2008Posted 8/30/08

Several SCAS members participated in two separate butterfly counts in Sullivan County during July.   Photos of some of the species found can be seen on the color  insert of the September-October issue of Warblings.. Both of our butterfly count leaders, Renee Davis and Stu Alexander, will be tagging Monarch butterflies again  this year.  See Coming Events and consider joining one of  Renee’s  tagging trips. Spicebush Swallowtail, photo by Rick Bunting   (Click photo to enlarge)

2008 Christmas Count Circle Butterfly Count

Five teams set out on July 2 to count as many butterflies as they could find within our Christmas Count Circle for the North American Butterfly Association. The 15 mile diameter circle center is within the Neversink Gorge and covers an area from the Bashakill to Mongaup Reservoir, and Thompsonville to Cuddebackville.

Stu Alexander found 4 Hickory Hairstreaks (this is only the third time these have been found on our count) and 18 Delaware Skippers. He had the highest count of 19 Silver Spotted Skippers, and 3 Spicebush Swallowtails.

Team Ruth (Shursky and McKeon) found one of the two, new to our list, Least Skippers. In their travels they also found 45 Cabbage Whites and 14 Clouded Sulphurs. They had the highest count of 6 Peck’s Skippers and 5 Tawny-edged Skippers.

Valerie Freer and Mary Collier found the other Least Skipper along with our only Spring Azure, Baltimore Checkerspot, and Juvenal’s Duskywing (also new to our list).  They found 1 of 2 Common Ringlets and 1 of 2 Eastern Tailed Blues.

John Haas and Arlene Borko combed their area with a fine tooth comb and found 1 of two Aphrodite Fritillaries along with the only American Copper, White Admiral, Long Dash’s, and Mullberrywings. They got into a big hatch of European Skippers and counted 250 on Forestburgh Road and 300 on Baer Road. Their total of Europeans for the day was 697. They had the other Eastern Tailed Blue and Common Ringlet, along with high counts of 9 American Ladies, 35 Orange Sulphurs, 28 Great Spangled Fritillaries, and 52 Dun Skippers.

Afton Lazier and I found a Bronze Copper which was new to our list along with a high number of 45 Little Glassywings. We had 5 Black Swallowtails, 6 Banded Hairstreaks, 8 Eastern Commas, 4 Compton Tortoiseshells and 6 Little Wood Satyrs.

Our day started off a little cool at 65 degrees but warmed up to 85 degrees by midday. Between the ten of us we walked only 3.5 miles but drove 193 miles (that hurt at the gas pump). After spending 28.5 hours in the field we tallied 36 species with 1592 individuals, a little behind our best year of 2006 were we had our highest total of 40 species, with 1683 individuals.    
Renee Davis

2008 Hall’s Mills Butterfly Count

Renee Davis and Marge Gorton reported the only Baltimore Checkerspots and found 25 of them!  Valerie Freer and Mary Collier counted 2 Coral Hairstreaks and discovered a new milkweed field where they counted hundreds of adult butterflies.  It was a big day for Fritillaries with 93 Great Spangled, 57 Meadow, 38 Atlantis, and 6 Aphrodite.  One notable omission is zero Red Admirals after counting 109 a year ago.  For information please call Stu Alexander 985-2485.
Stu Alexander
Warblings, September-October 2008

2007Posted 9/2/07    

On June 24, 2007 three Sullivan Audubon teams set out to do the 14th annual Butterfly Count for the North American Butterfly Association. The day started out cool, only in the high 40’s but did get to the mid 70’s by early afternoon. Fortunately the sun was bright and it was a clear day.

Stu and Valerie Alexander covered the western area of the count circle and identified 17 species. European Skippers were the butterfly of the day and they found 163 in that area. They had the only Baltimore Checkerspot, Little Wood Satyr, and Long Dash.

Valerie Freer, Arlene Borko and Mary Collier covered the eastern part of the count circle and found a total of 18 species. They had a whopping 222 European Skippers. They had the only Meadow Fritillary, Compton Tortoiseshell, Little Glassywing, and Delaware Skippers.

Ruth Shursky and I covered the southern part of the count circle and ended up finding 16 species. Our butterfly of the day was the Cabbage White, we found 427 of them. We had the only Eastern Comma, Black Swallowtail, Great Spangled Fritillary, Painted Lady, Northern Pearly-Eye, and Silver-spotted Skippers. Amazingly we did not have any European Skippers!

