Dan Hardy
I put off writing this summary as long as I could. The drought and heat were oppressive. We found only 29 species. This contrasted with our best-ever 63 species in 2007, but that was a summer of constant rain and lush vegetation. This year’s total individuals were only a tenth of last year.
Sixteen people turned out for the count. After reconnoitering Zilker garden, we went to St. Edward’s Park. We split in to two parties. Our group’s best find was a dragonfly called the Dragonhunter, which is a huge clubtail that preys on other dragonflies. The other party found a Red-spotted Purple butterfly.
After lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant (the high point?), a few of us continued on to Barton Greenbelt. But we quickly called it a day after walking the creek bed with the blinding white stones and oven-like heat. As with much of the butterflying this summer, it’s best to forget and move on.
Participants: Lauren Bauer, Bob Beneski, Val Bugh, Tad Finnell, Dan Hardy, Mary Holland, George Kerr, Joe Lapp, Jean Martin, Holly Prosser, Barbara Ribble, Roxie Rochat, Jeff Taylor, Gary Thomas, Miriam Vaughn, and Peg Wallace.
You can download a spreadsheet summarizing all of our “4th of July” counts from the main Counts page.