I thought I would host it here in Marion if that was acceptable to everyone.
jim

>  -----Original Message-----
> From:  Harlan Ratcliff [mailto:bugs@...]
> Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2001 2:57 PM
> To: Iowa butterflys and dragonflys
> Subject: [IA-BTRFLY] meeting
>
> I would be interested in a meeting, but I am pretty busy and am not sure I
> could make it.  Where would a meeting be held?
>
> I got some photographs over the weekend--not very good ones (the wind was
> too strong).  I think I have a photo of a Pahaska skipper.  This would be
> well out of its range.  There are some others it could be, but all would
> be out of the range.  (I am using the range maps on the Northern Prairie
> Resource Center site for that information).

I would be interested in a meeting, but I am pretty busy and am not sure I
could make it.  Where would a meeting be held?

I got some photographs over the weekend--not very good ones (the wind was
too strong).  I think I have a photo of a Pahaska skipper.  This would be
well out of its range.  There are some others it could be, but all would be
out of the range.  (I am using the range maps on the Northern Prairie
Resource Center site for that information).

This is partly a test to see if my post comes through.
I visited the river at Monticello today and managed to capture a Illinois
river cruiser but missed what I thought was a Smoky Shadowdragon. A few
other dragonflies and butterflies but I fear the season is nearing an end
and we will be left with only going over our data for a couple months. Most
noted were several bronze coppers at the little park by Sabula.
Dennis S. suggested earlier to me about setting up a meeting with any one
interested to discuss butterflies, do some IDs on specimens or check out
photos. If any one is interested, let me know and we can start picking a
time?
jim

Yesterday afternoon I went out to Hawkeye Wildlife Area to watch butterflies.
  There were quite a few Monarchs around and I starting counting them one at a
time, thinking maybe I could tally a couple hundred.  As I continued down the
road there were more and more and I had to count by 5's, 10's, and then 20's.
  They were all nectaring on tickseed-sunflower, thistle, goldenrod, and
especially boneset.  An hour later my count was up to 800 when I came to a
field filled with boneset and sunflower.  During a half-hour walk around the
area I counted 2,800 more!  I've never seen anything like that before, it was
just incredible.  I continued on, and by 5:00 p.m. the Monarchs had started
to gather in trees (mostly silver maples) to roost for the night.  I
accidentally got too close to one tree and suddenly the air was filled with
several hundred butterflies!  My final count was 6,400 in three hours, and
I'm sure that's just a tiny fraction of the number actually present.  It made
me realize how important this and similar areas are as stopover sites in a
sea of corn and beans.  I'm curious to see how long they will stay around.
Anyway, here's my species list for the day:

September 3, Hawkeye Wildlife Area, Johnson County:
Black Swallowtail (3)
Checkered White (4)
Cabbage White (3)
Clouded Sulphur (10)
Orange Sulphur (8)
Cloudless Sulphur (13)
Little Yellow (8)
Dainty Sulphur (10)
Eastern Tailed-Blue (6)
Spring Azure (1)
American Snout (3)
Pearl Crescent (5)
Painted Lady (1)
Red Admiral (8)
Common Buckeye (12)
Viceroy (20)
Monarch (6,400)
Silver-spotted Skipper (2)
Least Skipper (1)

Chris Edwards
North Liberty, IA
credwards@...

Hello:  Today I visited one of my favorite Sac Co. streams (first time this
year). It had dried completely last year, so I was curious to see if it had
recovered.  Apparently it had, as I found most of the species (except for
Boyeria vinosa and Enallagma anna) that I have found there in the past.
Todays catch included:
Calopteryx maculata 1 male
Hetaerina americana 1 female
Archilestes grandis 2 males
Lestes rectangularis 1 male
Lestes unguilulatus pair in tandem
Argia plana 3 males
Enallagma civile 3 males
Ischnura verticalis 1 male
Aeshna umbrosa 3 males 2 females
Somatochlora ensigera 1 male
Sympetrum corruptum 1 female
S. occidentale fasciatum 1 male
S. rubicundulum 1 male

