Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Chapel Hill, Orange County, NC
Johnston Mill Nature Preserve is a Triangle Land Conservancy land composed of land around New Hope Creek. It is relatively near the Korstian Division of Duke Forest, which shows similar wildlife patterns. To get there, follow this live map.
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| New Hope Creek, 2/13/11 | New Hope Creek, 11/12/08 | Puttyroot (Aplectrum hyemale), an orchid, 2/21/09. The rather large leaf appears in fall and winter, even as far north as Wisconsin, according to the University of Wisconsin at Madison Botany Department. ID thanks to Will Cook. | Basal CutleafToothwort leaf, 2/21/09 | Fern frond, 3/31/07 | Sugar Hackberry (close-up of bark) |
8/14/14
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| Ailanthus Webworm Moth | Robber fly with prey, probably a leafhopper | Another (unusual) Ailanthus Webworm Moth | Orb weaver (Mangora genus) | Fungus |
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| Jack-in-the-Pulpit | Sabatia angularis | Fungus | Fungus? |
8/11/14
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| Male Blue Dasher | Another male Blue Dasher | Bee Killer (Mallophora orsina) | Robber fly (Promachus genus) with bee prey | Same robber fly |
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| Cucumber Beetle | Duskywing | Leafhopper | Argiope aurantia spider and wasp which was caught temporarily in the web, but escaped | Ambush bug |
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| Silver-spotted Skipper | Thread-waisted wasp | Same thread-waisted wasp | Another Silver-spotted Skipper | Snowberry Clearwing Moth |
11/20/11
Our first outing after the big freeze! The ground was covered with brown leaves and the broad-leaved trees had nothing but, also. A few very frisky insects remained, although their prospects were dim. The saddest case was that of a honeybee that searched in the leaves of several locations at this gloomy location.
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| Question Mark, well-camouflaged among thousands of dead leaves covering the ground | Honeybee looking for something among the leaves. |
9/10/11
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| Passionflower | The other two passionflowers in this field, the one on the left going to seed | Partially opened passionflower in another field (adjacent to Shadowfax Stables) |
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| Big orb weaver web, about a foot across | Mangora genus spider, very tiny | Thistle flower | Pea flower, may be Hair Milk Pea |
8/19/11
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| Caterpillar | Wolf spiderlings | Triangulate Orb Weaver | Eastern Box Turtle | Asiatic Dayflower |
7/15/11
Thanks to Shadowfax Stables for letting the passionvines grow!
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| Passionflower, partially opened | Another partially opened passionflower | Northern Pearly Eye | Blooming Rattlesnake Plantain Orchid | Asian Dayflower |
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5/27/11
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| Ashy Clubtail | Crab spider | Red Clover blossom, a composite of typical legume family (Fabaceae) flowers | Lightning bug beetle | Northern Pearly Eye |
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| Seven-spotted Ladybug Beetle | Small fly | Jumping spider with fly prey | Crane fly |
4/19/11
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| Ashy Clubtail | Common Snipe Fly (Rhagio mystaceus), a species normally found in colder climates | Blister beetle | Gemmed Satyr |
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| Canada Violet, a cold-climate species, as suggested by the USDA Plants Viola canadensis page for North Carolina. | Green-and-Gold | Foamflower | Southern Chervil (Chaerophyllum procumbens) |
4/6/11
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| Selys' Sundragon | Eastern Tiger Swallowtail | Large Bee Fly (Bombilius major) | Female Juvenal's Duskywing |
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| Spring Azure, very worn | Hermit Thrush | Flower fly, Syrphus genus | Velvet ant (Pseudomethoca simillima) |
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| Giant Chickweed | Cutleaf Toothwort | Rue Anemone | Speedwell | Sugar Hackberry |
3/23/11
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| Four-toed Salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum), apparently missing most of its tail and about to burrow into the soil and rotted wood. | Same Four-toed Salamander, originally seen in this position | Field Pansies |
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| White-throated Sparrow | Male Falcate Orangetip | Female Falcate Orangetip on Spring Beauty | Cutleaf Toothwort, showing variation in leaf shape | Cutleaf Toothwort |
2/13/11
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| American Snout, seen at far end of Beech Trail at 3:31 pm. | Crane Fly Orchid (winter leaf) | Spider wasp |
11/18/10
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| Passionvine in large meadow on new trail | Green-headed Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata) |
9/17/10
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| Female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail | Treehopper (Acutalis tartarea) | Hearts-a-bustin' | Asian Dayflower |
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| Orb weaver | Clouded Skipper | Tulip Tree Silk Moth (Callsamia angulifera) caterpillar according to Janie Harmon Owens. | Sweet Everlasting |
8/7/10
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| Northern Pearly Eye |
6/19/10
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| Japanese Beetle | Long-legged fly | Winged ant (Formica genus). ID thanks to Richard Vernier. | Fire Pink (Silene virginica) | Aphid |
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| Click beetle (Megapenthes limbalis) | Leather Flower (Clematis viorna) | View inside a Leather Flower | A Leather Flower of a different color | Pea family (Fabaceae) flowers |
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| Scarab beetle larvae, probably Japanese Beetles | Ladybug Beetle (Cycloneda mundi). with a white object obscuring a small part of its scutellum. |
5/15/10
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| Northern Pearly Eye fresh from chrysalis | Golden-backed Snipe Fly | Male Spicebush Swallowtail | Ashy Clubtail | Hackberry Emperor |
