October 2014 Sightings

Located the largest concentration of Anartia jatrophae this year along this road in Orange Beach.

Williams Rd and Rd 1. 10:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.; mostly sunny; lots of wildflowers. Buck and Linda Cooper

Maymont is a 100-acre foundation-operated estate with extensive butterfly gardens.

11:00 AM - 2:20 PM, hot and humid with strong SE wind. Butterfly numbers about half that of three days earlier.

Mostly to partly cloudy, some rain and sun; in the mid 80s. Checked on the two White Peacock concentrations, and found those nearest the Gulf are losing members.

Photos are of an apparent aberrant Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui). The individual was nectaring on Rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus) with about a dozen American and Painted ladies at about 7,000ft. Photos by Nicholas Weber.

Weekly survey. Alan and Dell Wells
Without John Lampkin
Temps in the 60’s
Gray Hairstreak new for site

Whether it was the change in the weather or that the Blazing Star this group has been feeding on is nearly spent; I found on Euphyes at this sight.

Obs. made primarily on the NE side of New Bridge Rd. at the Ravenwood Rd. end. Red Clover , Asters, and Goldenrod.

We have not seen many butterflies for the past few days because of the weather. However, today we saw two Monarchs and two of its mimic the Viceroy which provided for a great comparison of these two beautiful butterflies.

Far fewer than avg. Buckeyes for this time of year here. Had several “rosa” form buckeyes. The reported Fiery Skipper was found just outside ot the NWR on private land.

This is the infamous ‘Death by Skipper’ trip done each fall at the prairie. High water limited access to only park roads. The first cold front of the season moved through the area that morning bringing rain until 10:30 and partly to mostly cloudy skies the rest of the day. Even with those obstacles the group managed to find 18 skipper species including Florida Dusted enamored with nectar INSIDE Pine Lilies Lilium catesbaei. Best nectar sources: Pickerelweed, Pine Lily, Spanish Needles, Frog Fruit. Four states were represented by participants from SC, OH, MI & FL - DForsythe, JKline, SSmith, JRiley, LRomine, JAnno, LBecker, SFarnsworth, LCooper. Though not everyone saw everything it was a successful day in a remote area of Florida.

on the back side of a cold front that pusher though it bright sunny
skies,small craft warnings,and 20 degree drop in our temps.

This was a lovely Canyon Live Oak mixed conifer area laced with streams. The temperature was in the high 80’s. The weather was clear and calm. The sisters were flying all along the dirt road for a stretch of roughly 3 - 4 miles.

Unmowed rural roadside in Green Swamp.

These were a surprise. We had our first night below 50 degrees yesterday and I just went up the roof for fall cleanup and these were on the butterfly bush. I haven’t seen any other butterflies in a while.

8:20 AM - 11:00 AM

Mostly sunny, 61 degrees and a light breeze, but still finding several species and good numbers

1 unidentified polygonia sp. Sunny and 60 degrees. All species nectaring on asters

Wind is down, and switched to the SE. The temp is up and so is the activity. Lots of UFBs (unidentified flying butterflies), the speed of their fly by and their size, was that of skippers, and brushfoots. Those that where nectaring where very jumpy.

Snow here last week. Still on north facing slopes.

Milbert’s Tortoiseshell seen at the Pass 10,200+.

A lot of the skippers were nectaring on Gerardia along with what seemed like hundreds of Buckeye caterpillars munching the leaves. This is the second year in a row seeing a Palmetto Skipper this time of year.

corner of School St. and Rte.7.

A 0.3 mile walk in a new Virginia natural heritage site through a Sphagnum Bog with Coreopsis, Meadow Beauties, Goldenrod and small white sprays of small flowers.

Beautiful bright 72 degree fall day.

