Interactive Butterfly CD
Butterflies of the
Carolinas & Virginias

It rained the night before while I slept just north of Tampa and in the morning it was so gloomy I knew it would be late before finding any butterflies. My destination was Withlacoochee State Forest the Citrus County unit as it is mostly sandhills and supposedly a great place to find Southern Dogface. When I arrived fairly close to the citrus unit I realized I was still very early even at 9 AM and stopped at Waffle House for breakfast hoping to warm and dry things up outside.

Once I entered Withlacoochee State Forest I found no butterflies till after 11 AM. Blazingstar was abundant as I entered the citrus unit and headed north. By the time I found my first butterfly a Whirlabout, blazingstar was a bit more scarce. I was hard pressed to find any butterflies given the conditions so I didn't linger very long at any given place.

Then I headed towards the gulf coast to Ozello on route 494. It was a local wildlife refuge on either side of the road and a very pleasant ride. I found my first Red-banded Hairstreak(about time!)of the trip on Spanish Needles next to a bridge. I was hoping for Salt Marsh Skippers and Eastern Pigmy Blues but didn't have any luck finding any.

After leaving Ozello I headed north towards Gulf Hammock. Along the highway every once in a while I`d find nearly spent patches of Spanish Needles and a few butterflies. Once place in Levy County I found 6 Queens on these tall blue asters back in a thicket. Ceraunus Blues was fairly common on these stops also.

Here`s the list for Citrus County Florida

Cloudless Sulphur (7) photos
Barred Yellow (1)
Sleepy Orange (1)
Red-banded Hairstreak (1)
Ceraunus Blue (6) photos
Gulf Fritillary (15)
Phaon Crescent (18) photos
Pearl Crescent (3)
Viceroy (1)
Carolina Satyr (2)
Monarch (1)
Long-tailed Skipper (10)
Dorantes Longtail (1)
Clouded Skipper (1)
Southern Skipperling (2)
Fiery Skipper (1)
Whirlabout (5)
Sachem (1)
Ocola Skipper (4)

Here`s the list for Levy County Florida

Barred Yellow (3)
Red-banded Hairstreak (1)
Ceraunus Blue (2)
Gulf Fritillary (1)
Phaon Crescent (6)
Common Buckeye (1) photos
Carolina Satyr (8)
Queen (6)
Long-tailed Skipper (2)
Common/White Checkered Skipper (1)
Fiery Skipper (2)
Whirlabout (1)
Ocola Skipper (4)

Common Buckeye, Junonia coenia very unmarked but a very fresh individual from Levy County Florida on 11-14-2001

I headed on my way home the North Carolina after considering the weather forecast.

Back to Day 4 Collier County Florida

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Cloudless Sulphur, Phoebis sennae (female)
Ceraunus Blue, Hemiargus ceraunus
(above& below)
Ceraunus Blue, Hemiargus ceraunus
Female with wings spread
All above photos taken on 11-14-2001
in Citrus County, Florida

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