June 2016 Sightings

Butterflies were feeding mainly at thistles in flood basin area of San Antonio Creek. Partly cloudy day in the 70’s F.

This was a nice back yard visitor.

Viceroy, Peck’s Skipper, & Dusted Skipper all just out here. Cobweb Skipper appeared old. American Ladys varying in condition, most visiting Antennaria, their host plant. Eastern Red Damsel was also seen in one site.

Lovely Day, 75 degrees, sunny, winds around 10mph

Considered uncommon.

summer skies,and temps,wind 15mph from the SE.

High temps of over 90F caused some species to take shelter in the afternoon. Highlight of the trip was actually a Bobcat!

low 70s - started 4:20pm
elevation 7800 - 8400ft

1 unID Sulpher

Lots of sulfurs, but could not tell if they were clouded or orange

75-80 degrees, little wind, sunny

I found a Question Mark on the beach laying on its side in the wet sand next to shells. It was cold wet and windy. I wasn’t sure if it was alive so, I stuck my finger out and it climbed on. after several attempts to place it back in the local greenery it sat on my hand for two hours. It perked up and I put it on a bush outside. It was mid evening.

With Jimi Sadle.
Initial observations of butterfly response to recent burns throughout the Long Pine Key region of the Everglades.

FOY for Great Spangled Fritillary and one of Hobomok was for “pochontas”

Walked about 2 1/4 miles of the trail stopping at snowmelt creek.

7500-8500ft

1 UnID Blue

Kickoff of monthly survey of The Celery Fields butterflies. Full sun, 90F, 1 1/2 hours. Abundant nectar sources on hilltop and hillsides.

Lovely warm day butterflying right in the heart of the monument. Nice butterfly diversity. There were lots of Great Arctics to be found. It is an even numbered year, so the adults are out!

6 American Lady caterpillars on Pussytoes

Including Markleysburg Bog.

With Dennis Olle

With Dennis Olle

With Dennis Olle, Amy Grimm and Leigh Williams

Sunny, near 90.

another one in my back yard.Tropical summer showers, and sun.

Over a dozen A. syriaca milkweed but no adult Monarch seen in butterfly garden.

Late morning survey with JoAnna Clayton and Marie Hughes. All photos by J.Clayton. (30 spp, 227 ind).

Incredible numbers of Baltimore caterpillars eating anything green. Cluster of Mourning Cloak caterpillars and an Azure caterpillar on Prunus serotina. Still one worn Spring Azure on the wing and no Summer Azures yet.

Butterflies were feeding at buckwheat flower or perching on vegetation next to hiking trails in Arroyo Conejo valley. Partly cloudy day in the 70’s F.

Sunny, 87 degrees, cooler than the previous few days. Two No ID Duskywings, same species.

I went from 12:30 - 2:30. It was 75-85 degrees, sunny and 10 mph winds

Prairie Queen open last year. It is lake that was build for flood control
It was 65-75 degrees, I went from9-11a.m.

All Appalachian Azures were found on or near Black Cohosh patches.

PIPC Silloway Wildlife Count. Our coverage area included Lake Sebago, Lake Welch, and Lily Pond. Survey team included Della Wells, Nancy Slowik, Karen Nickeson, Julia Warger, and Caroline McDonald.

7:30 AM to 4:00 PM; air temperature ranged from 63 to 84 F; dew point temperature ranged from 62 to 54 F; high wind speed 8 to 18 mph from S to SW.

with David Rawlinson, 85F
- part of the Mt. Diablo butterfly count
- plus one unidentified vanessid
One might think that this count is typical, but, for example, two other parties saw over 500 Gorgon Coppers!

Full sun, mid 70F. Unusual Checkerspot aberration.

Out Fly Fishing on this fine evening. When I saw this beautiful Red-spotted Purple. What natural beauty!

unidentified dark swallowtail flew by

This was a makeup trip after I was rained out,a few days ago.

Warm but clouding over in late afternoon; a relatively short visit to seek a few b’flies, esp. the flagship species of this park, the Silvery Checkerspot, which were out in low no. & might have emerged just days earlier. Two azures were seen, one a likely Summer type, & another potentially not? -Appalachian Azure has been found here in the past, with the necessary host plant present in small quantity. Each azure seen was in fresh condition. The “unsure” azure is the one in 2 photos. Nectar-ing flowers starting to be more numerous in some places; milkweeds in full bud.

Found on shoes drying on front porch.

Orange-barred Sulphur laying eggs on Candlestick Cassia—first ever for the butterfly garden in six years!

Start around 3:30pm

The swallowtail was laying eggs.

Butterfly was basking in a Chinese Elm on a hot, summer morning. 80 F.

Tuesday Butterfly Walk

Found additional field notes for this date.

This location produced sightings all through out the winter months.

70F

Sunny with highs around 85. Dun Skippers are the threatened subspecies Harbisoni. A mix of Mournful and Funereal Duskywings 100+.

