It was perfect weather for a count – high of 80F, and mostly sunny.  We had four counters: Me (Marcie O’Connor), Mike Reese, Karen Oberhauser, and Emilie Snell-Rood.

We saw 38 species (one less than our record), and 1164 individuals.  Click here for the details.

Emilie and I both took photos.  Here are a few of the highlights.

We watched Mike (O’Connor) demonstrate a short flight with his drone.

 

Karen in her gnat net.  The problem was actually black flies – they are so bad this year that we all wore nets for protection.

 

Marcie

 

View from the top of Indian Grass Point

 

Prairie Coreopsis

 

Here are some of the butterflies – click on an image to see a larger version.

Clay-colored Sparrow singing

 

Unexpected Cycnia (Cycnia inopinatus) – an unusual moth caterpillar on Green Milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora)

 

A pretty fly – I’ve submitted it to Bugguide to see if anyone can identify it.

 

Some very large fungi

 

This moth pupa was hanging from what looks like caterpillar hairs.

I took the pupa home, and a few days later it hatched into a wasp in the subfamily Ophioninae.  Most of these wasps are internal parasites of caterpillars.

 

We put up the moth lights.

 

Here are a few of the moths we saw.  (Click on a photo to see a larger version.)