Kelleys Island Butterfly and Dragonfly Census

Home Kelleys Island Butterfly and Dragonfly Census August 24 - 26, 2001
It was a beautiful sunny Kelleys Island weekend - just perfect for searching out butterflies and dragonflies. Late Friday afternoon I came over on the Kelley Islander with Ted Gilliland. This was his last weekend before the beginning of another school year, and he was glad to be along.
	On Saturday Claire Johnson and Lou Gardella were on the 8:30 AM Neuman ferry coming over to join us for a full day in the field. Paula Lozano, who took this picture, and Virginia Walsh were on the same ferry.
Larry Rosche, Ted, and myself were already on the island. While waiting for the rest of the group to join us, we did a little shore-birding in the early morning. This location on the east side of the island at the end of Lincoln Road proved to be a great spot. Here we tallied nine species of shorebirds, including Ruddy Turnstones and Baird's Sandpipers.
	The second annual KIAC Butterfly and Dragonfly Census started at the Old Stone Church, 224 Division Street, which the Kelleys Island Historical Association's museum. It has several wonderful butterfly bushes along the south side of the building and a Butterfly Trail recently developed by KIHA members that meanders behind and throughout the property. Along the trail many flowering shrubs and bushes have been planted and are being cared for lovingly. Until these plantings take hold, the members are hauling water to keep them alive!
At 9:00 AM Barb Coleman joined us, and the search began! The butterfly bushes were dripping with Painted Ladies, Cabbage Whites, Least and Fiery Skippers, and a new butterfly species for the Kelleys Island list, a Dun Skipper.
	This year we were fortunate to have Larry from Kent, Ohio and Lou from Garfield Heights, Ohio join us for the weekend to assist in identifying all the butterflies, dragonflies and birds we could find. Here on the Butterfly Trail with Larry are Paula , Barb, and Virginia.

Monarchs were all around us, as their migration route brought them to Kelleys Island. Larry showed us this White-faced Meadowhawk he'd caught so that we could get a close up view of its head. Meanwhile, Lou was off on the prowl, scanning every blade of grass for dragonflies and butterflies to capture. Here he successfully snagged a Familiar Bluet to share with us before releasing it.
	This map indicates all the locations we visited to search for our target species. On Kelleys Island we are very lucky to have butterfly bushes at The Old Stone Church, The Kelley's Island Wine Co., Sweet Valley Trading Post and Butterfly Kingdom, along the Water Department Building behind Town Hall, and at a various private residences.
Sweet Valley is a private residence on beautiful grounds north of The Old Stone Church on Division Street. We did not butterfly here but will have to be sure to ask Carol and Ed Nofziger for permission next year.

Gray Hairstreak m	Painted Lady
Referencing "Dragonflies Through Binoculars", Lou identified a Widow Skimmer found in a vacant lot at the Sweet Valley development. We saw a few Viceroys and Pearly Crescents among the wild flowers as well as many American Goldfinches. A Great Blue Heron caused quite a raucous, and we were treated with the call of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo.
	Here is one of the Viceroys some of us saw, and I almost forgot to mention that we had great looks at an Osprey soaring overhead with an unidentified fish in its talons. It was probably heading to its favorite spot on Lincoln Road along the northwest side of the airport runway, a perch he has frequented over the last few years.

A somewhat ragged though beautiful Great Spangled Fritillary on some Orange Milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa.	A perching Zabulon Skipper where it is seen most often in sunlit forest openings.
At the foot of Lincoln Road, Ted, Paula, and Larry are distracted by the bird sounds they hear emanating from the bushes, most likely those confusing fall warblers. We stopped at Himmelblau House where there are apple trees that attract Black Swallowtails but, unfortunately, the grounds had been tidied up for a wedding that afternoon.

	East Quarry, a part of the Kelleys Island State Park, was a good location for dragonflies. Species seen included Wandering Glider, Widow Skimmer, and Twelve-spotted Skimmer. Two dragonflies flying together pond dipping was fun to watch!
And, yes, you will just have to believe me when I say that a Wandering Glider is in the picture to the right! Below is one I think you can find.

Butterflies just came to us... ...a Dun Skipper sitting on my t-shirt...	...a Tawny Emperor landing in Larry's net... ..and a Hackberry Emperor landing on Virginia's arm.