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| Bumble Flower Beetle (Euphoria inda) | Millipede (Sigmoria aberrans) | Lichen Moth (Lycomorpha pholus) | Flower fly (Blera genus) |
4/18/10
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| Ashy Clubtail | Common Goldstar (Hypoxis hirsutis). Not really so common: this remote spot in Johnston Mill NP is the only place I've seen them. | Seven-spotted ladybug beetle | Dung beetle, note clay on margins | Catesby's Trillium (Trillium catesbaei) | Yellow Buckeye flowers |
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| Tachinid fly | Large Beefly (Bombilius major) | Female Eastern Fence Lizard | Jack-in-the-pulpit |
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| Heartleaf Foamflower | Eastern Bluestar | Ground Ivy | Ichneumon wasp | Common Vetch |
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3/20/10
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| Spicebush flowers | Miner bee, digging a hole in the ground for its nest. | Toothwort | Bloodroot flower |
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| Trout Lilies, a few of hundreds currently blooming | Trout Lily flower |
12/27/09
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| All Crane Fly Orchid leaves except the leaf in the middle in the last frame | ||||||||
7/3/09
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| Common Wood Nymph | Mydas Fly, about an inch long | Spined Orb Weaver | Adult Spined Assassin Bug |
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| Passion Vine with opening flower. One of a few remaining after a large field was mowed. | Spider, Mangora genus | Katydid nymph | Mating flower longhorn beetles | It's hard to tell what kind of planthopper nymph this was, but certainly is fancy! |
6/23/09
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| Common Stonefly (perhaps Agnetina flavescens, Perlidae family). (One antennae was truncated.) Stoneflies need very clean water to survive, which speaks well for this stretch of New Hope Creek! | Tumbling flower beetle (Mordellistena genus), Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 6/24/09 | Flower longhorn beetle | Clay-colored Leaf Beetle | Spider, maybe Dolomedes genus | |
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| Passion Flowers (Passiflora incarnata), in the process of unfolding | Fruit fly (Tephritidae family) | Damsel bug (Lasiomerus annulatus, Nabidae family) | Queen Anne's Lace flowers, up close, with billbug. The pink one is immature. |
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| Tall Thimbleweed (Anemone virginiana) flower | Tall Thimbleweed leaf | Carolina Wild Petunia |
5/30/09
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| Indian Pipes | Shield-backed katydid nymph | Question Mark |
3/31/09
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| Flower flies (Toxomerus genus), which alternately flew and landed. The bottom two are apparently mating in this photo. | Female Falcate Orangetip | Green Six-spotted Tiger Beetle | Large Bee Fly | Juvenal's Duskywing. Photo by Karl D. Gottschalk |
2/7/09
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| Eastern Chipmunk (Tamias striatus). This was the first time I saw a chipmunk in NC outside Macon County, in the mountainous far southwestern part of the state. | American Bird Grasshopper |
12/27/08
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| Eastern Subterranean Termite worker |
11/7/08
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| Cloudless Sulphur. | Common Buckeye | Common Buckeye, ventral view. | Northern Cricket Frog |
11/5/08
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| Crab spider, about 2 mm long | Snail, mostly outside shell. See other mollusks. | Solitary bee |
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| Leopard Slug | Male ichneumonid wasp |
4/10/08
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| This Ashy Clubtail, which has a deformed hind wing, closed its wings like a butterfly (on right). | ||||||
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3/14/08
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| Worker termite | Soldier termite | ||||
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| Plasterer Bees (Colletes thoracicus), Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 3/14/08. |
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11/27/07
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| Spirobolid Millipede | Bess Beetle | Possibly a fishing spider |
11/3/07
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| Crane fly (subfamily Tipulinae) | Centipede | Beetle grub (probably a scarab beetle) |
9/27/07
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| Scorpion fly | Female Fiery Skipper, unusually dark, though more wing pattern variation occurs in the fall. | Three views of a female Marbled Orb Weaver. Note that in the third picture the spider is peeking around its leg to see the photographer. | ||
8/31/07
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| Asiatic Oak Weevils in courtship mode, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, 8/31/07. See more beetles. | ||||||
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| Beech Blight Aphids, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 8/31/07 | Female Zabulon Skipper at Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC on 8/31/07 | Black-form female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC on 8/31/07. See the Butterfly Index. | Tussock moth caterpillar, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC on 8/31/07 | Jumping spider, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC on 8/31/07 |
Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC 6/16/07
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| Shining leaf chafer, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 6/16/07 | Firefly beetle (possibly Lucidota atra), Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 6/16/07 | Click beetle (Dalopius genus), Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 6/16/07 | Green Bottle Fly, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 6/16/07 | Lauxaniid fly, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 6/16/07 |
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| Velvet mite, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 6/16/07 | Ichneumonid wasp, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 6/16/07 | Ghost spider, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 6/16/07 |