Clouded sulphurs were all form alba

1:30 PM - 4:00PM

The Checked Skippers I found today where Common and Tropical. The Common (communis),was inland on high ground, where as the Tropical (oileus) was in the marshs along the water fronts of Mobile and Weeks Bay. No mixing today.
Also in those wet areas I found a dark skipper with a pale reddish brown ray extending from the base of the ventral side of the hind
wing to its outer margin and it has a couple of light colored spots in the discal area of the dorsel side of the forewing. I think it is a female Duke’s Skipper.

It is back to summer again. I was told by someone who lives just outside the reserve that Anartia jatrophae were present there. I checked with the office to see if it had ever been reported, and it had not. The White Peacock is in reserve I found 4 in public access area at the entrance to Weeks Bay.

10:15 a.m. - 5:15 p.m. Most butterflies on entrance road to East Loop and around East Loop. We ran out of time to cover so many carphephorus and liatris fields. Weather: mostly cloudy all day with light breeze. This trip has been dubbed ‘Bullied by Skippers.’ Participants: Sue Farnsworth, Buck and Linda Cooper

intersection of I-87 and Cross County Parkway.

Spanish Neddles and Frog fruit was what was holding the butterfies this morning.

while looking at carnivorous plants: a pleasant introduction to the SE long brood of this species, now long gone for the year back North.

cloudless sulphurs and buckeyes were pleasantly abundant in the surrounding coastal areas.

Partly cloudy, warm, and humid; fells like summer.The most common of the nectaring plant is now Spanish Nettles.

In my garden nectaring on yellow lantana

Mostly sunny, and summer like temps upper 60s night to mid 80s day, same as day before. Wind was a little stronger still less than 15mph.But the numbers where down.

I found another Funereal Duskywing today; the back drop was the white Spanish Nettles that it was visiting, made it difficult to spot the white of is white fringe.
The sighting window is getting short. The butterflies are acting like teenagers, by laying around all morning. I’ll see butterflies setting, and sunning for at least 2 hours after sunrise before they start move about, and with daylight getting short; locating and observe is becoming problematic. The shadows becoming longer; looks to discourage feeding on the shaded food sources, adding to the challenge.

First Common Buckeye I have spotted since 2012.

Also had a Polygonia sp. of some kind.

The lawn at my work has several small low lying flowering plants; that are growing in it, which are drawing, and holding a small number of butterflies for most of the day; Skippers mostly.

While doing our sixth Big Sit for Bird Watchers Digest, Sullivan County Audubon members counted 17 Monarchs passing by on their southward migration. Our circle is in the main parking lot by the stop sign trail on Haven Rd.

trip’s purpose was to hopefully document a second brood of Meske’s Skippers in LA

The wind really picked up today ahead of a frontal boundary, but it was only partly cloudy, and it was warm, with the rain showers missed this area all day. There were only two butterflies that where seen in todays winds. One was riding the wind, and the other hugged the ground.

Rare stray to south Texas

Two mile hike up Pine Canyon Trail from parking area to pour off.

The Gray Hairstreak was very fresh for this time of year.

Cleared over night, winds were diminishing during the day and were westerly. The heavy rain and wind did only minor damage to the Spanish Nettle patches, but there was very little activity on them, late in the afternoon. The lawn remains quite active, but still limited in the variety of its visitors

Eastern Commas were at the rotted fruit under the paw paw tree.

10:00 AM to 4:30 PM Lately it been hard to see ten species of butterflies in our yard but they arrived in mass today.

82F, 80F

I have a total of 6 Monarchs here today. I managed to get three of them in one shot!

Was flying in a light rain.

Nice cool day upper 50s AM to Upper 70s PM, winds being calmer today helped the species that are not as strong fliers as those from the past couple of days. Vacation starts tomorrow; Yea! I will see if the Monarchs are inland, and have not made it to the coast yet. The Gulf Fritillary where holding about 30 miles inland for several weeks before moving to the coast I’ll explore the same area where the Gulf Fritillary holding before their moved. It may still be to early, because of the numbers still coming from up north; in the central south, and along the central Atlantic coast .