	We spent some time at Long Point Preserve, which is only accessible by permit from The Cleveland Museum of Natural History. I found it amazing that this stone wall along Monagan Road built almost a century ago by the original island farmers was still standing.
We found many warblers on the preserve property including Wilson's, Blackburnian, Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Black-and-white, and Chestnut-sided. On the eastern shore Ted and Larry scanned the area in hope of finding a rarity.

Common Buckeye	Female Zabulon Skipper
	Everyone who participated in the 2001 KIAC Butterfly and Dragonfly Census had a great time. Special thanks go to Larry and Lou for both their time and expertise to make this event a success. This weekend we tallied 28 butterfly species, 11 dragonfly species and 83 bird species. Thanks to all!
Photo credits: Ted Gilliland, Paula Lozano and Delores Cole

Kelleys Island Butterfly and Dragonfly Census August 24 – 26, 2001 BUTTERFLIES SWALLOWTAILS Black Swallowtail Giant Swallowtail Eastern Tiger Swallowtail WHITES Cabbage White SULPHURS Clouded Sulphur Orange Sulphur COPPERS Bronze Copper HAIRSTREAKS Gray Hairstreak BLUES Eastern Tailed-Blue 'Summer' Spring Azure TRUE BRUSH-FOOTS Pearl Crescent Question Mark American Lady Painted Lady Red Admiral Common Buckeye ADMIRALS AND RELATIVES Red-spotted Purple Viceroy EMPERORS Hackberry Emperor Tawny Emperor SATYRS Common Wood-Nymph SPREAD-WING SKIPPERS Common Sootywing Silver-spotted Skipper GRASS SKIPPERS Least Skipper Fiery Skipper Peck's Skipper Zabulon Skipper Dun Skipper Species seen - 28 DRAGONFLIES POND DAMSELS Familiar Bluet Eastern Forktail DARNERS Common Green Darner SKIMMERS Widow Skimmer Twelve-spotted Skimmer Wandering Glider Spot-winged Glider White-faced Meadowhawk Ruby Meadowhawk Yellow-legged Meadowhawk Black Saddlebags Species seen - 11 Kelleys Island Bird Census CORMORANTS Double-crested Cormorant DUCKS, SWANS, GEESE Canada Goose Mallard Red-breasted Merganser HERONS, EGRETS AND BITTERNS Great Blue Heron NEW WORLD VULTURES Turkey Vulture OSPREY Osprey HAWKS, EAGLES AND KITES Cooper's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk FALCONS AND CARACARAS Merlin SANDPIPERS American Woodcock Spotted Sandpiper Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Semipalmated Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Baird's Sandpiper PLOVERS AND LAPWINGS Black-bellied Plover Semipalmated Plover Killdeer GULLS AND TERNS Ring-billed Gull Great Black-backed Gull Herring Gull Bonaparte's Gull Caspian Tern Common Tern PIGEONS AND DOVES Mourning Dove NEW WORLD CUCKOOS Yellow-billed Cuckoo NIGHTJARS Common Nighthawk SWIFTS Chimney Swift HUMMINGBIRDS Ruby-throated Hummingbird KINGFISHERS Belted Kingfisher WOODPECKERS Downy Woodpecker Northern Flicker TYRANT FLYCATCHERS Eastern Wood-Pewee Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird CROWS AND JAYS Blue Jay American Crow VIREOS AND ALLIES Philadelphia Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Warbling Vireo WAXWINGS AND SILKY-FLYCATCHERS Cedar Waxwing THRUSHES American Robin MOCKINGBIRDS AND THRASHERS Gray Catbird STARLINGS European Starling NUTHATCHES Red-breasted Nuthatch WRENS Carolina Wren House Wren SWALLOWS Tree Swallow Purple Martin Barn Swallow Cliff Swallow CHICKADEES, TITS Black-capped Chickadee OLD WORLD SPARROWS House Sparrow SISKINS, CROSSBILLS AND ALLIES American Goldfinch House Finch NEW WORLD WARBLERS Yellow Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Magnolia Warbler Cape May Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Bay-breasted Warbler Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush Wilson's Warbler Canada Warbler BUNTINGS, SPARROWS, TANAGERS, ALLIES Song Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Scarlet Tanager Northern Cardinal Indigo Bunting BLACKBIRDS, GRACKLES, ORIOLES Baltimore Oriole Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Bobolink Species seen - 83 TOP Last updated on July 31, 2006