Steve Hummel
Lake View

I went to the Medora prairie in southern Warren County on Sunday to
photograph butterflies.  The Medora prairie is a Nature Conservancy site,
and if you want more information on it, check out their web site at:
http://nature.org/states/iowa   I found that the prairie had no-trespassing
signs posted (their web site does not say you need to notify anyone to
enter, and usually the privately owned ones give someone to contact).  I
didn't actually go on the prairie site (although I think that is legal for
TNC members for certain uses), but drove roads around the exterior and the
nearby Rolling Thunder Prairie State Preserve  (managed by Warren County).
There are some other nearby areas with significant amounts of prairie plants
that appear to be privately owned.
	 Since it had rained a little on Saturday, the gravel roads and the
dirt road just to the east of the prairie were great sites for "mudding"
butterflies.
	 Anyway, it was a great site and a great day for butterflies.  I was
hoping to get a picture of either a regal fritillary or a byssus skipper.  I
did get a photo of a brownish colored skipper, but I am pretty sure it
wasn't the byssus skipper.  (Some skippers are very difficult to identify,
especially for an amateur like myself, even with a relatively good
photograph).
	 I saw a magnificent giant swallowtail, but it was gone by the time I
had my camera set up.  I also saw the yellow and the black forms of the
tiger swallowtail (which I also failed to photograph).  I did get some shots
of some great spangled fritillaries.  All of those butterflies were on some
very large bull thistles in a ditch on the perimeter of the site.
	 Butterflies I saw included:  American snout, common buckeye, clouded
sulfur, eastern tailed blue, hackberry butterfly, black swallowtails, giant
swallowtail, tiger swallowtails,  monarch, viceroy, little yellow, silver
spotted skipper, and probably some others that I can't remember.  I also got
pictures of two butterflies I had not photographed before--Juvenal's
duskywing, and the harvester.  I shot a whole roll (ten photos with my
camera) of the harvester, and some came out fairly well.  Although it is not
as clear as I would like some of the photographs show that the proboscis is
shorter than that of most other butterflies--I hope to have an enlargement
made soon of one of the photos.
	 Also, I was there for about three hours with no sign of regal
fritillaries.  As I was leaving, and was about a half mile south of the
prairie I thought I saw a regal fritillary flying.  I got only a brief
glimpse, but I am about 85% sure that it was a regal.
	 Good day for butterflies.

The following were seen on August 28 by Bob Dick and myself in Johnson County
(Macbride Nature-Recreation Area, Lake Macbride State Park, and Sugar Bottom
Recreation Area).  Bob has a new pair of binoculars that are awesome for
watching butterflies.  It's a new model from Eagle Optics called the EO
Ranger 6x32, and the best feature is that they close focus to 3 feet!  The
image is very sharp and bright.  They're multi-coated, phase-corrected,
nitrogen-purged, waterproof, rubber-armored and reasonably priced at $348.
Required disclaimer:  I don't work for Eagle Optics, I'm just in love with
those binoculars!

Black Swallowtail (3)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (1)
Checkered White (1)
Cabbage White (3)
Orange Sulphur (4)
Cloudless Sulphur (1)
Little Yellow (10)
Dainty Sulphur (6)
Bronze Copper (1)
Gray Hairstreak (3)
Eastern Tailed-Blue (44)
American Snout (1)
Pearl Crescent (21)
Common Buckeye (12)
Viceroy (2)
Common Wood-Nymph (2)
Monarch (2)
Horace's Duskywing (3)
Least Skipper (10)
Fiery Skipper (22)
Dun Skipper (1)

Chris Edwards
North Liberty, IA
credwards@...

Harlan,

I didn't transfer our archived messages from the old Listbot server to the
new Yahoo Groups server because there didn't seem to be any easy way to do it.

Congratulations on your first Dainty Sulphur!  At least here in eastern Iowa,
they're common in the right habitat and can be abundant at times.  I most
often see them at Hawkeye Wildlife Area in dry, weedy fields, dirt and gravel
parking lots, and along roadside edges.  I don't see very many away from that
type of habitat.  With experience it's usually fairly easily to separate them
from Little Yellows in flight by their smaller size, paler yellow coloration
(except for the white form of the Little Yellow), and the black markings on
the upperside of the wing.

Chris Edwards
North Liberty, IA
credwards@...

Harlan Ratcliff wrote:
>
> I asked about the archive because I wanted to see how common the dainty
> sulfur was.  I saw it for the first time last week at Camp Dodge.  For a
> while, I was confusing them with little yellow butterflies because of the
> size.

