From April 5-11, 2016, following up on an article in the Spring/Summer 2015 issue of American Butterflies, my friend Rebecca and I flew to Tallahassee, Florida to check out four of the five units of the Big Bend Wildlife Management Area (WMA) mentioned in the article and to participate in the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge Butterfly Count on April 9. Based at the Hampton Inn in Perry, Florida for all but our late arrival and early departure days, we spent time at the Snipe Island, Hickory Mound, Spring Creek, and Tide Swamp units of the Big Bend WMA.

With perfect weather the entire trip, we'd end up seeing close to 50 butterfly species, including nearly a dozen I'd never seen before and even added a few new ones for Rebecca. The Butterfly Count was particularly interesting, as we got to meet most of the authors of that article and a number of top butterfliers from the area. Fun the last day meeting up with sister and her husband, who showed us around Tallahassee and some of the better butterflying spots there in town.

This page has a few pictures of some of the other sights from the week, with butterflies shown on the next page.

Click on any of the thumbnails for the full sized image, and right click to save a copy.