Brazos Bend SP - Annual NABA Butterfly Count

Scott and I joined up with several other BBSP volunteers to participate in the October 4th annual NABA (North American Butterfly Assn.) butterfly count -- our first. It was a clear and beautiful morning and we were greeted by White-tailed deer eating oak acorns and the most vocal Gray Catbird. Meeting. Our assignment was the Red Buckeye Trail and the south part of the White Oak Trail at the southeast corner of the park. It was a slow day for butterflies, but certainly not disappointing.

http://www.brazosbend.org/activities/butterflycount.shtml

In all for the morning, we logged 17 species: Cloudless Sulphur, Little Yellow, Gulf Fritillary, Phaon Crescent, Pearl Crescent, Question Mark, Gemmed Satyr, Carolina Satyr, Monarch, White-striped Longtail, Common Checkered-Skipper, Tropical Checkered-Skipper, Turk's Cap White-Skipper, Southern Broken-dash, Broad-winged Skipper, Dun Skipper, Ocala Skipper. Where the butterflies were lacking, the mosquitoes (that giant Gallinipper!) and biting gnats more than made up; thankfully, no ticks or chiggers came along for the ride.

My Life Species of the day was the Yellowjacket Hoverfly, and I stumbled upon not one but TWO different species (or variants) of Clematis ... I was careful to photo-document all parts of the plant this time for comparison.

For the NABA count, 33 species and 445 individuals were counted collectively by the group, a low count as it goes but higher than last year. Looking forward to next year's count on October 3, 2021!

Posted on October 06, 2020 03:26 PM by dirtnkids