The Monarchs were seen:
KL Nature Preserve on KL Ave.
corner of Vassar Dr. and Pasadena St.
The weather was mostly cloudy and 62 degrees

2 at this location and 2 more at nearby location.

Cool start to the day; but warmed to mid 70s by 9. Light winds didn’t hold down anything today. Gulf Fritillary are every where you looked.

From 9-45 AM till 3:45 PM. Queens were counted and estimated.

Didn’t get very far today; cool again upper 50s am to about 80 this afternoon. Nice mix today; another Funeral Duskywing, and a new location for the White Peacock. Today there has been a big come back of the Ocola Skippers.

The Monarch was seen flying across Drake Road

All seen in the Community Garden.

Started morning at rain and 59 degrees, then warmed up a little with on and off sun. This report is just to document the continuing influx of this species. We covered only about 0.2 miles of the canyon.

In suburban yard, nectaring on Dwarf Bahama Strongbark (Bourreria succulenta).

The monarch flew right in front of me while I was in the middle of a large crowd.

We have had many Gulf Fritillary in the yard this year but this one is the first one with this coloring. Is this a winter form? aberrant?

Many Cow Path Tiger Beetles out today

In all miles traveled to day there was only one Monarch sighted, but I also sighted another Funereal Skipper, It was a nice warm day clear temps in the low 80s.

From 10:15 AM to 1:00 PM, I didn’t worry about numbers today hoping to see yesterday’s Gilbert’s Flasher.

Week of 10-18 thru 10-24. Weather: cloudy to sunny with some rain during the week. Temps mostly in the mid 80s. Linda and Buck Cooper

Town park during Seafood Festival

Sunny and 52 degrees

Another sunny; but cooler day upper 70s pm. No traveling today, no variety, but no lack of abundance. Gulf Fritillary were streaming by all day, it was like a bicycle race; one right after another, then a small cluster, a short pause, and here they come again. This was from about 2 hours after sun up to a slowing, and ending about a 1.5 hours before sunset.

We have been without butterflies for three weeks now but today my grandkids spotted a beautiful male Monarch hanging out on a Split Maple Tree.

Checking our yard periodically during NASCAR and football.

A red maple tree was oozing sap down the trunk and attracting butterflies. 7 Question Marks, 2 Eastern Commas, 1 Mourning Cloak, 1 Red Admiral, and 1 Red-spotted Purple

late for Georgia Satyrs

Went inland from the coast looking for Monarchs; in hopes of finding more than scattered singles. No luck. The sulphurs were more common than nearer the water. Another nice day for a drive; we are in our fall weather pattern, dry, cool morning, and warming to low 80s in the afternoon.

Monarch butterfly visiting marigolds today, after seeing none for a week or so.

Black Swallowtail was a male and very fresh

Road trip; to locate links to the east of the White Peacock, Anartia jatrophae,.The trip failed to produce any sighting, it did find that the elements for a link, larval food plants, and open spaces with lots of the flowers that the adults nectar on are all present. This days trip produced sighting of Monarchs at all but 2 of 9 stops; and 6 were seen at the Navarra Butterfly House(closed for the season) gardens.

Weather: cloudy and rain with intermittent sun; high temp was 80° for the day. Linda and Buck Cooper

Seen during checks of yard from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM

No A.jatrophae; again. Monarchs are coming now the river, and they are lots of them,(they are noticeable as road kill). The causeway between the City of Apalachicola, and East Point was awash with butterflies.

