Durham Butterfly Count

by Jeffrey S. Pippen | Jeff's Butterfly Page | Jeff's Nature Page

Welcome to the Durham Butterfly Count information page. This survey is part of the North American Butterfly Association's (NABA) "Fourth of July" or Seasonal Butterfly Count program. The Durham Count was established in 1999 and has been conducted annually except in 2004 when it was weathered out by a hurricane! Many other butterfly surveys take place across North Carolina. For a list of surveys and schedules, consult the Carolina Butterfly Society website.

We meet each year in the parking lot of the North Carolina Museum of Life & Science on Murry Ave in Durham. From there we divide into groups, pairing beginners with experienced butterfliers. We then set out to designated areas to survey the butterflies all day, reconvening back at the Museum in the late afternoon to compile our results. Many thanks to the Museum for allowing us use of their facilities!

The next scheduled count is Sunday August 16, 2009. Please contact me if you're interested at: jspippen@duke.edu

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2008

Thanks to everyone for helping out -- despite the rainy beginning, we had a great count!

COUNT CIRCLE

MEDIA COVERAGE

PARTICIPANTS

RESULTS

Below are two tables showing data from the surveys. This first table shows all the butterfly species ever reported on a Durham Butterfly Count with the 9-year average number of individuals found. The bottom table shows the compiled results with a separate column for each year of the survey.

DURHAM BUTTERFLY COUNT COMPILATION SUMMARY									
									
Avg	Species	
10	Pipevine Swallowtail
1	Zebra Swallowtail
18	Black Swallowtail
370	Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
50	Spicebush Swallowtail
1	Checkered White
12	Cabbage White
1	Great Southern White
9	Clouded Sulphur
18	Orange Sulphur
111	Cloudless Sulphur
2	Little Yellow
127	Sleepy Orange
2	Great Purple Hairstreak
4	Juniper Hairstreak
1	White M Hairstreak
27	Gray Hairstreak
14	Red-banded Hairstreak
131	Eastern Tailed-Blue
41	Summer Azure
8	American Snout
1	Gulf Fritillary
149	Variegated Fritillary
4	Great Spangled Fritillary
15	Silvery Checkerspot
242	Pearl Crescent
19	Question Mark
8	Eastern Comma
12	American Lady
8	Painted Lady
20	Red Admiral
295	Common Buckeye
58	Red-spotted Purple
23	Viceroy
18	Hackberry Emperor
18	Tawny Emporer
10	Northern Pearly-Eye
5	Appalachian Brown
7	Gemmed Satyr
101	Carolina Satyr
4	Common Wood-Nymph
76	Monarch
168	Silver-spotted Skipper
1	Long-tailed Skipper
12	Hoary Edge
5	Southern Cloudywing
1	Northern Cloudywing
3	Hayhurst's Scallopwing
26	Horace's Duskywing
2	Zarucco Duskywing
6	Wild Indigo Duskywing
23	Com. Checkered-Skipper
4	Common Sootywing
14	Swarthy Skipper
48	Clouded Skipper
32	Least Skipper
283	Fiery Skipper
3	Tawny-edged Skipper
28	Crossline Skipper
45	Southern Broken-Dash
5	Northern Broken-Dash
34	Little Glassywing
925	Sachem
6	Delaware Skipper
65	Zabulon Skipper
3	Dion Skipper
23	Dun Skipper
1	Eufala Skipper
21	Ocola Skipper

8	butterfly sp.
23	caterpillars
15	eggs
2	chrysalids

5	Avg parties
31	Avg party hours
66	Avg party miles
1	Avg garden watchers

	
3797	Avg Individuals
69	Total Cumulative Species

The table below shows the compiled results for each year of the survey.

DURHAM BUTTERFLY COUNT COMPILATION SUMMARY									

Avg	Species			YEAR:	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2005	2006	2007	2008				