These are the mentions of dainty sulfur's I found in the messages
we still have:

July 15, 2001 - Rathbun Lake with Sharon Bluffs as central
location:  4

August 2, Hawkeye Wildlife Area, Johnson County:  20

August 5 in Lee County between Keokuk and Ft. Madison.  Most of
them (including the Hayhurst's Scallopwing) were at Heron
Bend Conservation Area north of Montrose.:  22

June 16, Hawkeye Wildlife Area, Johnson County:  3

June 23, Yellow River State Forest, Allamakee County:  2

The following were seen at Hawkeye Wildlife Area in Johnson
County on July 17: 15

We held our third annual Iowa City 4th of July Butterfly Count on
Saturday.
Jim Durbin and Chris Caster joined me and we braved the heat and
humidity at
Kent Park, Hawkeye Wildlife Area, and Macbride-Nature Recreation
Area. :  23

Waubonsie State Park, Fremont County, annual Butterfly Count
on Thurs., July 5th.:  1


Linda

Linda & Robert Scarth
1630 Wildwood Drive NE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402-4724
phone/fax:   319-366-6817
e-mail:   scarth@...

I asked about the archive because I wanted to see how common the dainty
sulfur was.  I saw it for the first time last week at Camp Dodge.  For a
while, I was confusing them with little yellow butterflies because of the
size.

We still have the messages from June and July, maybe a few more,
if that would be of use.

Harlan Ratcliff wrote:
>
> Did anyone archive the messages from the old listbot service?
>
> Harlan Ratcliff
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> IA-BTRFLY-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>   -----------------------------------------------------------------
>                   Name: winmail.dat
>    winmail.dat    Type: application/x-unknown-content-type-DAT_auto_file
>               Encoding: base64

--


Linda & Robert Scarth
1630 Wildwood Drive NE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402-4724
phone/fax:   319-366-6817
e-mail:   scarth@...

Did anyone archive the messages from the old listbot service?

Harlan Ratcliff

Harlan --

They were probably Common Green Darners - Anax junius - one of the few
species that actually migrate.  I have had good numbers in my yard as well
over the past several days and got a note via the web site from a lady in
southeast Iowa who had hundreds after a rain.

Ann Johnson
Norwalk, IA
aj@...
http://www.iowaodes.com


>  -----Original Message-----
> From:  Harlan Ratcliff [mailto:bugs@...]
> Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2001 8:13 PM
> To: Iowa butterflys and dragonflys
> Subject: [IA-BTRFLY] Dragonflies
>
> I was treated to a magnificent display tonight--after a rain, we had about
> 30-40 dragonflies in about a 50 by 50 foot part of our yard flying back
> and forth.  They flew mostly 1-2 feet off the ground, but some went as
> high as 15-20 feet.   There didn't seem to be any small insects in the
> area, but maybe they were eaten.  This is not real close to water.  Could
> this be some kind of lek behavior?  I am not sure the species, because
> none of them landed, but I think they were common blue darners.

I was treated to a magnificent display tonight--after a rain, we had about
30-40 dragonflies in about a 50 by 50 foot part of our yard flying back and
forth.  They flew mostly 1-2 feet off the ground, but some went as high as
15-20 feet.   There didn't seem to be any small insects in the area, but
maybe they were eaten.  This is not real close to water.  Could this be some
kind of lek behavior?  I am not sure the species, because none of them
landed, but I think they were common blue darners.

We had about an hour of sunshine today, and I headed out to Lake Macbride to
see what was around.  The highlight was a high count of 11 Gray Hairstreaks,
the most I've ever seen in one place before.

August 18, Macbride Nature-Recreation Area, Johnson County:
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (1)
Checkered White (1)
Cabbage White (2)
Orange Sulphur (12)
Cloudless Sulphur (1)
Little Yellow (24)
Gray Hairstreak (11)
Eastern Tailed-Blue (40)
Pearl Crescent (12)
Question Mark (1)
American Lady (1)
Painted Lady (5)
Red Admiral (2)
Common Buckeye (10)
Red-spotted Purple (1)
Hackberry Emperor (1)
Common Wood-Nymph (2)
Monarch (1)
Silver-spotted Skipper (8)
Horace's Duskywing (1)
Tawny-edged Skipper (2)
Delaware Skipper (1)
Dun Skipper (2)

Also saw Fiery Skipper, Sachem, and Peck's Skipper in my backyard today.

Chris Edwards
North Liberty, IA
credwards@...

I love this time of year when Middle River is shallow enough to wade.  Had a
few good odes in Madison County and not bad here closer to home as well.  A
five dancer day was a first.

