Well, every year is different.  The summer of 2010 has been quite warm, which we expect to be good for number of butterflies.  And it was – we counted 1022 individual butterflies – tied for second most in the 12 years of the count.  But the continued heat may have pushed flights of adults to earlier than normal, since our species count at 28 was middling, compared to our range from 20 to 41 in other years.

The heat also affected our ability (or willingness) to stay out in the heat; that may have somewhat limited what we saw.  Thanks to the loan by Olmsted parks of gators, we were able to cover good amounts of Chester Woods.  And thanks to folks who covered areas on their own – we found a lot more that way.

We did find a new species – Little Yellows were seen at 4 different sites.  They suddenly appeared in SE MN this year, coming in from the south, perhaps due to the sustained warmth and winds from the south.

The most common butterflies seen were Orange Sulfur (329, thanks to alfalfa fields), Monarch (166), Clouded Sulfur (150) and Red Admiral (75).  Lacking were hairstreaks and skippers, which would have increased out species count.

Next year we plan to have the butterfly walk for novices and children on a separate day, so we can focus on counting on count day.

2009 Results

The summer of 2009 had been remarkably cool, so butterfly numbers were lower than usual.  And then the day of the count was cloudy, breezy, and even cooler than surrounding days.  So we had to literally ‘kick up’ butterflies.  They just were not flying much.  We had several knowledgeable observers spending many hours, with relatively little to show for the effort.

We found only 199 individual butterflies, well below the 11 year average of 630, and below the previous low of 350.  We identified 20 species, the lowest ever by one, and well below the average of 29.

2008 Results

2008 has been a modest year for butterflies, with a cool slow spring and early summer.  So butterfly numbers had been noticeably low.  But our team of butterfly counters came through with a nice diversity and number of butterflies.  We saw 38 species of butterfly – almost as good as last year’s record 41, and well above our 10 year average of 29. 

Nora found 1 new species, Hickory Hairstreak, bringing our composite 10 year total to 54 species.  Having knowledgeable area leaders really helps!

Surprisingly, we had record high counts for quite a few species: Banded Hairstreak (16), Striped Hairstreak (8), Northern Crescent (4), Silvery Checkerspot (2), Eastern Comma (5), Mourning Cloak(18), Red-spotted Purple(5), Hackberry Emperor(100, Little Wood Satyr(12), Common Wood Nymph(146), European Skipper (85 – previous high 1!) and Delaware Skipper (5).  Numbers were low for several common species. 

We saw a total of 737 individual butterflies.  This is well below our smashing high of 1248 in 2007, but good enough for 3rd alltime. 

Thanks to Bill Bruins, Nora Dooley, Terry and Joyce Grier, Greg Munson, and Ruthann Yaeger for independently covering areas and leading novices.

2007 Results

This has been a very good year for butterflies, both in terms of numbers and in terms of diversity.  The consistent warmth and relative dryness has helped their populations.  And for this year’s Rochester count we covered more areas, and had more knowledgeable area leaders.  The combination of factors led to us smashing our previous records.

We saw 41 species of butterfly – breaking our previous high of 31 species.  We saw 4 new species, bringing our composite 9 year total to 53 species!  The new species were Acadian Hairstreak, Gray Hairstreak, Silvery Checkerspot, and Gray Comma.  Also new this year was the number of species documented with digital photographs – it is the way of the future!

We had high counts for 12 species, and tied the previous high for 3 others.  Especially notable were large numbers of Monarchs (227), Eastern Tailed Blue (223) and Red Admirals (145).  And although not as numerous, we had unusually high counts for American Coppers (22), Edwards Hairstreaks (13) and Common Buckeyes (26).

We saw a total of 1240 individual butterflies (excluding 6 caterpillars and 2 eggs spotted by younger folks with good eyes) easily breaking our previous high of 1022 in 2001.

Thanks to Bill Bruins, Nora Dooley, Terry and Joyce Grier, and Greg Munson for independently covering areas and leading novices.