We did our Buffalo County butterfly count yesterday – Mike Reese and his son David Reese came to count with me.

We didn’t see as many butterflies as usual.  It was beautiful weather – 80 degrees and sunny with big puffy clouds – and there were plenty of flowers blooming, but just not as many butterflies.  That may be because of all the cool weather we’ve had this summer.  Mike says that all the counts he worked on had low numbers this year.

Buffalo Ridge Prairie – lots of flowers, but few butterflies.

Mike Reese

David Reese – taking a picture of Mike

Besides the butterflies, we saw a lot of these moths flitting in and out of the sedges in the wetland.  They’re called Confused Eusarcas.

We saw 32 species of butterflies;  296 individuals.

Acadian Hairstreak – 1
Aphrodite Fritillary – 9
Baltimore Checkerspot – 1
Banded Hairstreak – 8
Black Dash – 5
Black Swallowtail – 1
Clouded Sulphur – 4
Common Roadside Skipper – 3
Common Wood Nymph – 59
Compton Tortoiseshell – 5
Coral Hairstreak – 2
Delaware Skipper – 10
Dunn Skipper – 7
Eastern Tailed Blue – 6
Edward’s Hairstreak – 3
Eyed Brown – 9
Gorgone Checkerspot – 9
Great Spangled Fritillary – 22
Hackberry Emperor – 4
Little Glassywing – 2
Monarch – 16
Mourning Cloak – 6
Northern Broken Dash – 8
Northern Crescent – 18
Northern Pearly-eye – 10
Silver Bordered Fritillary – 7
Silver Spotted Skipper – 23
Striped Hairstreak – 1
Summer Azure – 3
Tawny Emperor – 2
Tiger Swallowtail – 8

Butterflies that we couldn’t identify to species:
Large Fritillaries – 17
Small Fritillaries – 1
White – 1
Blues – 1
Emperors – 3
Hairstreaks – 1

32 species (counting the White – probably a Cabbage White)
296 individuals

Here’s the link to our count numbers.