SPECIES SEEN
From 8/11/2001 to 8/12/2001 ~ All Places ~ 31 seen
BROAD-WING DAMSELS
   Zygoptera Calopterygidae
Ebony Jewelwing
   Calopteryx maculata
American Rubyspot
   Hetaerina americana
Smoky Rubyspot
   Hetaerina titia
POND DAMSELS
   Zygoptera Coenagrionidae
Blue-fronted Dancer
   Argia apicalis
Variable Dancer
   Argia fumipennis
Powdered Dancer
   Argia moesta
Springwater Dancer
   Argia plana
Blue-tipped Dancer
   Argia tibialis
Double-striped Bluet
   Enallagma basidens
Familiar Bluet
   Enallagma civile
Orange Bluet
   Enallagma signatum
Fragile Forktail
   Ischnura posita
Eastern Forktail
   Ischnura verticalis
DARNERS
   Anisoptera Aeshnidae
Common Green Darner
   Anax junius
CLUBTAILS
   Anisoptera Gomphidae
Jade Clubtail
   Arigomphus submedianus
Flag-tailed Spinyleg
   Dromogomphus spoliatus
Common Sanddragon
   Progomphus obscurus
Russet-tipped Clubtail
   Stylurus plagiatus
CRUISERS
   Anisoptera Macromiidae
Illinois River Cruiser
   Macromia illinoiensis
EMERALDS
   Anisoptera Corduliidae
Prince Baskettail
   Epitheca princeps
SKIMMERS
   Anisoptera Libellulidae
Halloween Pennant
   Celithemis eponina
Eastern Pondhawk
   Erythemis simplicicollis
Widow Skimmer
   Libellula luctuosa
Common Whitetail
   Libellula lydia
Twelve-spotted Skimmer
   Libellula pulchella
Blue Dasher
   Pachydiplax longipennis
Wandering Glider
   Pantala flavescens
Eastern Amberwing
   Perithemis tenera
Cherry-faced Meadowhawk
   Sympetrum internum
Ruby Meadowhawk
   Sympetrum rubicundulum
Black Saddlebags
   Tramea lacerata

Ann Johnson
Norwalk, IA
aj@...
http://www.iowaodes.com

Most any good Loess Hills Prairie that hasn't been burned in large units.
Also Big Sand Mound at Muscatine, when you can get in. It is now rare or
absent from most other prairies in Iowa. It is now late in the flight so you
better hurry.
Dennis Schlicht

I have never seen a regal fritillary. Please suggest any site where they
might be found.
Thank you.
Mary Ann Gregory
Dysart

A while back I commented on seeing a butterfly that looked like a summer
azure, but was only about half the size I usually see.  Some of you
commented that it could be Reakirt's blue.  I now have the pictures back
(sorry--since I do medium format slide film and don't have a scanner for
that medium yet, I can't send examples).  It definitely was not Reakirt's
blue, and was marked almost identically to other summer azures I have
photographed, except it was about half the size.  Since I use the same
combination of extension tubes in most of my photographs, I am able to
compare relative size, and could probably calculate absolute size but it
would be a lot of work.
My guess is that it was not a separate species, but just an unusually small
individual of that species.  I have seen a lot of the "large" sized summer
azures, but only one "small" sized one this year, and one or two last year.
I understand there is some confusion with the genus, however, so who knows
for sure?  I would be more tempted to say it was a separate species if there
were a lot of them around.

Harlan Ratcliff

I am planning on visiting the Medora prairie south of Indianola on Saturday
morning, in hopes of getting a picture of the regal fritillary.  The Nature
Conservancy web site says it is found there.  Anyone have any luck with
them?  Does anyone out there want to suggest a better site near Des Moines
to try to find them?

Here's a nice article on the web about Baltimore Checkerspots.  I haven't
been lucky enough to see one of these in Iowa yet (or anywhere else, for that
matter).

http://chicagowildernessmag.org/issues/summer2001/checkerspot.html

Chris Edwards
North Liberty, IA
crewards@...

