Wild Indigo Duskywing
Photo taken by Dean Gugler in Hendrie Valley

There was nothing exceptional about the count, but there were a few highlights: Wild Indigo Dusky Wing, Dreamy Dusky Wing, Common Sooty Wing and Painted Lady. The Wild Indigo Dusky Wing is a relatively new species to the Hamilton Study Area (HSA), but is rapidly increasing and will likely soon become common on this butterfly count. The Dreamy Dusky Wing is not uncommon in the HSA, but it is an early season butterfly and is usually gone by July. The Common Sooty Wing is a species of disturbed habitats, but nonetheless is still quite uncommon in the HSA. Lastly the Painted Lady is an immigrant to our area. It probably puts in an appearance here about one in three years. It has graced our area this year in modest numbers.

The count area is a 7.5 mile radius circle centred at Kirkwall and we have divided this circle into eight large territories. This year we had much reduced coverage compared to 2004. In 2004 we had parties in each territory, but this year only six territories were covered. This is obviously going to happen from time to time as July is a busy month and people cannot always commit to a butterfly count.

Possibly a good indicator of the count effort difference between 2004 and 2005 is the number of Wood Nymphs. In 2004, 1,064 were recorded and in 2005, 658 were recorded. But these are insects, folks, not birds. Insects numbers, butterflies included, can fluctuate dramatically from year to year. As an example, last year 2,969 European Skippers were tallied. In 2005, only 258 were seen even though the count effort was not that different. Obviously, butterfly counts will not be terribly reliable for surveying butterfly populations. These counts, however, will uncover new locations for the rarer species, document the arrival of new species and give us limiting dates for other species.

Coverage for the HBC will probably always be relatively thin compared to bird counts. Nonetheless, we still had a respectable list.

Species:

• Silver-spotted Skipper 1
• Dreamy Dusky Wing 2
• Wild Indigo Dusky Wing 7
• Common Sooty Wing 6
• Least Skipper 23
• European Skipper 258
• Peck's Skipper 22
• Crossline Skipper 21
• Tawny-edged Skipper 54
• Long Dash 2
• Northern Broken Dash 122
• Little Glassy Wing 9
• Delaware Skipper 9
• Hobomok Skipper 1
• Broad-winged Skipper 1
• Black Dash 7
• Dun Skipper 23
• Black Swallowtail 6
• Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 26
• Cabbage White 232
• Mustard White 1
• Orange Sulphur 11
• Common Sulphur 146
• Bronze Copper 5
• Coral Hairstreak 21
• Acadian Hairstreak 26
• Banded Hairstreak 7
• Striped Hairstreak 1
• Eastern Tailed Blue 6
• Summer Azure 5
• Great Spangled Fritillary 66
• Meadow Fritillary 5
• Silver-bordered Fritillary 1
• Orange Crescent 238
• Pearl Crescent 7
• Baltimore 7
• Question Mark 3
• Eastern Comma 1
• Mourning Cloak 14
• Red Admiral 3
• American Painted Lady 4
• Painted Lady 6
• Red-spotted Purple 21
• White Admiral 1
• Viceroy 7
• Northern Pearly Eye 30
• Marsh (Northern) Eyed Brown 78
• Appalachian Eyed Brown 76
• Little Wood Satyr 16
• Inornate Ringlet 1
• Wood Nymph 658
• Monarch 12

I would like to thank all the participants in 2005. Good work!

Participants: Jerry Chapple, Barb Charlton, Rob Dobos, Diane Green, Shirley Klement, Bill Lamond, Kevin McLaughlin, Mary Pomfret, Norm Pomfret, Elaine Serena, Brian Wylie, Chris Zoladeski.

Parties: 6

Party-Hours: 42

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