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Flat River Waterfowl Impoundment, Mangum, Durham County, NC

Created by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to provide a food and water alternative source to areas flooded by dams for migrating birds, this place consists of artificially created ponds that provide water even during droughts.   Bitter Sneezeweed takes over this area in midsummer, especially during hot, dry times, drawing many species of butterflies and day-flying moths.  The Flat River and the woods surrounding it constitute a different type of habitat next to the impoundment; these show the effects of historical human development, e.g., mills, dams, roads and introduced plants such as rosebushes and the occasional English Ivy.  For a description of the area, see Butner-Neuse Gameland maps.  For directions, see the live map.

A windy moment, 1/29/11	Marsh view, 10/18/14	More trees here, 1/29/11	The Flat River itself, 1/29/11.  Photo by Karl D. Gottschalk	Swamp Milkweed seeds, 1/29/11

Silvery Checkerspot	Same Silvery Checkerspot	Silvery Checkerspot	Clay-colored Leaf Beetle (Anomoea laticlavia)	Same Clay-colored Leaf Beetle (Anomoea laticlavia)

Jumping spider (Phidippus princeps)	Same jumping spider	Oxeye Daisy	Fowler's Toad

Ashy Clubtail	Crab spider	Redbelly Water Snake	American Lady

5/22/15

Mourning Cloak	Juniper Hairstreak	Crab spider with Tarnished Plant Bug prey and flies	American Lady	Rhopalid plant bug

Crown Vetch	Flower fly (Orthonevra genus)	Fowler's Toad	Great Spangled Fritillary	Same Great Spangled Fritillary

Toad bug	Toad bug	Tumbling flower beetle	Tarnished Plant Bugs	Viceroy

Scarab beetle	Billbug	Mystery wildflowers	Wasp (Scolia nobilitata)	Moth

Zebra Swallowtail	A vanishing species in this area: the officially "invasive" Oxeye Daisy.

10/18/14

Sleepy Orange	Common Buckeye	Another Common Buckeye

7/12/14

Longhorn bee (Eucerini tribe)	Common Buckeye on Chinese Lespedeza	Halictid bee on Common Mullein	Robber fly	Wasp (Scolia nobilitata)

Silvery Checkerspot	Pearl Crescent	Another Pearl Crescent	Spangled Skimmer	Three weevils on Bitter Sneezeweed

Mating billbugs with interloper	Fungus weevil (Trigonorhinus limbatus). This one has capitate antennae.

8/16/13

American Snout	Question Mark	Red-banded Hairstreak	Picture-winged fly (Tritoxa flexa)	Dogbane Beetle

Owlet moth (Spragueia leo)	Hackberry Emperor	Passionflower	Passionflower

Red Admiral	Trailing Wild Bean	Pearl Crescent	Sleepy Orange

5/10/12

Black Swallowtail	Viceroy	Pearl Crescent	Variegated Fritillary

Great Fritillary	Moth and billbug on Oxeye Daisy	Recent metamorph Eastern Pondhawk	Everlasting Pea

Cabbage White	Wild Onion	Grass	Clover?

Katydid on a large moth caterpillar	Venus' Looking Glass	Jumping spider (Phidippus clarus)

2/17/12

Swampy area	More swamp	Grass	Common Dandelion	Megachilid bee

10/27/11

Highs were in the high 70s, and it was unpleasantly hot.

Variegated Fritillary	Seven-spotted Ladybug Beetle	Common Buckeye, with reddish hindwing	Checkered skipper

Heal-All (Prunella vulgaris)	Flower fly	Cabbage White on aster	Large fungus	Swamp Milkweed pods with seeds

10/10/11

This was a mild, very windy day.  The water was very low, but covered with duckweed.  No migrating birds appeared, although several Northern Mockingbirds were sitting in one tree.

