Devin Floyd 8/21/10 Devin Floyd 8/21/10

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:

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/ncP11l.shtml

Devin Floyd 5/2/10 Devin Floyd 5/2/10

The May 1 Byrom Park Bioblitz, species noted by Team 10

The Central Virginia Blue Ridge

has a new forest preserve on the way. On May 1, a large group of scientists and naturalists (60+) descended upon the area for a preliminary biological assessment. I was on team 10, and here are some of the things we saw.

-On the eastern flank of the Blue Ridge in Central Virginia

-Lat/long: 38.227902,-78.660403

-Elevation survey range (Trail E) 1270' -1850'

-Survey Team #10

Geology

-Catoctin Formation (Metabasalt)

-Charnockite

At site E-10, in the stream, there were large and beautiful specimens of microcrystaline quartz ranging from bright greens to deep reds. This very well could have been a material source for Native Americans.

Noteable Habitats

Wildflower meadow (E-1).

This spot is unusual in that it is a bit of a flat area on the mountainside. The bedrock is the mafic and mineral rich Catoctin greenstone, probably adding to the diversity at the site. This habitat would be a good wildflower destination, particularly for its thick grove of showy orchis, but also for the dozen or so other wildflowers that are blooming there on May 1.

Mafic Boulder (E-2).