The annual Petroglyph Butterfly Count, organized and compiled by Jerry Ball, took place on July 18. Cool, wet weather this spring and summer are the most probable explanations as to why both the number of species and the number of individual butterflies were much lower than usual. 49 species and 2885 individual butterflies were recorded by the 11 participants. In 2008, 57 species were tallied along with 5148 individuals. The following are this year’s results: eastern tiger swallow-tail (1), Canadian tiger swallow-tail (2), mustard white (8), cabbage white (22), clouded sulphur (31), pink-edged sulphur (7), bronze copper (2), bog copper (28), Acadian hairstreak (7), coral hairstreak (18), banded hairstreak (2), hickory hairstreak (1), striped hairstreak (1), summer azure (12), great spangled fritillary (32), Aphrodite fritillary (10), Atlantis fritillary (7), pearl crescent (5), northern crescent (145), eastern comma (5), green comma (1), grey comma (4), Compton tortoiseshell (1), mourning cloak (3), American lady (13), white admiral (15), viceroy (1), northern pearly-eye (43), eyed brown (105), Appalachian brown (5), little wood-satyr (1), common wood-nymph (5), monarch (29), silver-spotted skipper (3), columbine duskywing (12), Delaware skipper (14), least skipper (36), European skipper (1888), Peck’s skipper (15), tawny-edged skipper (4), crossline skipper (4), long dash (11), northern broken-dash (8), little glasswing (1), Hobomok skipper (2), mulberry wing (20), broad-winged skipper (78), Dion skipper (1), Dun skipper (216)
Location: Count circle of 15 miles (24 km) in diameter. Centre of circle located in Petroglyph Provincial Park. Area includes Petroglyph Provincial Park, Jack Lake Road, County Road 46, Sandy Lake Road, Northey’s Bay Road, etc.
Observer: Jerry Ball
