Disk Smith Memorial Butterfly Walk
| Trip leaders: Annette Allor, Linda Hunt, Kathy Litzinger, & Woody Merkle Recorder: Cris Ausin |
Date of trip: August 30, 2025 |
| Location: Elkhorn Garden Plots | Number attending: 14 |
| Details: The ambient temperature was 63 degrees, cool for butterflies, but gorgeous weather for participants. Tiger swallowtails drifted by and skippers were basking in the sun. We started with the “Upper,” organic gardens and then crossed over the parking area to the main garden plots. We walked along the mowed grass paths between the fenced gardens. By noon we had found 22 species representing a variety of late summer species. Eastern Tiger Swallowtails (53 individuals) predominated. We saw only six Monarchs and small numbers of Sleepy Orange, Variegated Fritillary, Painted Lady, Red-spotted Purple and Common Buckeye. One focus for the walk was finding skippers that were “not Sachem,” something black or dark brown, something unusual or rare. Eventually we tallied nine skipper species, including uncountable numbers of Sachem and 30+ Least Skipper, an unusually large number for the smallest butterfly that occurs in Howard County. Finally, at the end of our walk, we did spot a small dark brown skipper, a rare Clouded Skipper, that uncharacteristically posed in a sunny spot for everyone to see. |
|
Silver-spotted Skipper: 8
Horace’s Duskywing: 2
Wild Indigo Duskywing: 2
Clouded Skipper: 1
Least Skipper: 30
Peck’s Skipper: 3
Sachem: 70
Zabulon Skipper: 5
Dun Skipper: 1
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail: 53
Spicebush Swallowtail: 2
Cabbage White: 32
Orange Sulphur: 3
Sleepy Orange: 2
Gray Hairstreak: 1
Eastern Tailed-Blue: 15
Variegated Fritillary: 8
Pearl Crescent: 1
Painted Lady: 1
Common Buckeye: 3
Red-spotted Purple: 1
Monarch – adult: 6
Monarch – caterpillar: 1