The following were seen August 8 at Macbride Nature-Recreation Area in
Johnson County.  Highlights were the first Sachem of the year, Cloudless
Sulphur, and two Crossline Skippers.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (2)
Orange Sulphur (2)
Cloudless Sulphur (1)
Little Yellow (7)
Eastern Tailed-Blue (4)
Spring Azure (2)
Pearl Crescent (4)
Painted Lady (1)
Common Buckeye (2)
Red-spotted Purple (1)
Viceroy (1)
Monarch (5)
Silver-spotted Skipper (1)
Horace's Duskywing (1)
Common Sootywing (1)
Least Skipper (1)
Fiery Skipper (1)
Peck's Skipper (1)
Crossline Skipper (2)
Sachem (1)   * First of year

Chris Edwards
North Liberty, IA
credwards@...

Hello all,
I received two copies of " Dragonflies Through Binoculars" by Sidney W.
Dunkle for my birthday this year and would like to sell one. It's a guide
for North America and seems excellent (to me with my limited experience) .
Amazon's price is about $22.00 and I'll sell it at that price including
shipping.
Thank you,

Dave Killman
Fairfireld, Iowa: Jefferson Co.
sordfish@...

The following were seen August 5 in Lee County between Keokuk and Ft.
Madison.  Most of them (including the Hayhurst's Scallopwing) were at Heron
Bend Conservation Area north of Montrose.

Black Swallowtail (2)
Giant Swallowtail (1)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (4)
Cabbage White (50)
Clouded Sulphur (4)
Orange Sulphur (6)
Cloudless Sulphur (1)
Little Yellow (64)
Dainty Sulphur (22)
Eastern Tailed-Blue (7)
Spring Azure (1)
American Snout (2)
Pearl Crescent (19)
Question Mark (4)
Eastern Comma (2)
Red Admiral (15)
Common Buckeye (9)
Red-spotted Purple (1)
Viceroy (1)
Hackberry Emperor (3)
Northern Pearly-eye (1)
Common Wood-Nymph (9)
Monarch (18)
Silver-spotted Skipper (3)
Hayhurst's Scallopwing (1)
Horace's Duskywing (1)   * First of year
Wild Indigo Duskywing (1)
Common Checkered-Skipper (4)
Common Sootywing (2)
Least Skipper (50)
Fiery Skipper (15)
Peck's Skipper (2)
Delaware Skipper (13)
Byssus Skipper (2)
Dun Skipper (2)

Chris Edwards
North Liberty, IA
crewdards@...

Anybody an expert on caterpillar identification?  It seems to be a
challenging field.  This morning I noticed that a branch of my small river
birch had lost all of its leaves.  A closer look revealed about 75 fairly
large caterpillars clustered together in several groups on the tree.  They
were about 1 1/2 inches long, red with narrow white lengthwise stripes, a
small black head and two pointed black tips on the rear end.  They were
covered with fine white hairs.  When disturbed, they raised both ends of
their bodies up and secreted an orange fluid from their mouths.  Being the
conservation-minded type that I am, tonight I gathered almost all of them up
and took  them to a natural stand of river birches about five miles away.  I
left a few on the tree just to see what happens to them.  They don't match
any of the pictures in my books, but I think they might be in a family called
Hand-Maid Moths.  Any ideas?

Chris Edwards
North Liberty, IA
credwards@...

The highlight of my evening was a Hayhurst's Scallopwing, only the second
that I've ever seen, plus my first Cloudless Sulphur of the year.  With
butterflies like those, who cares about the heat?  The local Monarch
population is way up compared to a couple of weeks ago too.

August 2, Hawkeye Wildlife Area, Johnson County:

Black Swallowtail (1)
Checkered White (3)
Cabbage White (4)
Clouded Sulphur (5)
Cloudless Sulphur (1)
Little Yellow (40)
Dainty Sulphur (20)
Bronze Copper (6)
Eastern Tailed-Blue (8)
Spring Azure (5)
American Snout (2)
Pearl Crescent (12)
Question Mark (3)
Eastern Comma (3)
Painted Lady (9)
Red Admiral (15)
Common Buckeye (2)
Red-spotted Purple (1)
Viceroy (30)
Hackberry Emperor (4)
Northern Pearly-eye (6)
Monarch (45)
Silver-spotted Skipper (2)
Hayhurst's Scallopwing (1)
Least Skipper (40)
Fiery Skipper (5)

Chris Edwards
North Liberty, IA
credwards@...

One of the neat things about Yahoo groups is the ability to upload a
few files.  I started it off with the photo of my Imperial Moth.  I
know there are a few photographers out there that could share a few
good photos so have at it.

Ann Johnson
hologrambirds@...