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 19, 2012. Please contact me if you're interested at: jspippen@duke.edu

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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 12-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	
9	Pipevine Swallowtail
4	Zebra Swallowtail
16	Black Swallowtail
346	Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
45	Spicebush Swallowtail
1	Checkered White
10	Cabbage White
1	Great Southern White
7	Clouded Sulphur
16	Orange Sulphur
117	Cloudless Sulphur
2	Little Yellow
168	Sleepy Orange
1	Harvester
2	Great Purple Hairstreak
4	Juniper Hairstreak
1	White M Hairstreak
27	Gray Hairstreak
12	Red-banded Hairstreak
147	Eastern Tailed-Blue
37	Summer Azure
7	American Snout
1	Gulf Fritillary
127	Variegated Fritillary
5	Great Spangled Fritillary
23	Silvery Checkerspot
223	Pearl Crescent
2	Mourning Cloak
18	Question Mark
7	Eastern Comma
10	American Lady
6	Painted Lady
21	Red Admiral
308	Common Buckeye
54	Red-spotted Purple
22	Viceroy
18	Hackberry Emperor
14	Tawny Emporer
10	Northern Pearly-Eye
5	Appalachian Brown
7	Gemmed Satyr
139	Carolina Satyr
4	Common Wood-Nymph
64	Monarch
156	Silver-spotted Skipper
1	Long-tailed Skipper
12	Hoary Edge
4	Southern Cloudywing
1	Northern Cloudywing
4	Hayhurst's Scallopwing
24	Horace's Duskywing
2	Zarucco Duskywing
5	Wild Indigo Duskywing
33	Com. Checkered-Skipper
4	Common Sootywing
22	Swarthy Skipper
48	Clouded Skipper
30	Least Skipper
261	Fiery Skipper
3	Tawny-edged Skipper
30	Crossline Skipper
48	Southern Broken-Dash
7	Northern Broken-Dash
43	Little Glassywing
955	Sachem
6	Delaware Skipper
68	Zabulon Skipper
5	Dion Skipper
32	Dun Skipper
1	Eufala Skipper
16	Ocola Skipper

