Patty Maloney got a great shot of a bear cub during the butterfly count at the Dismal Swamp yesterday. There were three bear cubs and a mama bear, though we only had a brief chance to get a few quick photos of this one cub. (Click the photo for larger version).
Shirley writes, “When the count director said this sector was the most likely spot for a bear sighting, Jeanette Navia, Patty, and I jumped on the bandwagon. Our leader was Nick Flanders and we had a total of 12 people in our group.”
Shirley’s butterfly count list includes:
- Eastern Tail Blue
- American Buckeye
- Pearl Crescent
- Palomedes (Dismal Swamp is the northern edge of their range)
- Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
- Orange Sulphur
- Zebra Swallowtail
- Spicebush Swallowtail
- And some skippers that were not easy to identify.
About 30 people showed up at the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge count meeting place at 8:00 in the morning. More than half of the group were members of the Historic Rivers Chapter. We were split into smaller groups to cover different sectors of the refuge. The sector where the bears were located is called “the blocks,” and is not open to the public.
Les, who counted at another sector, reports, “Our group had a total of 28 butterfly species – not bad. I got about 100 — chigger bites, that is!”
