March 2013 Sightings

Warren A. Jacobs

Fulmer Rd Spring Mount
Montgomery County, PA

  • Mourning Cloak 1

Mourning Cloak

Steven Rosenthal

Estero Llano Grande State Park
Hidalgo County, TX

seen multiple times landing on a baited log near the park entrance, pointed out by Rick Snider.

  • Mexican Bluewing 1

Rob Santry

Auburn/Placerville
El Dorado County, CA

Dennis Holmes, Ray Bruun, and I, did our annual trip to the sierran foothills to photograph Sonoran Blue. There were eggs, egg casings, and six first instar larvae at the Auburn site, but no flying adults. So we went to the Chili Bar locale on the American River near Placerville and saw ten adult Sonoran Blues!

  • Pipevine Swallowtail 4
  • Anise Swallowtail 1
  • Cabbage White 2
  • Sonoran Blue 10
  • Silvery Blue 1
  • Acmon Blue 4
  • Mylitta Crescent 1
  • California Tortoiseshell 1
  • Mourning Cloak 1
  • Common Ringlet 5
  • Propertius Duskywing 6

Sonoran Blue

Dave Hanson

Estero Llano Grande, Weslaco
Hidalgo County, TX

I have been after this number one on the most wanted list for almost 12 years. Finally got male and female yesterday 3/12 at Estero then wouldn’t you know it today there were two females at the National Butterfly Center. Other sightings may indicate a valley-wide emergence. February was great in the Rio Grande Valley… 103 species and already 68 in March. C’mon down.

  • Falcate Orangetip 2

Falcate Orangetip

Falcate Orangetip

Mike A Rickard

Frontera Audubon, Weslaco
Hidalgo County, TX

Only the 3rd US sighting?

  • Black Crescent 1

Black Crescent

Karen Ann Parker

East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Hampden County, MA

On March 13, 2013, I found a Mourning Cloak Butterfly in the back yard, my first of the season.

  • Mourning Cloak 1

Dennis Holmes

San Bruno Mountain State Park
San Mateo County, CA

  • Anise Swallowtail 2
  • Sheridan's Hairstreak 1
  • Brown Elfin 1
  • Moss' Elfin 2
  • Painted Lady 1

Moss' Elfin

Jeanette Klodzen

Yellow Fork Trail - outside Herriman UT
Salt Lake County, UT

1/2 mile creekside trail to picnic area (and back)

  • Satyr Comma 1
  • Hoary Comma 1
  • Milbert's Tortoiseshell 5

suzanne schroeder

Hugh Ramsey Park, Arroyo Colorado, Harlingen
Cameron County, TX

  • Mexican Bluewing 1

Mexican Bluewing

Taffy Herridge

Harvey Creek on Sam Rayburn Lake on white pansies
San Augustine County, TX

  • Silver-spotted Skipper 1

Silver-spotted Skipper

Silver-spotted Skipper

Mike A Rickard

National Butterfly Center
Hidalgo County, TX

Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak at the NBC. 3rd in a week! Maybe this species will have a good year despite the drought.

  • Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak 1

Lantana Scrub-Hairstreak

Mike A Rickard

Weslaco, Estero Llano Grande SP
Hidalgo County, TX

Chestnut Crescent at Estero Llano Grande. There’ve been several sightings of this species so far this year, but this one is believed to be a record for the park. It’s been a good year in the LRGV for crescents, with 7 species seen.

  • Chestnut Crescent 1

Chestnut Crescent

Linda Cooper

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park
Okeechobee County, FL

Dave and Marga Cutler, Buck and Linda Cooper. Good variety for this early in season. Palmetto Skipper nectaring on Osceola’s Plume Zigadenus densus is one of the few butterflies we have seen nectaring on this species. Majority of butterflies were very fresh.

  • Zebra Swallowtail 6
  • Black Swallowtail 6
  • Palamedes Swallowtail 2
  • Checkered White 3
  • Orange Sulphur 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur 2
  • Barred Yellow 2
  • Little Yellow 5
  • Sleepy Orange 1
  • Gray Hairstreak 1
  • Red-banded Hairstreak 1
  • Gulf Fritillary 1
  • Zebra Heliconian 1
  • Phaon Crescent 11
  • Pearl Crescent 12
  • Red Admiral 1
  • Common Buckeye 10
  • White Peacock 5
  • Viceroy 1
  • Carolina Satyr 45
  • Long-tailed Skipper 1
  • Northern Cloudywing 1
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
  • Swarthy Skipper 1
  • Least Skipper 1
  • Fiery Skipper 2
  • Tawny-edged Skipper 1
  • Whirlabout 6
  • Delaware Skipper 4
  • Aaron's Skipper 2
  • Palmetto Skipper 3
  • Palatka Skipper 1

Palmetto Skipper

Rob Santry

Plum Canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
San Diego County, CA

A three hour survey of Plum Canyon. Temps were cool and mild at 70 degrees warming to almost 80. There were more California Patches out today than the three previous trips combined!
The Juniper Hairstreak is of the type ‘Loki’ Juniper Hairstreak.

