The Pine Warbler

September 2008

Volume XXXIV, Issue 1

It’s Membership Time!

Larry Morgan

Yep, that’s right. It’s time to pay up for your chapter membership. $20/year supports the chapter activities, such as BirdFest, Junior Birders, speaker fees, and our newsletters. Now that National Audubon Society is no longer sending their chapters any of the membership fees of those of us who join National, our chapter must find other ways to support our activities and meetings. Your $20 tax-deductible donation guarantees that newsletters keep coming, programs keep getting scheduled on a monthly basis, and our other activities keep happening. Please renew your membership TODAY! The mailing address is on the home page of the website or bring your check or cash to the October Chapter Meeting. Thanks,

President’s Letter

John Wright

Well another summer has passed us. I hope that many of you have been enjoying vacations and getting into the outdoors. Probably many of you have done a few new things, like finding a new bird or new place to see birds. These are great things to share with fellow Audubon members and to catch up with one another. I look forward to hearing what you all have been up to.

I am looking forward to continuing to do new things with you and the chapter. I hope to see new faces and try new things to continue the successes we have put together. For the most part we are a group of people that like to get together and talk about the natural world around us. I want to extend a welcome to any of you out there who have not come in a while or those out there who may enjoy our group. The ideas and talents from everyone can create new goals for the chapter to continue to share the natural world around us with the world of people around us.

So, heading into my second term as Chapter President, I am excited about the year ahead, learning new things and meeting new people. I hope that this year we will reach out a little more into the community with our Jr. Birders Program, BirdFest, future outings and events. This year starts out with a presentation about my job and career. I plan to share a little about myself and on a broader note talk about the dedication of the people I work with to make a difference in the community and to conservation. This is also why I am thankful for having more time to carry the same ideas that make our organization great in our community.

So in parting, I just can't wait to see you all in a few weeks.

Report on Summer Activities: Butterflies!

Chuck Gramling & Diane Lafferty

From June to August, there are butterfly counts going on almost every weekend close by in areas of Mississippi or Louisiana.  First off, the key point about butterfly counts in summer -- it is hot and the most physically demanding activity our Audubon does for “fun.”

We kicked off this year with our Hattiesburg butterfly count on June 28 with our largest ever crowd of fifteen.  Later, two more folks that were smarter showed just up for lunch at Strick’s Barbeque. We did add a few more folks before the end of the day.  Diane, our expert butterfly-er, started us off looking for butterflies; however, it was soon obvious there were bird-watchers among us.  Seems someone posted photos on our listserv of Painted Buntings seen at the lagoon two weeks prior to the count.   Long story short, for the most part the Painted Buntings pretty well eluded our cameras, binoculars, and scopes this trip.  We did see lots of birds at the lagoon though.  Larry Smith and I noted a flock of 30-50 female Orchard Orioles all foraging together at the woods’ edge.  We saw a good many bird species, round number of about 30 species, but this was a butterfly count. It was a ‘cooler’ cloudy morning and the butterflies were slow.  We found some nice big guys including the Palamedes, Spicebush, and frequent Pipevine Swallowtails.  We found my favorite little guys, the Checkered Skippers.  We stopped off at the gateway to Rails to Trails and picked up Whirlabouts and Fiery Skippers. After a long lunch, we headed for a local nursery and onto Jackson Trail to look for more butterflies.  We added the Tiger Swallowtail (yellow and black phases) on the trail.  As luck would have it, around 3 PM a thunderstorm joined us, giving us the opportunity to drag our exhausted bodies home and out of the heat! At the end of day 27 species of butterflies were seen and 108 individual butterflies were counted.  It was a very enjoyable day for us all.  Thanks to Diane Lafferty for scheduling and organizing.

Our other Pine Woods Audubon butterfly count was on the Delta National Forest, about 20 miles north of Vicksburg on July 19.  We did have a great turn out of folks from all over the area.  Delta NF is a special place for butterflies.  Most of the 4,000 plus butterfly counts reported to the North American Butterfly Association yield total numbers of butterflies seen at couple of hundred butterflies seen, like our Hattiesburg count.  Well, we had what we call a “low count” year this year with only 3,526 butterflies seen, and good year on species seen at 27 total.  Well, think back, when was the last day you saw 3,500 butterflies in the space of 6 or 7 hours?   Twenty-one people from Hattiesburg, the Delta, Jackson, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas all gathered there maybe because of the history of our six years of counting there.  Personally, I don’t feel like we have had a good day on the Delta if we see less than 30,000 butterflies.  We know the “multitudes” of butterflies are there, but trying to catch them is all in the luck of the draw. The Delta NF is a great place to learn to identify butterflies since there are plenty of them to see.  Actually, if you learn ten species you are an expert! On this count -- Hackberry Emperor, Tawny Emperor, Question Mark, Red Spotted Purple, Horace’s Duskywing, Viceroy, Cloudless Sulphur, Pearl Crescent, Red Admiral, and American Snout.  As of now, we have three amazingly high count years, followed by what we feel were low count years.  This place is a river bottom hardwood forest with no shortage of birds or butterflies.  Come join us for our seventh count next year, and see what it will bring.

