Hello everyone,
Yesterday’s field trip to Bridgestone/Firestone Centennial Wilderness proved to be a gratifying experience for all who went – Deborah Paschall, George and Linda Robertson, Steve Stedman (trip leader) and I. Thankfully, we saw eight or so Baltimore Checkerspots, some within the first few minutes of our arrival at the BFCW. It was great to see them again even as I hadn’t seen this population since 2002. Steve said the whole area had been prescribed burned in March of this year. We marveled at how the Baltimores survived the fire there. They overwinter as partially-grown caterpillars who have eaten mostly turtlehead (Chelone glabra) according to most texts.
We found several of them on a drier, higher spot than we had seen them before (see above). We wondered if they were hilltopping or had just found food at the higher elevation or what – we don’t know. Others were found near the pond area just basking on grasses. One was found on a rock near the pond apparently feasting on some bird poop. I think these individuals were newly emerged adults from the overwintering caterpillars which had fed on probably a variety of foodplants this spring, pupated, and emerged. [See the list of possible spring foodplants below. These are listed for North America, so some don’t occur here. Remember, this is not Tennessee research, but a compilation of reported foodplants for this species.]
We also saw Peck’s Skippers mating (see below). Here’s what we saw in about an hour:
Date: 05/20/2006
Number of Species: 13
Number of Individuals: 57
Location:
Bridgestone/Firestone Centennial Wilderness
TN , USA
Notes: Observers: Deborah Paschall, George and Linda Robertson,
Steve Stedman (leader) and Rita Venable. This was a NABA
field trip.
11:00 – 12:00 CDT. 75 deg. Wind 5-7 mph. Overcast (50/50)
at first, changing to rain.
Plants: Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium)
-==| List of Sightings for this Field Trip |==-
Common Name Scientific Name Life Stage Number Seen Notes
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Papilio glaucus Adult 1
Spicebush Swallowtail Papilio troilus Adult 1
Clouded Sulphur Colias philodice Adult 1
Cloudless Sulphur Phoebis sennae Adult 1
Eastern Tailed-Blue Everes comyntas Adult 11
‘Spring’ Spring Azure Celastrina ladon ladon Adult 1
Pearl Crescent Phyciodes tharos Adult 4
Baltimore Checkerspot Euphydryas phaeton Adult 8 Many very fresh-looking
Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta Adult 1
Silver-spotted Skipper Epargyreus clarus Adult 1
Southern Cloudywing Thorybes bathyllus Adult 2
Northern Cloudywing Thorybes pylades Adult 1
Peck’s Skipper Polites peckius Adult 24 Mating (See photo below)
It started clouding up and raining after we had only been there about an hour, so we headed to the Virgin Falls near the Polly’s Branch parking lot to see if there were any good butterfly spots there. We found a logging area which looked promising for butterflying, but again it started to rain so we had to clear out. We saw an American Lady there with her wings spread and in the open with light rain. American Ladies are resilient, eh?
We then went to Heritage Marsh, a privately owned farm in White County where Steve has permission to go. We had found Ocola Skippers there one late summer/fall in great abundance, so we thought we would check it out in the spring. The ground was so mushy, however, and the sky so uncompromising, that we decided to call it a day after about an hour. One of the highlights for me was George finding the mulberry tree of which we all partook. The berries were not quite ripe enough but still pretty tasty. Earlier, Steve commented on the cedar waxwings in the trees; we figured they were also eating the mulberries. At Heritage Marsh we saw the following five species:
‘Spring’ Spring Azure Celastrina ladon ladon Adult 1 Nectaring on blackberry (Rubus)
Eastern Comma Polygonia comma Adult 1
Carolina Satyr Hermeuptychia sosybius Adult 1
Monarch Danaus plexippus Egg 17 Also 2 adults. Eggs were on common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Common Sootywing Pholisora catullus Adult 2 1 A, 1 caterpillar on lamb’s quarters (Chenopodium album)
After I got home, I did a little research on the Baltimore Checkerspot. We were a bit frustrated at the BFCW because we did not know what plants were there, other than a few. I looked up the host plants for the B.C. And found that in the spring, there are many! Here’s a list I found in the Scott book “The Butterflies of North America.†The page numbers below mostly refer to the new “Wildflowers of Tennessee†by TNPS.
- White turtlehead (Chelone glabra)
- Gerardia grandiflora – Genus has been renamed to Agalinus.
- G. flava -
- G. pedicularia
- Square-stemmed Monkey Flower (Mimulus ringens) – Found in TN. P. 288.
- Wood betony, forest lousewort (Pedicularis canadensis) – Found in TN P. 288.
- Mullein foxglove (Seymeria macrophylla) – I think this is Mullein foxglove (Dasistoma macrophylla) P. 284.
- Hairy beardtongue (Penstemon hirsutus) Found in TN. P. 290.
- Carpenter’s Square (Scrophularia marilandica) Found in TN. P. 247, Carmen book.
- Beaked corn salad (Valerianella radiata) Found in TN. P. 313.
- American fly honeysuckle (Lonicera canadensis) Found in TN. Rare. In Carter, Meigs and Sevier counties. P. 309.
- Swamp fly honeysuckle (L. oblongifolia) Not found in TN.
- Dwarf honeysuckle (L. xylosteum) I don’t think this is in TN, but check U.T. Herbarium. It occurs in Missouri and Virginia.
- Indiancurrant coralberry (Symphoricarpus orbiculatus) I don’t think this is in TN, but check U.T. Herbarium.
- Arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum) Found in eastern half of TN. P. 312.
- English plantain (Plantago lanceolata) Found in TN. Introduced from Eurasia, now a cosmopolitan weed of lawns and waste places. P. 276.
- American or White ash (Fraxinus americana) Found in TN.
- Goldenrod (Solidago) Found in TN.
- Wingstem (Actinomeris alternifolia) Found in TN.
- Rosaceae shrub (in spring, rarely) Found in TN.
- Hemp-nettle (Galeopsis tetrahit) Found in TN. Introduced. See http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=GATE2 for range. Not in wildflower book.
It was a fascinating trip; many thanks to Steve Stedman for leading us to the Baltimores!
Rita Venable, President
Middle Tennessee Chapter
North American Butterfly Association
P.S. Check your wetland areas in June for Baltimore Checkerspots! Please report to me if you find any. We are looking for additional populations of this scarce species. Thanks!
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