Orange Sulfur
| Field Trip
Report: Coneflower Hill Prairie June 12, 2004 Saturday afternoon, nine
club members endured the sun, heat, and humidity at Coneflower Hill Prairie
and other areas near Sullivan, IL. The butterflies and flowers made
it all worthwhile! In total we identified 13 butterfly species and one
skipper, including several new county records for Moultrie County. Check
out the photos below (including a photo of a spicebush swallowtail caterpillar
in my yard last week - neat little bird dropping/snake head mimics that use
silk to turn a leaf into a tube for hiding). The photo of the
great spangled fritillary is from my front yard about 1/2 hr before the trip;
we saw lots at the hill prairie as well.
Our complete species list was: eastern tiger swallowtail, pipevine swallowtail, little yellow, clouded sulfur, orange sulfur, cloudless sulfur, cabbage white, eastern tailed blue, red admiral, great spangled fritillary, pearl crescent, little wood satyr, banded hairstreak, and tawny edged skipper. We also saw an unidentified anglewing sp. The banded hairstreak and tawny edged skipper were our field identifications; feel free to look at the photos to see if you have a better identification for us. |
Orange Sulfur |
Banded Hairstreak |
Tawny-edged Skipper
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Great Spangled Fritillary |
Spicebush Swallowtail (on spicebush, approximately 2 cm long) Note that the large "eyes"
are actually just decoration and make the front end of the caterpillar look
like the head of a snake to deter predators. Also, from a distance the
caterpillar looks like a bird dropping.
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