White-M Hairstreak.  Part of the near hindwing (including the bottom half of the red spot) has been torn off, showing the deep blue dorsal side on the far hindwing.	Cloudless Sulphur	Mourning Cloak	Moth (Epipagis huronalis)	American Snout

7/17/11

Bee fly (Xenox tigrinus)	Green Heron	Checkered skipper	Hackberry Emperor

Swamp Rose Mallow, one of hundreds bloomin	Common Mullein, with a sideways thumbnail problem	Moth Mullein	Scoliid wasp (Scolia nobilitata) on Bitter Sneezeweed.  ID thanks to Brian Bockhahn.	Red Admiral (ventral view), hiding in the shade	Sleepy Orange

 

Jumping spider (female Phidippus clarus), with prey	Mating Robber flies (Diogmites neoternatus)	Thread-waisted wasp (Ammophila genus) and two small weevils on Bitter Sneezeweed	Variegated Fritillary	Robberfly, with wings partially open

6/3/11

Dogbane Beetle	Male Eastern Amberwing	Hackberry Emperor	Colorado Potato Beetle	Male Spangled Skimmer

Aphid and exuvia.  White material on the aphid may be unremoved part of exuvia.	Backswimmer	Toad Bug, seems to have growths on its back: they do seem to help with camouflage.

Broad-headed bug	Adult male Eastern Pondhawk	Male Eastern Pondhawk transitioning from recent metamorph (green) to adult (blue except for the head)	Salt Marsh Moth (Estigmene acrea)	Moth caterpillar

 

Pearl Crescent Variegated Fritillary Male Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies on Common Milkweed: Tiger Swallowtails and what seems to be a Great Spangled Fritillary

Carolina Rose	Yellowbelly Slider.  ID thanks to Brian Bockhahn.	Same Yellowbelly Slider (newly emerged from duckweed-covered swamp)

2/6/11

Putty Root Orchid leaf

Durham, NC  10/27/10

Clouded Sulphur	Orange Sulphur	Female Sachem on Brazilian Verbena	Variegated Fritillary	Cabbage White

Milkweed seeds emerging from pod	Fungus beetle, maybe Asian Oak Weevil	White Morning Glory (Ipomoea lacunosa)	Bitter Sneezeweed	Aster - unusual.  Only Daisy Fleabane flowers have this many petals.

 

Brown Stink Bug (Euschistus servus)	Field Cricket

10/4/10

Variegated Frillary	Eastern Tiger Swallowtail	Monarch	Viceroy	Mating Cloudless Sulphurs The male was on top, carrying the upside-down female during intermittent flights.	Sleepy Orange

Checkered skipper	Gray Hairstreak	Regular Orange Sulphur	Albino Orange Sulphur

 

Broad-headed Bug	Ailanthus Webworm	Yellow-collared Scape Moth	Large Milkweed Bug on milkweed pod	Infested milkweed pod with Large Milkweed Bug.  Several more were deeper inside, hiding under the seeds.

American Bird Grasshopper	Flower fly, Eristalis genus

8/15/10

Silvery Checkerspot	Dun Skipper (on Bitter Sneezeweed), discovered and IDed by Randy Emmitt	Crab spider	Clouded Skipper	Orange Sulphur, the only one I saw

Silvery Checkerspot	Zebra Swallowtail	Question Mark	Mating Silvery Checkerspots

 

Red Admiral	Passionflower, one of about 10	Sleepy Orange	Jumping spider (Phidippus clarus)

Common Sootywing, discovered and IDed by Randy Emmitt	Question Mark	Leaffooted Bug	Obedient Plants	Mating Variegated Fritillaries

 

Mating picture-winged flies (Tritoxa genus)	Bomber Fly (Heterostylum robustum)	Cloudless Sulphur	Carolina Dayflower, near the Flat River	Swamp Milkweed (Ascepias incarnata), Flat River Impoundment, Durham, NC, 8/15/10

Exposed Bird Dropping Moth (Tarache aprica), on a pokeweed stem	A crambid snout moth (Epipagis huronalis).  ID thanks to Maury J. Heiman.

Copyright © 2010-2019 by Dorothy E. Pugh.  All rights reserved.  Please contact for rights to use photos.

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Flat River Impoundment area: Continue southwest from the Lake Michie Dam Road turn ("A") to the Flat River Impoundment, on the other side of the road (a very short distance).  The impoundment stands out on the map: the green and brown stripes are square artificial ponds.  A loop path surrounds some of them.

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