Joann Merritt's Essays

Those Winston Churchill Butterfliers
(We never gave up, never, never, never!)
July, 2005

On July 2nd eager butterfly census takers met at Sibley Center to register and pay the $3.00 participation fee. We welcomed the morning’s cool northeast breeze but were apprehensive when raindrops began falling as the Stortz, Hunter and Merritt teams set off with sharpened pencils and proper tabulation forms in hand. The 3 teams had each reached their first designated spot when they were greeted by clouds, winds and rain which dampened our clothes but not our enthusiasm. To seek shelter, wait out the storm or change location were our options.

The Stortz team went back to town to escape the high winds and that turned out to be a wise decision because they found the beautiful California Sister which had been recorded on only one previous count. The Hunter team did nearby Golladay, then backtracked to find the Acmon Blues. The cold, wet and bedraggled Merritt team drove to the Smith Pond where we tried to “dry our plumage” under the protection of the metal-roofed shelter. We looked like the 2 sculptured vultures perched atop the Smith’s large barbecue pit.

Bill Edwards arrived from Ft. Worth and while waiting for Sybil to get off work he photographed a Tropical Leafwing that was feeding on the Merritt’s fruit plate - a new species for the county. Allen joined them and spotted a Red Satyr while they were at the meadow north of Trees of Texas - another new species for our list.

The final lists from all the parties were tabulated showing that each team had reported species not found by the other teams, proving that everyone contributed to our great count results. In spite of the rain, wind, heat and humidity we never gave up, never, never, never!!