First tiger swallowtail flying around in the backyard.

Watched from 12:30 to 1:30. It was around 90degrees, sunny, breezy

We went butterflying from 9-11:30 a.m. The temperature started around 75 and it was 90 by the time we quit. It was sunny, wind10 mph.

This butterfly enjoys the Chinese Elm trees and the mint.

Lifer! Male Diana in garden. Also American Lady, Horace’s Duskywing, numerous Fiery Skippers, Cabbage White. Good day to work remotely.

We plant for butterflies and photograph daily. This beautiful Tiger Swallowtail showed up Tuesday at 10 a.m.

We followed the Old Stagecoach Road from the North Fork of the Illinois River, up to Oregon Mountain.
The Northern Cloudywing was found in the river valley and thew Western Cloudywings were found up high on the ridge near the summit.

With Linda Evans, Mary Rose and Susan Kolterman.

Bay Rd runs from Mobile Bay east through forest,pasture,and sod lands to Magnolia Springs Hwy on the west side of the county.

Weekly survey with Nancy Slowik.

10:00 AM to 3:00 PM; clear, cloudless sky; air temperature ranged from 61 to 77 F; dew point temperature ranged from 37 to 42 F; high wind speed 10 to 14 mph from W to SSW.

Western Whites and Sheridan Hairstreak seen above Twin Lake (9440+ ft)
Satyr Comma seen at Silver Lake (8700ft)

Sunny, midday, warm (mid-80s F). Most sightings along Hoop Pole Road, Stottlemeyer Rd, and the extension of Harry Norris Rd along Sideling Hill Creek. Co-observer Tom Stock.

There were 4 Eastern Tiger Swallowtails spotted in the community. Each one was noticed in different locations.

upper 80’s, 10:30 am-2:00 pm
deer flies, were brutal!

71 degrees. Brilliant sunshine. High winds curtailed activity. 11:00am-2:00pm

Our group of Joe and Jen Smith, my wife Cathy, and I worked the Jenny Creek Zone of the annual NABA Count at the monument. Great warm weather.

Aberrant Canadian Tiger Swallowtail

I had not stopped at this park since earlier in the spring;the wild flowers are now gone; so there isn’t much to hold any butterflies there in the heat of summer except for some host plants.

73F

Python skipper is rare and local (NCGR G3). Approximately 5-10 individuals were observed at this site on verbena.

A second sighting of an Orange-barred Sulphur female laying eggs on Candlestick Cassia in four days; large portion of right hindwing missing on female ovipositing on 6-07-2016—female today did not have that.

9:50-11:10 am; temp rising from 77 to mid-80s; sunny. 1.6 miles

Scouting for upcoming NABA count. Very wet. Lots of Polygala.

Also 1 Virginia Ctenucha moth

Warm (lower 80s F), breezy, late afternoon (3-5 pm). Nectar sources included white clover, erigeron, feral domestic carnations. Co-observer Tom Stock.

02:00 PM to 2:30 PM; high wind speed 13 to 24 mph from S to SW.

A hot humid morning, but comparatively few butterflies. I hadn’t visited the Cape May Bird Observatory Garden near Goshen in a couple of years. Unfortunately, many nectaring shrubs and the Butterfly bushes, gone. Far less of a magnet for butterflies than in some previous years.

11:30 - 12:45 PM. Thanks to Tom Fiore’s spot-on directions, we were able to see our target species - Silvery Checkerspot. We also saw our first Hackberry Emperor for the year.

Black Swallowtail laying eggs
FOY European Skipper

11:30 AM to 1:30 PM; air temperature approx. 80F; high wind speed 15 to 25 mph from S to SW.

9 AM to 1 PM. 70% sunshine.

This butterfly moved like a member of the Phoebis family, but it was white.

Highly likely that this is a Mexican Longtail but because it appears to be a female, the species cannot be determined from the photographs. Some female Dark-spotted Polythrix look the same. All photos are of the same individual.

67F

I wanted to share with you this skipper and Meadow Fritillary which is my first time seeing these guys! : )

Red-banded Hairstreak was considered state rare as recently as twenty years ago.

Walked around with my boys from 11 to 1. We had sunny beautiful weather with very little wind.

Spent about 45 min. 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. One of the Eastern tigers was a dark form female.

Observations made between 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Mostly sunny with high 70’s. Dogbane in bloom. Common Milkweed just starting to bloom. Surprised to find a Cloudless Sulphur this early this far north.

Numerous thunderstorms in area made it difficult to do any sighting.I found a break between the storms,after showing my son how to get to the Perdido River WMA.The number of sighting was a surprise with how wet it was, and the Georgia Satyr appeared to another Helicta.

Tuesday Butterfly Walk

Macoun’s arctic is a biennial butterfly only seen during even-numbered years !

Started around 4:15pm.