Looked for butterflies near the ranger station and along the river

Sunny and 58 degrees

A dry cold front moved past yesterday; making it down right cold this morning; warmed into mid 70s by noon. That front was the push; that brought a big wave of Monarchs to the Alabama coast.Today I went back to where I saw A. jatrophae last Friday; mower had trimmed the area back some since my last visit. The White Peacock was not sighted, but a Funereal Duskywing was.
I picked up several road kills in East Point Fla; Long Tailed Skippers, Gulf Fritillary, Buckeye, and Monarchs some of them had fire ants already working on them, I knocked off as many ants as possible an put the butterflies on the floor board of the car. Then today at my 1st stop today; I found that one of the road kill Monarchs had risen from the dead, and was flipping around inside the back wind shield. I released, it and it went to a Lantana bush just off the street, and a few mins. later it was gone.

My kids and I got 11 new species for our life lists. This place is amazing!

Sunny and 60 degrees

Recently Rained. Light Wind. 60-69 degrees F. Meadow and Woods.

67, 65F
Eufala skipper was a buffy form described as a mutant by Shapiro

Cool temps, and urban; all that was needed was a little green, and I was able to find a few French Quarters partiers . The I10 corridor also provide several additional Monarch sighting. There is miles upon miles of Spanish Needles whitening the shoulders through all of the Mississippi Gulf Coast,

Everything except for the Buckeye was nectaring on Gomphrena “Globe Amaranth”. The Buckeye was on frost asters.

Day 2 of our visit to the National Butterfly Center … 48 species.

Stayed on the island today; visited most of the usual spots. The Monarchs have just about become the dominant true butterfly; and it has taken only few days; the Gulf Fritillary is still in top spot, Common Buckeyes rounding out 3rd. Last year it was difficult to find the Painted Ladies; the Americans where every where; not so this year. The American Ladies are very sparse this year, Today’s sighting were diverse.

From 10:30 AM to 2:30 PM

Late Monarch flying south over Rt. 40… 50 degrees, 10 a.m. Also, an Orange Sulphur along the highway…

But didn’t see any butterflies during subsequent walk in state park.

Late-season, fresh, Luna moth on convenience-store wall (along with Sallows and an underwing) in neighboring Cecil County - south of Northeast - Maryland

Wasn’t looking for butterflies but these were what I saw. I was looking for Buck Moths, Hemileuca maia, and saw about 20. A pretty good flight…

This covers the week of Oct 25 thru Oct 31. Weather: low 60°-high 80° most of week. Front moved through Oct 31 with some rain and wind. Linda and Buck Cooper

Not as cool this morning, wind also changed to more southerly, lower 80s

Cabbage White in the backyard

Sunny, 80 degrees

With the temperatures in the high 50s and sunny I decided to see if I could find a Purplish Copper on the baseball field where I saw them on October 16, 2005. There were not many dandelions there but there were two butterflies including a new Wisconsin late record for the Purplish Copper!

I was looking for marine skippers. The Red-banded Hairstreak is possibly a Dusky-blue Groundstreak. That species has been found to the immediate west in Cameron Parish. With the exception of one or two, the Monarchs were all traveling north or inland, away from the coast.

last hurrah before cold weather hits hard this coming weekend, 2 hours searching- sunny, breezy about 60 degrees.

66F

Foggy morning; warm but wet. Monarchs were strong enough to shake of the dew early, and were in the air 1st today.

Warm autumn day, mostly sunny, with many honeybees out. We have a 150 foot edging of marigolds in full bloom. One red admiral seen.

Joined forces with Bill & Deb Marsh. Sunny and 85 degrees

Sunny, 86 degrees

New location for the White Peacock; only few hundreds of yard from the offices of the Reserve.. Warm again to day, with out the fog; AM 60s and partly cloudy, to low 80s and mostly cloudy.

Joined forces with Bill & Deb Marsh for searching of area. Partly clouded, 82 degrees and breezy

Species seen on a day trip from Key West to Big Pine and Bahia Honda on 10/26. According to BAMONA, American Lady would be new county record.

A late comer and a welcome find.

Warm and sunny; lunch break produced numerous sighting but not much variety. Showers over night clear day, started in the low 70s with temps topping out in the low 80s. Big change coming this weekend, Canada is opening the Arctic flood gates.