Pelee Island Butterfly Count

Over the long weekend we participated in the Pelee Island butterfly and dragonfly counts. It was really great being in the field again with Bob Bowles who not only possesses the skills of a great all-around naturalist, but is also a really swell guy with a willingness to teach. He started and later incorporated a really great not-for-profit organization called Kids for Turtles that does a lot of education and conservation work. Bob has been the organizer of the Pelee Island counts for the past 10 years or so, but this year he had some help from Kristyn Ferguson from the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

Pipevine Swallowtail

The island was split into quadrants, and we were assigned to the southeast portion with Bob and some really great people from the Nature Conservancy. I wish I had a group shot - oh well.

As far as the results of the count, I don't have a comprehensive list, but I personally tallied 24 butterfly species and 7 dragonfly species. I was not too much help with identification, but I did bag the only Pipevine Swallowtail of the day (I actually thought it was a Spicebush Swallowtail). It was nice to see Hackberry Emperors and American Snout in abundance. A sighting of Tawny Crescent was the cause of much disputation. I'm really not sure who most of the other participants were, except for Bob Yukich. Everyone seemed nice though, and I overheard the mention of the 'Burg Birder on more than one occasion although he wasn't there in person.

Question Mark

It was very interesting to learn about some of the properties being managed by the Nature Conservancy on the island, and interesting to hear about some of the restoration work being conducted. Pelee Island is definitely a unique part of Canada.



NCC Property

It may be worth mentioning that there was an unconfirmed sighting of a Black Swift near the ferry dock when we arrived on Friday evening - I really don't have any further details.