Off on a trip to Georgia, Alabama, and eventually Chattanooga Tennessee the second week in June 2014 for the 11th Biennial North American Butterfly Association Meeting.
The first two days were pre-meeting field trips in Brent AL and Tuscumbia AL, where
we successfully saw Mitchell's Satyr at the former, but missed our target Swamp Metalmark at the latter. At Crane Creek Canyon Preserve in Tuscumbia on the second trip, we still had a great day in a beautiful preserve with a number of other good butterflies.
Heading to Chattanooga for the meeting, we stopped off at Wheeler NWR in Decatur AL, arriving too late (4 pm) to formally enter it but seeing some fabulous butterflies and dragonflies in the wildflower meadow just outside
the gate. We were on our own Thursday and checked out several of the field trip sites that we weren't able to visit with the group, picking up some great new butterflies such as the Diana and Aphrodite Fritillary.
From Friday to Sunday we went on three all-day field trips to May Prairie and Arnold AFB, Stevenson AL, and Soddy-Daisy. Finally, on the way back to the Atlanta airport, we made a brief stop at Cloudland State Park in Georgia.
A fun meeting with a great group of fellow butterfliers, we'd manage to see 54 of the 70+ species seen by the group overall, including 20 that were new for me. This page has pictures of people, flora and fauna seen along the way, while page 2 has pictures
of some of the incredible odonates that were flying around. Butterflies are on pages 3 (Swallowtails, Whites and Sulphurs, and Gossamerwings), 4 (Brushfoots), and 5 (Skippers).
Click on any of the thumbnails for the full
sized image, and right click to save a copy.
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