  • Black Swallowtail 5
  • Western Tiger Swallowtail 2
  • Becker's White 1
  • Sara Orangetip 1
  • Dainty Sulphur 5
  • Great Purple Hairstreak 1
  • Bramble Hairstreak 4
  • Juniper Hairstreak 4
  • Sonoran Blue 1
  • Silvery Blue Common
  • Wright's Metalmark 2
  • Mormon Metalmark 1
  • California Patch Common
  • Tiny Checkerspot 6
  • Variable Checkerspot 1
  • Painted Lady 1
  • Queen 1
  • Funereal Duskywing 4
  • White Checkered-Skipper 1

Juniper Hairstreak

Tiny Checkerspot

California Patch

Jim Wilkinson

Font Hill Wetland Park
Howard County, MD

nearby suburban neighborhood

  • Mourning Cloak 1

Jim Flynn

Schnebly Coulee
Kittitas County, WA

Not many species, but it’s very early here, and two of the three were lifers for us.

  • Sheridan's Hairstreak 1
  • Green Comma 1
  • Mourning Cloak 1

Ann Thering and Dave Eide

Shawnee National Forest
Union County, IL

  • Mourning Cloak 34

John Eric DiOrio

Heislerville
Cumberland County, NJ

  • Mourning Cloak 1

Greg Dysart

Natick
Middlesex County, MA

FOY seen in my own woodland.

  • Mourning Cloak 1

Mourning Cloak

Barbara Peck

Clear Creek Vista Trail in Whiskeytown NRA
Shasta County, CA

Chris Gray and I saw a Western Pine Elfin on the Clear Creek Vista Trail yesterday afternoon at the end of a plant walk with CNPS. The butterfly was patrolling the path, then landing on an interior live oak. It did this repeatedly. Then it danced above the tree with a second elfin. A gray pine was right next to this display area. It was a very fresh pine elfin.

  • Western Pine Elfin 2

Nils Helstrom

Skylands Manor Section of Ringwood State Park
Bergen County, NJ

First butterflies of the season in this region, more than a dozen Mourning Cloaks out in Ringwood State Park. Also a number of adult moths and an energetic Woolly Bear caterpillar.

  • Mourning Cloak 12+

Brenda Inskeep, Tom Fiore

Hook Mt., Nyack
Rockland County, NY

  • Mourning Cloak 3

Mary Alice Koeneke

Fontenelle Forest Nature Center
Sarpy County, NE

  • Question Mark 2
  • Mourning Cloak 8

Ronald Hedden

White River Lake
Crosby County, TX

  • Olympia Marble 5
  • Sleepy Orange 1
  • Acmon Blue 2
  • Common Checkered-Skipper 10

Olympia Marble

Olympia Marble

Linda and Buck Cooper

Colt Creek State Park
Polk County, FL

This was a very quick trip to check for certain species. Early Sparkleberry blooms attracted a few hairstreaks as well as Scarlet-bodied Wasp Moth. Swamp woods are very dry as is all of central Florida.

  • Zebra Swallowtail 3
  • Spicebush Swallowtail 1
  • Palamedes Swallowtail 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur 5
  • Oak Hairstreak 2
  • White M Hairstreak 1
  • Red-banded Hairstreak 1
  • Gulf Fritillary 1
  • Zebra Heliconian 1
  • Question Mark 3
  • Red Admiral 3
  • Common Buckeye 2
  • Hackberry Emperor 1
  • Appalachian Brown 2
  • Gemmed Satyr 2
  • Carolina Satyr 9
  • Little Wood-Satyr 1
  • Northern Cloudywing 1
  • Fiery Skipper 2

Appalachian Brown

Scarlet-bodied Wasp Moth

Gemmed Satyr

Brenda Inskeep, Tom Fiore

Rosa Hartman Park, Old Greenwich
Fairfield County, CT

  • Mourning Cloak 1