Butterflies at Big Meadows
On Saturday, August 21, the Rivanna chapter of Virginia Master Naturalists hosted a butterfly walk. The outing was organized by John Holden and the hike leader was butterfly extraordinaire, Linda Marchman.
The group of 15+ walked along a gravel road on the west end of the meadows, giving us access to the meadow wildflowers and butterflies on both sides. Some species, notably the red admiral, were enjoying the minerals in the road. Thistle and white snakeroot were in full bloom, and dense patches of these plants provided the most variety.
We quickly exhausted the two hours allotted for this walk. The plan was to take the gravel drive to the woods, pass through a fern meadow forest, and take a meandering route through the heart of the Big Meadow to return to the parking lot. The butterflies had other plans for us!
A few hungry and thirsty die-hards did stick around to complete the hike. Two additional species were spotted, the common wood nymph and the gray comma (a really cool find!).
If you are interested in learning more about the habitats at Big Meadows, visit the links below. Big meadows has the greatest variety of rare plants in the Shenandoah National Park. In fact, it is host to the only existing Northern Blue Ridge Mafic Fen plant community.
The following is a list of butterflies observed today (a total of 22 species):
Spread-wing Skippers
Horace's duskywing, Erynnis horatius
Wild indigo duskywing, Erynnis baptisiae
Silver spotted skipper, Epargyreus clarus
Common checkered-skipper, Pyrgus communis
Grass Skippers
Sachem skipper, Atalopedes campestris
Swallowtails
Eastern tiger swallowtail, Papilio glaucus
Black swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes
Spicebush Swallowtail, Papilio troilus
Whites
Cabbage white, Pieris rapae
Sulphers
Orange sulphur, Colias eurytheme
Clouded sulphur, Colias philodice
Brush-footed longwings
Variegated fritillary, Euptoieta claudia
Great Spangled fritillary, Speyeria cybele
Meadow frittillary, Boloria bellona
Brush-footed Milkweed Butterflies
Monarch, Danaus plexippus
True Brushfoots
Pearl crescent, Phyciodes tharos
Red admiral, Vanessa atalanta
American lady, Vanessa virginiensis
Painted lady, Vanessa cardui
Gray Comma, Polygonia progne
Common buckeye, Junonia coenia
Satyrs and Wood-Nymphs
Common wood nymph, Cercyonis pegala
All photographs by Devin Floyd, unless otherwise noted.
Sources:
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/
http://wisconsinbutterflies.org/butterfly
Big Meadows Links:
Comprehensive report on vegetation in the Northern Mafic Fen:
http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/NatureServe?searchCommunityUid=ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.738585
Department of Conservation and Recreation's habitat description: