Earlier this fall I had the fortune to visit several areas in the amazing Panhandle of Florida only weeks prior to Hurricane Michael roaring through with all its fury. This narrow, northern section of the state is an area rich in biodiversity and varied habitats to explore.

The Hairstreak Chapter of the North American Butterfly Asso- ciation in Tallahassee hosted a workshop with three field days in the Panhandle. I learned that this area is one of the five richest hot spots for biodiversity in all of North America. According to one of our evening speakers, Bruce Means, there is no area of comparable size in North America that has more species of frogs (27) or snakes (42), and it ranks about third in the world for turtles with 18 species. There are over 300 species of birds and the number of plant species is also high. While we were there, around 90 species of butterflies were flying, with half of these being skippers. A total of 88 species were detected at the various field trip locations by the end of the three days. Apparently September is an excellent time for butterflies in the Panhandle. The pink liatris, a butterfly magnet, blooms at this time.

There were nine field trip locations from which to choose with varying habitats and butter- fly species specific to each. Many of sites were from the five units of Big Bend Wildlife Management area and from the Apalachicola National Forest, the largest national forest in Florida. All of the locations were within an hour and a half’s drive from Tallahassee.

On the first day my group visited Sumatra and Hickory Mound in the Apalachicola NF. This area has wet savannas containing bogs and carnivorous plants. We saw 34 species of butterflies including several of the large swallowtail species, the beautiful Little Metalmark, the Georgia Satyr and the Question Mark, the latter two being new species for me. We also saw a pygmy rattlesnake in the road, and spiders, spiders, spiders! The Green Lynx Spider was a beauty and very successful at capturing butterflies.

The second day’s trip took us close to the coast in the Hickory Mound Unit of Big Bend WMA. We traveled along dirt roads lined with wild flowers teeming with butterflies, 41 species by day’s end. There were several ponds with blue pickerel rush growing in them that were a magnet for Palamedes Swallowtails. We saw several skippers that were new for many of us including the Yehl, Byssus and Salt Marsh Skippers. The Juniper Hair- streak subspecies for this area, Sweadner’s, delighted all of us when it was spotted at the end of the day. We even had a wild boar cross the road! Apparently there was a 10 ft. storm surge over the dike along the gulf at this location when Hurricane Michael came through, and the water extended into this area.

We visited a very large and fairly wild suburban park on the outskirts of Tallahassee on the last day. In addition to 33 species of butterflies, we saw several Common Buckeye caterpillars and a chrysalis. However, we also saw a Common Buckeye get nabbed by a large praying mantis and eaten fairly quickly. There is so much life in this part of our country, that simply being out in the various habitats for three days gives you a ready view of the daily life and death struggles that occur here.

I have heard from one of the trip leaders that no one in their butterfly group suffered personal injury in the hurricane. There were a few homes that had trees fall on them, but the members are physically well. Regarding this diverse area, the comment was that it will recover in a year or two. If you consider visiting this location in the future, there is a good article on the area in “American Butterflies”, Spring/Summer 2015. I’m also happy to share information. It can be hu- mid and hot in this part of the country, but I felt it was well worth the sweat!

I met Paulette Ogard at the Tallahassee butterfly workshop. She is a coauthor of Butterflies of Alabama and also the creator of the Alabama Atlas, a great online site for identifying butterflies from the area including the Florida Panhandle. She told me of an annual butterfly count at Delta NF in July in Mississippi where you can see many puddling butterflies, sometimes hundreds of Red Spotted Purples. That got my interest! And she kindly gave me the count leader’s name! Now that the rainy season is upon us here in the Northwest, we have time to look at our own photos, travel brochures, butterfly classes and plan trips for next year!

All photos by Melanie Weiss.

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