You can see the counts from all our years of Butterfly-counting on our website:

http:// http://home.comcast.net/~blackwellr/

More Summer Butterfly Magic

Sherry Barton

 For the Honey Island Swamp Butterfly count, our numbers were small, but made up for in enthusiasm.  Diane, myself, Linda, Dorothea "Digger", and Mark (alias Crocodile Dundee).  Forget what you were told about not going where our feet would get wet.  Mark led the way.  He also caught and displayed in his net the only water mocassin we saw.  We turned around shortly after that because of it being yours truly's first time at the swamp and not wanting to have bad dreams, but ...

Lots of butterflies.! They like it hot.  At least 16 different kinds, conservatively speaking. Several were new to me, so it was a very successful day in that and many other ways. The highlights:  The last long road we drove down was a wonderland of butterflies puddling  and being flushed up from the wildflowers as we drove.  I'd never seen that many butterflies along the side of a road!  12-20 or so (depending on if you count the drive coming or going) Horace dusky wings puddling, a Red Spotted Purple modeled his wings for us on an old dead tree, and on the way back on that same road a giant swallowtail took us on quite a long chase in Diane’s Jeep for a positive id. (What a flirt!). 

Diane's highlight picture is of a Black Spotted Checkered caterpillar, which you'll see when she's back online. That caterpillar is one of many we saw in a huge patch of sida.  Diane and Dorothea pointed out a host of host plants.  Digger dug.  So did Diane and I, with Digger scouting plants for us! One Gem Satyr was spotted in its usual place near where the bridge used to be.   I can't say I saw it, but Mark and Diane did.  My binocular skills are lacking.  Helps if you take all the caps off, tho. And right before we left more Viceroy were spotted and Diane and Dorothea saw a Red Admiral. The Tropical Checkered skippers were beautiful and numerous- another first for me.

Of course there was lots of insect catching with Mark, Digger and Linda along!  Like going to entomology class all over again, only interesting this time.  More golden orb spiders than I cared to almost run into in a lifetime. But beautiful, really. With just the right water-to-Gatorade ratio and Diane's watermelon we got thru the day just fine! Bunnies, deer tracks, mud for pot-making were all extras.  Oh, and only Mark saw the black racer.  It had left by the time we got there.  Darn! Not bad for my first "wild" butterfly hunt–er, count!

Upcoming Field Trips

Ronnie Blackwell

Our first field trip this year will be hosted by the Birding Committee. We will depart from the University Mall parking lot (look for a clump of people with binoculars just west of Roses) Saturday, September 13 at 8:00 AM.  We will search for early migrating warblers such as Cerulean Warblers, Worm-eating Warblers, and American Redstarts as well as the usual Longleaf Pine resident-suspects. Make note of the early time--8:00. Fall warblers get up early!

Bird Quiz

Larry Smith

I’ve been working on this one all summer, Folks!

Question: What bird has only two toes on each foot? 

Hint: This bird is not likely to appear on your feeder in September or October.

Calendar of Events

September 4, 2008 (Thursday): Pine Woods Audubon Society Board Meeting, 6:15 p.m. in Hattiesburg Zoo Education Center. The Public is invited to attend. Contact any Board Member or officer for more information or to add something to the Agenda.

September 4, 2008 (Thursday): Pine Woods Audubon Society Chapter Meeting, 7 p.m. in Hattiesburg Zoo Education Center. PROGRAM: TBA. Contact Program Chair Chuck Gramling (601-606-3440) for information.

September 9, 2008 (Tuesday): Pine Woods Audubon Society Birding Committee Meeting, 5:30 p.m. at the Keg & Barrel Restaurant. Contact Ron Blackwell (601-434-1143) for information.

September 13, 2008: “DeSota National Forest.” Contact Birding Committee Member Ronnie Blackwell (601-434-1143-Cell or 601-545-2437-Home) for information.

September 19, 2008 (Friday): Deadline for items for December Pine Warbler to newsletter editors by email (lin.harper@usm.edu), by phone (601-545-2437), or by fax (Attn: Lin @ 601-266-6541).

It’s Time for Audubon Adventures!

For More Information, Contact Liz Wolfe or Sherry Barton

(264-9545 or 584-6685)

2008-10 Officers:

President: John Wright (545-4576)

Vice-President: Chuck Gramling (268-3859)

Secretary: Grayson Rayborn (428-1228)

Treasurer: Lin Harper (545-2437)

Committees:

Newsletter: Lin Harper (545-2437)

Membership: Larry Morgan (268-3386)

Field Trips: Bird Committee

c/o R. Blackwell (545-2437)

Education: Liz Wolfe (264-9545)

&

Sherry Barton (584-6685)

Hospitality: Emily Nelson (264-7030)

A Complete List of Committees and Chairs are listed in the Yearbook.