Interactive Butterfly CD
Butterflies of the
Carolinas & Virginias

With a forecast of mild showers and medium winds I headed towards Fort Lauderdale to see Fern Forest Regional Park (FFRP) as I`d read in Butterflies Through Binoculars Florida it was great for Ruddy Daggerwings and Julia's.

Once I got on the boardwalk at FFRP I realized I hadn't brought any bug spray but decided to head on anyway, a big mistake as these hammocks are loaded with mosquitoes. I only knocked off my glasses once swatting mosquitoes though.

I walked the hammock boardwalk under cloudy skies to find my only Giant Swallowtail of the trip. Then I walked the other trail (Marsh Overlook I think) only to find 2 Ruddy Daggerwings and a Cassius Blue, soon the daggerwings turned into 8 and the blues numbered 30+ so I was having a ball shooting film on these two species. My lifer butterflies at FFRP were Three-spotted Skipper, Ruddy Daggerwing and Soldier. I also found a male Wandering Glider and brown form Banded-wing Dragonlets that posed for my camera also.

Headed to Hugh Taylor Birch State Recreation Area to look for Atalas on the Coontie there but didn't find a trace of them. The park was dug up in large tracts where they were removing invasive plants I believe, but the fig trees were unbelievably huge. I then decided to head across the Everglades because of the southeastern Florida weather forecast wasn't too good for the next few days although I wanted to do the keys. It was getting late but I decided to walk the trail along the airstrip at Big Cypress National Preserve in Collier County and lucked onto a Twin-spot Skipper on a lobelia flower.

Here's the list for Broward County Florida

Giant Swallowtail (1) FFRP
Cloudless Sulphur (1)
Cassius Blue (55+) photos
Gulf Fritillary (2)
Zebra Longwing (15)
White Peacock (1)
Viceroy (1)
Ruddy Daggerwing (8) photos of 3!
Queen (1)
Soldier (1)
Dorantes Longtail (8)
Three-spotted Skipper (8( photos
Eufala Skipper (1)
Ocola Skipper (4)

Collier County Florida
Twin-spot Skipper (1)

Watched the sunset over the Everglades and headed to Naples to get a motel room for the night.

Three-spotted Skipper, Cymaenes tripunctus
(Photos above and below)

On to Day 4 Collier County Florida
Back to Day 2 Polk County Florida
Start Page

Cassius Blue, Leptotes cassius
Cassius Blue, Leptotes cassius

Ruddy Daggerwing, Marpesia petreus
Ruddy Daggerwing, Marpesia petreus

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