way we stopped at Keyser Ridge for some norishment. It was 1:15 in the afternoon, sunny, the wind was blowing and the tempaerature was 64 degrees… on July 4th! Gotta love it. Upon arriving at Cranesville we quickly found our first Appalachian Brown of the season as well as the sought after Bog Coppers along the boardwalk. In addition Great Spangled and Aphrodite Fritillaries were seen. In addition, a beautiful Coral Hairstreak was basking on ferns hoping for rays of the Sun to find its way through the 75% cloud cover. On the way home we stopped very late in the afternoon at Finzel Swamp. Not much was flying but we did see a Baltimore Checkerspot. We tallied 27 species on this great day to be outdoors.
FOY's Bog Copper 5 Coral Hairstreak 1 Northern Metalmark 5 Aphrodite Fritillary 3 Baltimore Checkerspot 1 Appalachian Brown 1
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I saw my first Common Sootywing of the season during a 15 minute stop on Candlewood Dr/Courier Dr in the Norborne Glebe sub-division just east of Cahrles Town around noon today. Also present: Orange Sulphur, Clouded Sulphur, American Copper, Eastern Tailed-Blue and Pearl Crescent. I was hoping we’d get some rain today but only a few sprinkles thus far.
Two bleary-eyed travelers (Barry Marts and yours truly) took off on a sortie leaving the eastern panhandle at 4:30am this morning to look for potential lifers and FOY’s on the eastern shore of Maryland. We made the best time possible and arrived at our first location north of Whaleyville, MD at 7:50am. We looked in vain for an early King’s Hairstreak but it was not to be. (We will try again in two weeks). During the course of the day it was amazing to us that there were all these nice stands of Milkweed along the sides of the roads and yet there was a relative dearth of butterflies. Sure, Cabbage Whites and Silver-spotted Skippers were seen in good numbers but variety was lacking. We next headed west to New Bridge road SW of Vienna, MD and found some nice blooming Buttonbush. After searching for some time we finally located a Great Purple Hairstreak which was a lifer for me. It was at a distance and muck boots would have been required to get any closer, so the photos leave a lot to be desired. We then went over to DeCoursey Bridge Rd in search of Rare Skipper. We found at least 50+ Broad-winged Skippers but not the main target in almost two hours of searching. Perhaps next trip. Our final stop was Blackwater NWR. We parked at the visitors center and looked for about an hour. The main target was Salt Marsh Skipper. We both took a side of the road slowly walking along when Barry shouted out “Copper!”. My knee jerk reaction was “American?” and he responded “Bronze!”. I said “what?” and a couple of other words not fit for the blog. Indeed, the photons entering the binoculars revealed a stunning, rather fresh male Bronze Copper!. We searched further along the road and located another male within 100 yards. There was plenty of evidence around of its host plant Curly or Water Dock. I couldn’t tell which one. Lifer! Happy campers! You get the picture(:>
* = FOY ** = Lifer **Bronze Copper 2 **Great Purple Hairstreak 1 *Variegated Fritillary 2 *Viceroy 3 *Swarthy Skipper 1 *Broad-winged Skipper 50+
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