10	Pipevine Swallowtail		2	8	7	12	8	4	18	6	22
1	Zebra Swallowtail						1		1	1	
18	Black Swallowtail		12	36	15	35	12	9	18	11	15
370	Eastern Tiger Swallowtail	21	1380	44	708	218	132	608	158	62
50	Spicebush Swallowtail		25	85	26	78	53	21	108	27	29
1	Checkered White				1							
12	Cabbage White			1	27	4	1	59	2	3	5	8
1	Great Southern White										1
9	Clouded Sulphur			3	17	4	20				1	9
18	Orange Sulphur			26	24	18	41	1	19	13	7	12
111	Cloudless Sulphur		5	83	45	168	61	138	214	126	155
2	Little Yellow			2	1		1					3
127	Sleepy Orange			23	37	57	554	28	142	109	129	67
2	Great Purple Hairstreak					2					
4	Juniper Hairstreak		2	9		6	2			5	2
1	White M Hairstreak			1						1	2
27	Gray Hairstreak			12	16	4	110	8	32	19	19	25
14	Red-banded Hairstreak			16		12	2		3	37	16
131	Eastern Tailed-Blue		29	227	45	266	26	95	70	72	352
41	Summer Azure			7	137	42	100	15	38	6	11	12
8	American Snout			1	14	7	10	24	2	10	1	3
1	Gulf Fritillary											1
149	Variegated Fritillary		54	52	29	628	10	59	359	72	76
4	Great Spangled Fritillary	1	9	1	9		1	4	4	3
15	Silvery Checkerspot			29		41	2	5	15	9	1
242	Pearl Crescent			44	828	20	479	241	96	85	216	171
19	Question Mark			5	42	11	3	75	3	8	15	10
8	Eastern Comma			2	25	3	3	12	6	4	5	
12	American Lady			1	14	8	4	49	2	4	6	22
8	Painted Lady					2		1	20			
20	Red Admiral			1	10	48	6	41	6	2	56	6
295	Common Buckeye			162	174	55	1236	252	168	256	100	253
58	Red-spotted Purple		4	280	11	32	55	50	32	46	8
23	Viceroy				5	31	22	9	21	21	29	52	21
18	Hackberry Emperor		7	20	22	10	19	4	22	37	18
18	Tawny Emporer			68	5	4	4	25	11	11	
10	Northern Pearly-Eye		3	5	19	14		14	8	2	17
5	Appalachian Brown					8	1	7			2
7	Gemmed Satyr			25	2	4	2	2	10	12	2
101	Carolina Satyr			6	334	14	90	20	255	92	72	25
4	Common Wood-Nymph		1	5	5	3	3	3	3	1	10
76	Monarch				14	109	180	24	5	29	137	103	86
168	Silver-spotted Skipper		80	206	131	77	421	185	135	102	171
1	Long-tailed Skipper			1							
12	Hoary Edge			24	25	13	18	8	3	5	6	10
5	Southern Cloudywing		5	7	12	5	3	1	1		3
1	Northern Cloudywing		2			1				1	1
3	Hayhurst's Scallopwing					3				2	
26	Horace's Duskywing		7	45	32	45	24	2	31	20	29
2	Zarucco Duskywing			3	1	3	1		1		1
6	Wild Indigo Duskywing		1	1	5	1	13	5	5	7	14
23	Com. Checkered-Skipper		6	41	8	31	17	16	28	31	33
4	Common Sootywing			3		7	11	2	1	1	
14	Swarthy Skipper			2	36	8	10	11	29	16	6	8
48	Clouded Skipper			6	121	12	30	72	28	13	47	101
32	Least Skipper			9	51	3	39	13	29	40	59	42
283	Fiery Skipper			251	109	175	104	256	77	633	420	525
3	Tawny-edged Skipper			5			1	2	3		2
28	Crossline Skipper		17	29	7	18	5	51	92	18	16
45	Southern Broken-Dash		22	30	26	23	32	84	50	101	41
5	Northern Broken-Dash		2	9	9	7		5	5	3	1
34	Little Glassywing		56	18	21	25	13	75	34	30	32
925	Sachem				76	1838	478	2707	334	152	1389	640	713
6	Delaware Skipper		1	10	2	9	7	11	6	5	3
65	Zabulon Skipper			25	148	88	61	9	61	19	51	122
3	Dion Skipper						3	1	7	1	1	
23	Dun Skipper			5	30	7	21	18	19	32	57	21
1	Eufala Skipper			1	2	1			1			1
21	Ocola Skipper			16	8	2	56	38	39	16	1	10

8	butterfly sp.					3			21		5	3
23	caterpillars			32	35	36	6	1	1	33	33	33
15	eggs										15		
2	chrysalids										2	

5	Total parties			3	6	6	6	3.5	5	6	5	6
31	Total party hours		15.5	42	36.5	41.8	20	21	39.5	28	31
66	Total party miles		53	110	136	77	24	53	56	65.5	23
1	Total garden watchers		0	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	0

					1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2005	2006	2007	2008
3797	Total Individuals:		1095	6955	1819	8035	2639	2315	4837	3050	3430
56	Total Species:			51	60	52	60	55	55	55	57	59

AVG				YEAR	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2005	2006	2007	2008									

Thanks to everyone who has helped over the years!

North Carolina Butterflies | North American Butterflies | Jeff's Nature Page

Created on ... Sep 24, 2007 | jspippen@duke.edu