From: David and Ednelza Henderson <dandewild@CONSOLIDATED.NET>

On a partly cloudy Sunday with temperatures in the 70's to 80's, eight BESTers met at the Roy E. Larsen Sandylands Preserve in Hardin County to find Yucca Giant-Skippers and then to reconnoiter the Turkey Creek Sandhills Loop in Big Thicket National Preserve for the YGS as well as other Lepidoptera. Seven hours and seven tough hiking miles later, we had no YGS sightings, but we did have several good bugs, a summary of which follows.

Sandylands:

1. Pipevine Swallowtail - 5

2. Palamedes Swallowtail - 10

3. Zebra Swallowtail - 19

4. Dark swallowtail sp. - 2

5. Cloudless Sulphur - 3

6. Falcate Orangetip - 5 (plus several eggs on Spring Cress - Cardomine rhomboidea)

7. Dusky-blue Groundstreak - 2

8. Red-banded Hairstreak - 7

9. Eastern Tailed-Blue -2

10. Pearl Crescent - 26

11. Common Buckeye - 10

12. Goatweed Leafwing - 4

13. Variegated Fritillary - 1

14. Red Admiral - 4

15. Red-spotted Purple - 1

16. Carolina Satyr - 16

17. Gemmed Satyr - 2

18. Juvenal's Duskywing - 1

19. White-striped Longtail - 2

20. Northern Cloudywing - 1

21. Silver-spotted Skipper - 1

22. Fiery Skipper - 1

Turkey Creek Trail:

Palamedes Swallowtail - 9 (mostly seen nectaring on Piedmont Azalea Rhododendron canescens)

Zebra Swallowtail - 5

Cloudless Sulphur - 2

23. Sleepy Orange - 1

24. Henry's Elfin - 1

Dusky-blue Groundstreak - 2

Goatweed Leafwing - 2

25. Question Mark - 1

Carolina Satyr - 25 (inc. 1 mating pair)

Gemmed Satyr - 5

26. Southern Pearly-eye - 3

27. Creole Pearly-eye - 2

28. Horace's Duskywing - 3 (seen nectaring on Elliott's Blueberry (Vaccinum elliotti)

Silver-spotted Skipper - 1

29. Common/White Checkered-Skipper - 1

30. Clouded Skipper

The Sandhills Loop, as well as much of the Sandylands, had been burned recently to lower fuel loads brought down by the hurricanes of '08. The driest winter in recent memory has severely retarded the floral flush that is to be expected after such a burn. The Sandhills, much to my

disappointment, does not appear to contain any yucca, and so will not be expected to contain any YGS.

A huge thank you to Carlton Collier, Kathie Cook, Ednelza Henderson, Diane Milano, John & Ana Thornton, and Hugh Wedgeworth for partaking in this adventure! If we have rain this week, I will be doing this again on Sunday, March 15; so hopefully we'll see you then!

BEST,

David F. Henderson

Past President, Butterfly Enthusiasts of Southeast Texas