8	butterfly sp.
25	caterpillars
15	eggs
2	chrysalids

5	Average Total parties
30	Average Total party hours
54	Average Total party miles
1	Average # garden watchers

	
3844	Average Total Individuals:
124	Average Total Indiv per Party Hr
56	Average Total Species:
	
71	Total Diversity over all years

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

DURHAM BUTTERFLY COUNT COMPILATION SUMMARY									

Avg	Species			1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011				
Pipevine Swallowtail		2	8	7	12	8	4	18	6	22	8	4	7
Zebra Swallowtail						1		1	1		1	18	
Black Swallowtail		12	36	15	35	12	9	18	11	15	9	2	
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail	21	1380	44	708	218	132	608	158	62	65	697	63
Spicebush Swallowtail		25	85	26	78	53	21	108	27	29	38	25	28
Checkered White				1										
Cabbage White			1	27	4	1	59	2	3	5	8	2	10	3
Great Southern White										1			
Clouded Sulphur			3	17	4	20				1	9	1	1	
Orange Sulphur			26	24	18	41	1	19	13	7	12	18	15	3
Cloudless Sulphur		5	83	45	168	61	138	214	126	155	75	299	32
Little Yellow			2	1		1					3		3	
Sleepy Orange			23	37	57	554	28	142	109	129	67	107	521	246
Harvester														1
Great Purple Hairstreak					2								
Juniper Hairstreak		2	9		6	2			5	2		2	4
White M Hairstreak		1						1	2			
Gray Hairstreak			12	16	4	110	8	32	19	19	25	16	40	26
Red-banded Hairstreak		16		12	2		3	37	16	1	7	13
Eastern Tailed-Blue		29	227	45	266	26	95	70	72	352	278	170	133
Summer Azure			7	137	42	100	15	38	6	11	12	39	32	1
American Snout			1	14	7	10	24	2	10	1	3	3	9	5
Gulf Fritillary											1			1
Variegated Fritillary		54	52	29	628	10	59	359	72	76	50	67	69
Great Spangled Fritillary	1	9	1	9		1	4	4	3	8	9	8
Silvery Checkerspot		29		41	2	5	15	9	1	5	117	8
Pearl Crescent			44	828	20	479	241	96	85	216	171	107	205	181
Mourning Cloak												2		
Question Mark			5	42	11	3	75	3	8	15	10	16	17	5
Eastern Comma			2	25	3	3	12	6	4	5		8	5	4
American Lady			1	14	8	4	49	2	4	6	22	6	3	2
Painted Lady					2		1	20				1		
Red Admiral			1	10	48	6	41	6	2	56	6	8	60	10
Common Buckeye			162	174	55	1236	252	168	256	100	253	229	639	175
Red-spotted Purple		4	280	11	32	55	50	32	46	8	58	37	35
Viceroy				5	31	22	9	21	21	29	52	21	18	26	12
Hackberry Emperor		7	20	22	10	19	4	22	37	18	16	12	23
Tawny Emporer				68	5	4	4	25	11	11		9	2	5
Northern Pearly-Eye		3	5	19	14		14	8	2	17	8	8	12
Appalachian Brown					8	1	7			2	11		3
Gemmed Satyr				25	2	4	2	2	10	12	2	6	6	5
Carolina Satyr			6	334	14	90	20	255	92	72	25	287	98	373
Common Wood-Nymph		1	5	5	3	3	3	3	1	10	8	4	1
Monarch				14	109	180	24	5	29	137	103	86	33	39	3
Silver-spotted Skipper		80	206	131	77	421	185	135	102	171	159	118	85
Long-tailed Skipper			1										
Hoary Edge			24	25	13	18	8	3	5	6	10	14		3
Southern Cloudywing		5	7	12	5	3	1	1		3	2		1
Northern Cloudywing		2			1				1	1		2	1
Hayhurst's Scallopwing					3				2			6	
Horace's Duskywing		7	45	32	45	24	2	31	20	29	21	21	14
Zarucco Duskywing			3	1	3	1		1		1	1		
Wild Indigo Duskywing		1	1	5	1	13	5	5	7	14	4	4	3
Com. Checkered-Skipper		6	41	8	31	17	16	28	31	33	46	61	75
Common Sootywing			3		7	11	2	1	1		4	1	2
Swarthy Skipper			2	36	8	10	11	29	16	6	8	22	95	18
Clouded Skipper			6	121	12	30	72	28	13	47	101	80	29	42
Least Skipper			9	51	3	39	13	29	40	59	42	46	13	15
Fiery Skipper			251	109	175	104	256	77	633	420	525	88	240	251
Tawny-edged Skipper			5			1	2	3		2	4		4
Crossline Skipper		17	29	7	18	5	51	92	18	16	45	25	31
Southern Broken-Dash		22	30	26	23	32	84	50	101	41	57	65	40
Northern Broken-Dash		2	9	9	7		5	5	3	1	9		15
Little Glassywing		56	18	21	25	13	75	34	30	32	42	33	142
Sachem				76	1838	478	2707	334	152	1389	640	713	412	599	2118
Delaware Skipper		1	10	2	9	7	11	6	5	3	3	2	9
Zabulon Skipper			25	148	88	61	9	61	19	51	122	148	32	53
Dion Skipper						3	1	7	1	1		3	6	18
Dun Skipper			5	30	7	21	18	19	32	57	21	29	53	97
Eufala Skipper			1	2	1			1			1			
Ocola Skipper			16	8	2	56	38	39	16	1	10	1	2	3

butterfly sp.					3			21		5	3			
caterpillars			32	35	36	6	1	1	33	33	33		38	23
eggs										15					
chrysalids										2				

Total parties			3	6	6	6	3.5	5	6	5	6	6	5	6
Total party hours		15.5	42	36.5	41.8	20	21	39.5	28	31	28.75	27.5	28
Total party miles		53	110	136	77	24	53	56	65.5	23	18.75	16.5	16.5
Total garden watchers		0	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	0	1	0	0

Total Individuals:		1095	6955	1819	8035	2639	2315	4837	3050	3430	2795	4616	4540
Total Indiv per Party Hr	71	166	50	192	132	110	122	109	111	97	168	162
Total Species:			51	60	52	60	55	55	55	57	59	59	55	57

				1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011									

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