The Middle Peninsula Master Naturalist Chapter sponsored a North American Butterfly Association butterfly count on Saturday, Aug. 26.
Thirty-seven volunteers from four Virginia Master Naturalist chapters, and others from the region, participated in the third annual Middle Peninsula NABA count. Parts of Gloucester, Mathews, Middlesex, and King and Queen counties were covered in the one-day census.
During the eight-hour count, a total of 1,648 butterflies were counted in the four-county area with 52 different species of butterflies identified, according to count organizer/compiler Susan Crockett.
The most numerous species was the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (the Virginia state insect) at 629 individuals. The volunteers visited public parks and over 60 private properties and businesses to count the butterflies.
This was the first count for sightings of the following butterflies: Palamedes Swallowtail, Eastern Comma, Southern Cloudywing, Crossline Skipper, and Tawny-edged Skipper.
According ...