5/31/07
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| Comb-footed spider (Theridion pictipes), Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 5/31/07. ID thanks to John and Jane Balaban. | Northern Pearly Eye, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 5/31/07. See other nymphs and satyrs or go to the Butterfly Index. | Even more Leaffooted Bug nymphs! Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 5/31/07. See more True Bugs. | Tumbling Flower Beetle, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 5/31/07 | Xylophagid Fly, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 5/31/07 |
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| Ebony Jewelwing, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 5/31/07 |
5/11/07
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| Great Spangled Fritillary, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 5/11/07 | Ashy Clubtail, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 5/11/07 | Possibly a Deer Fly, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 5/11/07 | Rove Beetle, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 5/11/07 | Leaf beetle (Paria quadrinotata, Eumolpinae subfamily), Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 5/11/07. |
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| Syrphid Fly (Temnostoma balyras), Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 5/11/07 |
12/24/06
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| Pileated Woodpecker, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 12/24/06 |
11/10/06
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| Jumping spider, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 11/10/06 | Stink bug (Menecles insertus), Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 11/10/06 |
9/30/06
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| Black-tailed Red Sheetweaver, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 9/30/06. This picture was taken on a cool morning when the dew was still on this spider's web. | Carolina Mantis, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 9/30/06 |
9/9/06
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| Spined Orb Weaver (Micrathena gracilis), Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 9/9/06 | Mangora genus orb weaver, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 9/9/06 | Neoscona genus spider, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 9/9/06 | Margined Leatherwing Beetle and Flower Longhorn Beetle, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 9/9/06. | Mating thread-waisted wasps (Eremnophila aureonotata), Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 9/9/06. They're a common species, but have no common name. Very strange! |
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| Maybe a kind of lynx spider, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 9/9/06 |
8/18/06
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| Arrow-shaped Micrathena (Micrathena sagittata), Johnston Mill, Orange County, NC, 8/18/06 | Cricket, Johnston Mill, Orange County, NC, 8/18/06 | Spider (Mangora genus?), Johnston Mill, Orange County, NC, 8/18/06 | Filmy Dome Spider, Johnston Mill, Orange County, NC, 8/18/06 |
7/15/06
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| Horse Fly (Tabanus genus), Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 7/15/06. This fly was missing most of its left wing and was buzzing around aimlessly on the ground at the time. | Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina), Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 7/15/06 | This large wolf spider was carrying a bunch of spiderlings on her abdomen at Johnston Mill, Orange County, NC, 7/15/06. | Flower Longhorn Beetle (Typocerus velutinus, subfamily Lepturinae), Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 7/15/06 | Flower Longhorn Beetle (Typocerus velutinus, subfamily Lepturinae), Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 7/15/06 |
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| Tulip Tree Beauty, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 7/15/06. Camouflage was not so perfect here. | Leafhopper exuviae. Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, 7/15/06 | American House Spider (Achaearanea tepidariorum) attacking a Marbled Orb Weaver, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, 7/15/06 |
7/1/06
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| Crane Fly, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC | Virginia Hover Fly (Milesia virginiensis), Johnston Mill, Orange County, NC, 7/1/06. Note the flat abdomen, a characteristic peculiar to syrphid flies. | Brachonid wasp (Atanycolus genus), Johnston Mill, Orange County, NC, 7/1/06 | Funnel web spider, Johnston Mill, Orange County, NC, 7/1/06 |
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| Orchard spider, Johnston Mill, Orange County, NC, 7/1/06 | Lightning bug beetle, Johnston Mill, Orange County, NC, 7/1/06 | Stilt-legged fly, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 7/1/06 | Ladybug beetle larva |
6/10/06
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| Ichneumonid wasp. See more members of the Hymenoptera order. | Oriental Cockroach eating (very poisonous) Amanita mushroom. | Wheel Bug Nymph. |
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| Hackberry Emperor. See more Emperors and some Snouts. | Maybe a hornet. Very large, over an inch long. | Green Stink Bug | Lauxaniid flies: mating pair and a possible interloper. See more flies. |
5/20/06
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| Mystery moth: The head is on the left and has two long, thin antennae. It was about 4 mm long. See more moths. | Another mystery critter trying to puzzle me! See more mystery critters. | Beetle. | Great Spangled Fritillary. See other Heliconians. | Another Great Spangled Fritillary |
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| Silvery Checkerspot. See more checkerspots. |
4/13/06
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| Harvester (Feniseca tarquinius), Johnston Mill, Orange County, NC, 4/13/06 | A view of another Harvester in which backlighting shows the pattern on the dorsal side of the wings. |
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| Snapping Turtle, Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 4/13/06. |
8/25/05
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| Gray Hairstreak, Johnston's Mill, Orange County, NC, 8/25/05. |