Sky Meadows/Thompson 4th of July Butterfly Count - 2025 results

[Scott Baron]

Hi, everyone.

The 17th annual Sky Meadows/Thompson 4th of July Butterfly Count was held on Saturday June 21. It was our hottest count day since this circle was established in 2009. With a high temp of 89F, it just beat the 88F high recorded in 2010 and 2020. The sunshine and the humidity created rather uncomfortable conditions.

26 participants butterflied for 19.5 party hours and 17.5 party miles. We found 32 species and 355 individuals. The number of individual butterflies is low, the number of species is about average. We found no rarities this year.

This year, the team from the Piedmont Environmental Council counted on their property, some of which lies near the Sky Meadows State Park's Ambassador Whitehouse Trail. Blandy/VA State Arboretum, the lake at Thompson WMA and much of Sky Meadows SP were also surveyed. We unfortunately were not able to field a team at Oak Spring Garden this year. 

Thank you to each of you who helped make this year's count a success! I know that people are busy and it can be difficult to carve out time for activities like this. This survey is part of a larger effort to document butterfly populations all over the continent.

Please forward this email to those who counted but whose email I do not have.

The first number is the total. Then in parenthesis I split it into Sky Meadows first, the second is Piedmont Environmental Council, third is Thompson WMA, last is Blandy.

Pipevine Swallowtail, 1 (0/0/0/1)

Zebra Swallowtail, 12 (10/1/1/0)

Black Swallowtail, 2 (0/1/0/1)

E. Tiger Swallowtail, 1 (0/0/1/0) Very low

Spicebush Swallowtail, 2 (0/0/2/0)

Cabbage White, 67 (16/0/1/50)

Clouded Sulphur, 11 (3/0/1/7)

Orange Sulphur, 26 (2/0/0/24)

Sleepy Orange, 2 (1/0/0/1)

sulphur sp., 7 (4/0/0/3)

Banded Hairstreak, 1 (0/0/0/1)

Gray Hairstreak, 2 (1/0/0/1)

E. Tailed-Blue, 67 (36/3/11/17)

Summer Azure, 22 (15/0/3/4)

Am. Snout, 16 (6/0/5/5) High

Great Spangled Fritillary, 43 (23/19/0/1)

fritillary sp., 1 (1/0/0/0)

Pearl Crescent, 4 (1/0/0/3)

Question Mark, 2 (0/0/2/0)

E. Comma, 2 (0/0/1/1)

Am. Lady, 1 (0/1/0/0)

Painted Lady, 1 (0/0/0/1) 4th count record.

Red Admiral, 3 (1/0/1/1)

Red-spotted Purple, 1 (1/0/0/0)

Hackberry Emperor, 5 (1/0/1/3)

Tawny Emperor, 3 (0/0/3/0)

emperor sp., 1 (1/0/0/0)

Little Wood Satyr, 1 (0/0/1/0)

Monarch, 4 (3/0/0/1)

Silver-spotted Skipper, 17 (5/4/2/6)

Wild Indigo Duskywing, 8 (0/0/0/8) High. 4th count record.

spreadwinged skipper sp., 1 (0/1/0/0)

Least Skipper, 2 (1/0/0/1)

Little Glassywing, 8 (1/0/1/6)

Zabulon Skipper, 3 (3/0/0/0)

Dun Skipper, 1 (1/0/0/0)

grass skipper sp., 3 (1/0/2/0)

Thank you,

Scott Baron

Damascus, MD.