Greetings to all,
I put on my Master Naturalist hat yesterday and participated in the annual
butterfly count at the Dismal Swamp. Don Schwab, biologist for the Dismal
Swamp, was organizing the event. About 2 dozen participants arrived at the
Washington Ditch meet up spot at 8 am yesterday.
Don assigned Nick Flanders to one of the spots in the Swamp near the NC border
-- "the blocks" at Corapeake Ditch. When Don said this group was most likely to
see bears, 11 people moved over to join Nick's group. Fellow Master Naturalists
Jeanette Navia and Patty Maloney joined me with the hope of seeing some great
butterflies, birds, and perhaps, bears.
We traveled over 20 miles in the caravan of 5 vehicles along "unpaved refuge
roads" in an area not open to the public. In fact the map we had was labeled:
"Bear Hunt Map -- Great Dismal Swamp NWR"
We observed the following birds, mostly as we drove along:
Red-headed Woodpeckers -- 2
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Osprey
Red-tailed Hawk
Turkey Vulture
Gray Catbird
Common Yellowthroat
This area of the Dismal Swamp is the Pond Pine Pocosin area where the eventual
plans are to introduce Red-cockaded woodpeckers. Some of this area was burned a
couple of years ago.
Don Schwab warned us that the butterfly numbers would be low. We observed:
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
Others I'm sure -- Nick was keeping score.
At 10:45 we stopped at an intersection of two "unpaved refuge roads" and
observed a large Black Bear a good ways off -- visible only with binoculars.
Then we observed a cub with her. Then two cubs. Nick advised that we would head
that direction! Yea!!
As we approached the area, of course the bear was not to be seen on the
roadside. My car was the final car in the caravan and there was no way we would
see the bear after the first car passed. We were resigned to being happy with
the far off glimpses through our binoculars.
Suddenly, Patty Maloney, in the back seat behind me, exclaimed: "look at the
cubs in the trees!" She fired off several shots on her camera and Jeanette and
I tumbled out of the car to get better looks. We observed the bear cub sliding
down the tree and Jeanette saw the momma bear at the base of the pine. No other
people in our group saw the cubs or got photos.
You can see Patty's photo on the web site of the Historic Rivers Chapter,
Master Naturalist: http://www.historicrivers.org/
Butterfly counts, like bird counts, often take you to locations not open to the
public and there are almost always surprises.
Bonus: no mosquitoes or flies (or very few) because of the drought. Also
managed to get out of there with no chigger bites or ticks! A good day all
round.
Shirley Devan
Williamsburg Bird Club
http://williamsburgbirdclub.org/
Board member, Virginia Society of Ornithology
http://www.virginiabirds.net/index.html
Ph: 757.813.1322
I'm now on facebook ...
