Two club members are baffled as to where all the butterflies went.
Actually, they're baffled as to where a beautiful, newly-emerged gray hairstreak went. 
The butterfly had disappeared as soon as we tried to get a picture.


Field Trip Report: Gary and Diane Cole's Property
  September 13, 2009

What a beautiful day to be out hunting bugs!  Despite the beautiful weather, butterflies weren't super abundant - but we still saw 15 species on our trip (not shabby at all), including a variegated fritillary.  But I think the highlights of the trip were the predators of bugs.  We saw Carolina and Chinese mantids, both common species of Argiope (garden) spiders, and quite a few dragonflies for this late in the year.  A big thanks to Gary and Diane Cole for letting us visit and enjoy their beautiful property again this year!

Our butterfly species list was:  giant swallowtail (caterpillar), cabbage white, clouded sulphur, orange sulphur, eastern tailed-blue, gray hairstreak, pearl crescent, painted lady, variegated fritillary, common buckeye, red-spotted purple, least skipper, fiery skipper, Peck's skipper, and sachem.

Our dragonfly list was: common green darner, eastern pondhawk, widow skimmer, eastern amberwing, and autumn meadowhawk.

*If anyone wants to provide more complete information or corrections for any of the below items, feel free to contact the club by email*

All photos copyright Paul V. Switzer. Please do not use without permission



Female sachem skipper


Male sachem skipper

Pearl crescent

  Eastern pondhawk

Autumn meadowhawk
  Widow skimmer

Black and Yellow Argiope
Black and Yellow Argiope
I varied the lighting in these pictures of the spider and those of the mantid below to alter the "mood" of the image.

Chinese mantid portrait
Chineses mantid portrait

Banded Argiope and grasshopper
This grasshopper had just blundered into the spider's web.  The spider, which was definitely the smaller of the two, would quickly dart up, bite the grasshopper and hit it with some silk, and then dart away, repeating this process many times until the grasshopper was subdued.
Unidentified orb weaver spider
and newly captured stinkbug.

Green darner
Compass plant


Unidentified katydid on rattlesnake master.


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