After a pleasant lunch together, Jason gathered us in the Big Bear pavilion to talk about butterflies in general, monarchs in particular and how to use a net. There are 105 species of butterflies in Macon County, 8th highest in North Carolina. Detailed info can be found at http://nature123.net/pdf/23rd.pdf Butterflies of North Carolina, updated every year for 23 years.
Guides recommended by Jason are
Butterflies through Binoculars: The East by Jeffrey Glassberg
Butterflies of the Carolinas Field Guide by Jaret C. Daniels
On the walk, using a net presented a challenge and made for some interesting “ballet” moves, but we were able to catch and identify 11 species, listed here in the order they were found.
Sachem Skipper
Pearl Crescent
Viceroy
Cabbage White (only exotic)
Ocola Skipper (first seen in Macon County in 2014)
Red-spotted Purple
Eastern Tailed-Blue
Orange Sulphur
Common Buckeye
Cloudless Sulphur
Great Spangled Fritillary
We were happy to have Sara Posey, Hiawassee Programs Manager of Mainspring Conservation Trust, with Jason. She will be having a birds & butterflies celebration at Welch Farm on October 1 (8 - 10am - birds, 10-noon - butterflies). This is open for the general public and I’m sure Sara would love to have volunteers to help. You can contact her at sposey@mainspringconserves.org or 828-837-6383.
Thanks to Jason for sharing his knowledge of butterflies and for helping us to see and identify them - and make note of the host plants that support them.
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| Jason Love teaching us about Butterflies |
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| Viceroy |
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| Yellow Bear Caterpillar |
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