19th Annual San Francisco Butterfly Count

Greetings Butterfly Lovers -

The Meteorologists came through for us; Sunday, June 8th was indeed a warm one. Such a relief for me walking up that hill to the Randall Museum with actual butterfly weather over my head. But where they got it wrong was the Marine Layer, predicted to return the next day, came roaring back like a freight train around noon and skunked out the East Side/Presidio groups. Those of us combing the west of the county did well and those of us who got to the two northeastern islands in the count - Angel and Yerba Buena - did exceptionally well.

16 people in 9 parties spread throughout the 15-mile-across count circle, with Mount Olympus as the geographic center.
The Results of the 19th Annual San Francisco Butterfly Count,
(sponsored by the North American Butterfly Association) were:

Western Tiger Swallowtail (P. rutulus) -- 31, Anise Swallowtail (P. zelicaon) --32, Pipevine Swallowtail (B. philenor) - 155 ( That was a Record High for this species for this count- thanks Al DeMartini out on Angel Island - 140 alone!), Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) -120 , Gray Hairstreak (S. melinus)-- 4, Spring Azure/Echo Blue (C. ladon echo) - 82, Acmon Blue (P. acmon) --7, Gulf Fritillary( A. vanillae) -- 8 (dependable population at Alemany Farm) , Field Crescent (P. puchella) - 13 , Mylitta Crescent (P. mylitta) - 10, California Sister (A. bredowii) - 18 ( *Angel Island - rare in our city proper), American Painted Lady (V. virginiensis) --2, Painted Lady (V. cardui) -4 , West Coast Painted Lady (V. annabella) -- 8, Red Admiral (V. atalanta)--30 , Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) --66 , ' California' Common Ringlet (C. tullia californica) --8 , *Common Wood Nymph (C. pegala) -- 21, *Mournful Duskywing (E. tristis) -- 1, Common Checkered-Skipper (P. communis)--29 , Fiery Skipper (H. phyleus) -- 7, Sandhill Skipper( P. sabuleti) - 17, Umber Skipper (P. melane) -29 , Rural Skipper (O. agricola) (First time to Count. I actually discovered this species breeding in our county a few years back while surveying Coast Guard property on Yerba Buena Island) - 1
Unidentified Papilionidae: 0, Unid Ladies: 2 , Unid. Nymphalidae: 7,Unid. Hesperiidae: 21, Unid. Lycaenidae: 5
Total species: 24 (last year- 26), Total individuals: 773 (last year - 916) .
Observations: 1)The season was advanced out there, more like mid-summer. Many butterflies came and went quickly because of the low rain we had in the spring. Holding the count this early in the Count Season ( June 1st - July 31st), I thought we might get the jump on the last of the spring fliers: Large Marbles, Mission Blues ( I still dream of bringing a Green Hairstreak to this count...), but California has a way of doing anything it wants when it comes to "spring". 2) I also thought it was interesting that Al did not see any Cabbage Whites out on Angel Island. Might be an reflection of weed control and restoration? 3) No Orange Sulfurs this year - the guaranteed population on Lobos Dunes in the Presidio remained hunkered down in the inclement weather. 4) Didn't have enough parties to get to Heron's Head for Pygmy Blues.
A big thanks to all involved.
Mark your calendars - next year is the Count's 20th Anniversary. Wanna do something big to celebrate

Posted on June 12, 2013 01:56 AM by robberfly