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Buncombe County
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: Buncombe County
- From: Alex Netherton <alexnetherton@charter.net>
- Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 14:52:51 -0400
- Delivered-to: pardo@metalab.unc.edu
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
- User-agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.5b) Gecko/20030723 Thunderbird/0.1
Hi folks;
While walking in the Haw Creek Park, which has a few butterfly plants
(Joe-Pye and others) I saw a curious sight. I was being walked by our
Pug, which took most of my attention, but I looked up into the trees for
a minute and saw Tiger Swallowtails flying around in the tops of Tulip
Trees (Yellow Poplar - Liriodendron tulipifera), and also in the tops of
Wild Cherry (Prunus serotina). Egg laying?
Also saw a pair on a neighbors Butterfly Bush in a mating dance. One was
a black phase female - the male was of course yellow and black. Ever
notice how many people call a Tiger a Monarch???
Also have been seeing a bewildering array of Grass Skippers. One which
sticks in my mind (seen with wings folded) has all yellow wings with a
half moon of brown near the body. I looked at the
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/chklist/states/nc.htm
web site and it looked like a Zabulon. Also checked it with Randy's
site. I am about 87% sure, but I want some feedback; are Zabulons likely
in Buncombe county right now? Seen at woods edges, usually perched about
5 feet from the ground or nectaring at the same height.
Seen a number of white butterflies, probably Cabbage, but would like to
see a Checkered. Very few sulphurs. Seen a few Spicebush ST's, but in no
way as plentiful as Tigers.
Good Leppin'
Alex Netherton, the Appalachian Naturalist
alex@alexnetherton.com