2 UnID’d Blues

72F

Spent 30 minutes looking unsuccessfully for a Bronze Copper seen and photographed here a week ago.

Satyrium-genus hairstreaks freshly out, & some poss. other than Banded may have been but only that sp. was identified. Good no. of nectaring & basking Silvery Checkerspots. Fresh summer-brood Eastern Tigers and fresh new Mourning Cloak also found. More & more summer flowers, as nectar sources, now available. Hackberry Emperors chasing each other as often seen; multiple species were also seen hill-topping. All numbers noted quite conservatively, including for Cabbage Whites, always common here in summer. Sun, up to 80 F. with light breezes, low humidity. Afternoon walk, not taking in most good skipper areas.

Tallgrass prairie remnant, mesic to wet. Abundant nectar sources, low butterfly diversity. Walked about 1.5 mi through the Markham trail system from 3:30-5:30. Hot, humid, sunny with light breeze.

8am-Noon. Parked at Route 55 access point. Walked south into bog and north up to and past Bigelow Road area. Sunny, 74 degrees at Noon, when I left.

Late day observations 5:30 to 6:15 p.m. Filtered sun at this point but temps still over 80 degrees.

Observations made from 12:10 to 4:20 p.m. Sun and low 80’s.Some dogbane in bloom,Common Milkweed not yet.

Observations made from 8:30 to 11:20 a.m. Dogbane the major nectar source right now. One of three Indian Skippers was deceased.

Great Southern Whites are more numerous this year than I have ever seen out side of central Fla.

Full sun with 74F high. From 9:30 to 5:00. No endangered Laguna Mountains Skippers were identified. Many nectar sources were still budding. Juniper Hairstreaks are of the Nelson’s group.

The numbers of Great Southern Whites has increased to abundant level. Because of how many and the flight orientation for most of them; from west to east, it resembles a fall migration;in June.

75F
part of Benicia Butterfly Count

70-76F

63F Part of Benicia Butterfly Count

This Tiger Swallowtail flies a circuit around the yard, which is a wildlife habitat. It was a mild summer day 78F.

Only the 1st 2 miles and then back

It was 90+ degrees, wind was still, around noon

We started butterflying at 8:30 and finished at 11:00. it was 75 degrees when we started, sunny and humid. The wildflower parking lot was full of Orange Sulphurs and Pearl Cresents.

This lovely Marine Blue was enjoying our residential butterfly garden on a mild 68F summer morning.

Weekly Odonate and Butterfly count. Survey team included Nancy Slowik and Karen Nickeson.

10:00 AM to 02:30 PM; air temperature ranged from 72 to 81 F; dew point temperature ranged from 57 to 61 F; high wind speed 6 to 11 mph from ENE.

The strong wind seems to have kept the whites in place for the 1st part of the day,but about noon the wind had let up some,and they came out of their shelters in swarms.Unlike the day before where they were on the wing, today they were on anything that was flowering or even looked like it might be a flower.

A tiny one !

Observations occurred on the roadsides just outside the hatchery.

4th of July butterfly count with Linda Cooper

The numbers of Great Southern Whites are less numerous than the previous day,they are still abundant.

Silvery Checkerspots mainly seen nectaring, including on Purple Milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens), & one very cooperative individual mineralizing seen with Lew & Sheila Rosenberg; also seen by myself was a Great Spangled Fritillary (photo) which is uncommon in this park, also on the Purple Milkweed. “Summer-type” Little Wood-Satyrs just beginning to fly here. (No spring-type L.W.-Satyrs were seen this year here & that form are rather scarce in Bronx.)

Started at 6,900 ft. elevation and hiked up to 8,850 ft. Silvery Blues, Python Skipper, and Northern Cloudywing were near the top; most others were at lower elevation in juniper-pine habitat. California Sisters listed were “Arizona” sisters (Adelpha eulalia).

9:30-Noon. Close to 90-degrees & very humid. The leps were loving it, the lep-chaser was not. Below Red Admiral flew up and landed upside down within shady picnic pavilion.

Finally! The first Satyrium hairstreak for Franklin County. I’ve been looking heavily.

Malachite flew near me while I was fishing. No chance to get photo.

Very sunny, low 80’s

With Jane Lampkin & Robert Epstein
9:30 - 12; 78 - 84, mercifully with some clouds
Many pollinators like the Tawny-edged Skipper were on a sea of Polygala rugelli, Yellow Milkwort.

Great Southern Whites were being sighted in the dozens.

8 hrs. exploring with still not many grass skippers out & not all the nectar-flowers that will be. Warm, sunny, low humidity. E. Commas all fresh summer-form brood. Also summer brood of Meadow Fritillary, & Little Wood Satyr. Dusted Skippers a bit worn, as was 1 Dreamy Duskywing found nectaring.

The swallowtail was laying eggs.

Beautiful sunny day with a nice variety in the yard. Two gulf frits, at least one of them found passionvine and left eggs.