Butterfly big year in Ohio 2011: Shawnee 5/21/2011

Sorry for the lack of post lately, but all the rain has put a damper on Butterflies the last couple of months. Today I went to Adam's County and Shawnee State Forest and had a really good day. Within 10 minutes of being at Lynx Prairie(the lower end) I had pepper and salt skipper, roadside skipper, zabulon skipper, Northern pearlyeye, and Carolina Satyr. I took a short walk to look for pine elfin, but struck out. Then it off to Shawnee. On the way, I stopped at Sandy Springs Cemetary, looking for Hayhurst's Scallopwing-no luck. I then checked the rest area-no luck. I was about to give up when I turned down the road just east of the rest area and found one on the side of that road. Next I drove up to Shawnee and had southern cloudywing on the way. On one of the back roads, I was able to find a sunning timber rattlesnake, the first I have seen in the wild. I then walked the north end of rd 5, and had pepper and salt, hobomok, hoary edge, and an unknown azure that was probably Appalachian, but oh well I guess I'm going to miss that one this year. Then I checked the spot where I had the dusky azure laying eggs earlier this year and there was a caterpillar on the goatsbeard. Several Red-Banded hairstreaks were around. On poop in the road I found several silvery checkerspots and a least skipper. I think that is pretty much the highlights of the day, so here are the pictures: