With Don Fraser; a visit to check on the status of the Sparkleberries -- they are in prime condition now. The weather at the start was sunny and 52 degrees ("feels like" 52) with calm winds. At noon, it was sunny and 72 degrees ("feels like" 72), with a light breeze; it seemed warmer than that. Because this was a visit for hairstreaks, we had 2+ hours to spend before we could reasonably expect the butterflies to come out (it really was around 1100). As a result, we walked all the trails, including "the back 40" and the road to the barn. We finished the visit with nearly an hour at the main Sparkleberry patch, where we saw 4 Great Purple Hairstreaks and one Mangrove Skipper -- we saw one White M Hairstreak and another Mangrove Skipper on "Hairstreak Hill." The Mangrove Skippers were at least one mile east of the nearest mangroves; these are the third and fourth records for the Preserve. We left at 1308.

With Don Fraser; a visit to check on the status of the Sparkleberries -- they are in prime condition now. The weather at the start was sunny and 52 degrees ("feels like" 52) with calm winds. At noon, it was sunny and 72 degrees ("feels like" 72), with a light breeze; it seemed warmer than that. Because this was a visit for hairstreaks, we had 2+ hours to spend before we could reasonably expect the butterflies to come out (it really was around 1100). As a result, we walked all the trails, including "the back 40" and the road to the barn. We finished the visit with nearly an hour at the main Sparkleberry patch, where we saw 4 Great Purple Hairstreaks and one Mangrove Skipper -- we saw one White M Hairstreak and another Mangrove Skipper on "Hairstreak Hill." The Mangrove Skippers were at least one mile east of the nearest mangroves; these are the third and fourth records for the Preserve. We left at 1308.