Between all the teams, 96 miles were driven, 3 miles were walked and a total of 13.5 man hours were put into this project. It produced 28 species of Butterflies with a total of 1173 individuals, our highest count ever. This was also our highest count ever of Monarchs, 22 and 1 egg. It’s a good feeling to know that they have made a comeback since the freeze a few years ago that killed many of them in their Mexico wintering grounds. This fall we will be tagging Monarchs on their southward migration (see article on Monarch Watch).

The Hall’s Mills butterfly count coordinated by Stu Alexander was held on July 7th. Four teams racked up 14.5 hours, 89 miles by car, and 7 miles on foot. The morning started out at 68 degrees and warmed up to 82 with the sun shinning all day.

Stu and Valerie Alexander along with Randy and Nick Golemboski found 22 species from Frost Valley to Blue Hill.

Russell and Cathy Scheirer found 9 species in the 1 mile that they walked between the New Age Health Spa and Curry.

Renee Davis
Warblings, September-October 2007

2006Posted 9/11/06       

For the fourth year, Sullivan Co Audubon sponsored two very successful “Fourth of July” butterfly counts. The first one, led by Renee Davis & Valerie Freer on July 2 in the southern part of the county, produced 41 species, and the second on July 8 led by Stu Alexander in the northern part found 36 species. Four teams took part in each count. Both counts featured small butterflies called Hairstreaks this year, as 5 kinds were found on each count including three not found before on these counts: the Coral Hairstreak, Gray Hairstreak and “Northern” version of the Southern Hairstreak. “Fourth of July” butterfly count results are sent to the North American Butterfly Association which publishes them annually.

Photos see our Warbler insert Great Spangled Fritillary photo by Valerie Freer (328KB, Requires Adobe Reader) Download Acrobat Now

European Skippers (231) were also most abundant on the July 8 count, followed by 161 Delaware Skippers and 98 Little Glassywings. Other interesting species on that count included 19 Canadian Tiger Swallowtails, 29 Atlantis Fritillaries and 2 Hickory Hairstreaks.

Participants in the two counts included Stu and Valerie Alexander, Arlene Borko, Mary Collier, Gordon Czop, Renee Davis, Valerie Freer, Randy Golemboski, John Haas, Jamie Lo, Russell and Cathy Scheirer, Ruth Shursky, and Richard and Marilyn Stein.

Valerie Freer
Warblings, September-October 2006

2004Posted 9/11/06       

Once again Sullivan Co. Audubon sponsored two “Fourth of July” butterfly counts–one on July 3rd in the same circle we use for Christmas Counts, and the second on July 10 in a circle centered in Halls Mills. Both had good sunny weather, and were very successful.

The first count was held for the 11th consecutive year. Four groups of butterfliers found 37 species altogether, the second highest count we have had in this circle. The team of Bill Cutler, Scott Graber, and Beth Barker led with 25 species, which they found in essentially only three areas: the landfill in Monticello, the Concord ski hill, and Rubin’s Farm. A second team consisted of Stu and Valerie Alexander, Russ Shierer, and Marshall and Nancy Shnider, who searched the Bashakill and Yankee Lake areas. They had a great day, adding a Mulberrywing to our cumulative list. (The Cutler team and the Alexander team each found five Striped Hairstreaks, another new species for our butterfly count list.) The Freer/Collier team went to Rock Hill locations, and they found a Zabulon Skipper and four Atlantis Fritillaries, both new butterflies for this count. Ruth Shursky and Irene Warschauer drove the western part of the circle where they found a good variety, including the only two Black Swallowtails of the day.

The following week the Halls Mills count, organized by Stu Alexander, was held for the second year. Three teams participated, finding a total of 38 species. Stu and Valerie Alexander, Susan, Claire and Leo Sherf, Russell Schierer, and Alex Huncosky and Ashley made up one team. They had a fabulous day at Frost Valley, Claryville and Blue Hill, and came up with a great total of 33 species! Their best butterfly by far was a Buckeye, a wanderer from the south. Russell and Cathy Schierer made up another team, and they searched Wildman Hill, Neversink to New Age Health Spa to find 17 species, including the only Striped Hairstreaks for this count. The third team of Valerie Freer and Phyllis Jones covered Aden Road to Willowemoc, finding 24 species and contributing the only Coral Hairstreaks and Black Swallowtails of the day.

These counts are projects of the North American Butterfly Association, which publishes the results from about 500 such counts from around the continent. Contact one of the leaders if you would like to join us next year, and check our website (Sullivanaudubon.org) to see an updated list of butterflies of Sullivan County.

Valerie Freer
Warblings, September-October 2004