June 2017 Sightings

I released this pipevine swallowtail from an egg that I found in my garden.

backyard

Late afternoon, 4:25 to 6 p.m. Sunny and mid 70’s.

71 degrees, part sun. Obs.2:55 to 3:45 p.m.

Observations made between 12:45 p.m. & 2:35 p.m. 63 degrees and 75% cloud cover.

Partly Sunny, strong west winds, and low 60’s Observations made from 11:15 a.m. to 12:35 p.m.

Full sun, 70, breezy at times. Unid hairstreak, Mournful/Funereal Duskywing brief sightings as usual.

Hot, humid, clear morning turning rainy in afternoon. Not much lep activity despite numerous nectar sources. Some rain has finally fallen on this land. Flowers were sweet clover, Bidens, pickerel weed, Coreopsis, Nuttall’s thistle, Elliot’s milkpea, Passiflora incarnata, some daisy fleabane, and frog fruit. EPerry & RWarner from 8:30 am to 3:45 pm

With Nancy Asquith, we did the 8 mile PG&E/High Meadow loop trails 10:15-6:30. Heavy morning clouds did not stop the butterflies, afternoon was sunny bright. Thankfully, the trailside flowers have NOT been mowed yet.

Incidental sightings while atlasing for birds. First time that I have seen more than one Giant Swallowtail in a day in Waushara County. Also two Canadian/Eastern Tiger Swallowtails.

Started around 3:15 - cloudy, mid 60’s

Elevation: 8200ft

A large area covered. Roamed areas for 3.5 hours. Sunny with some clouds, warm and breezy. 76 degrees.

11:00 am - 3:00 pm.

74F The Anise Swallowtail was black and white. I thought it was a Pale Swallowtail until I saw the thick black band across the leading edge of the forewings.

8:00am -1:30pm, 74 F, light wind
The number of Common Roadside-Skippers was a real surprise.

68 to 74 degrees, mostly sunny, 10:20am to 12:45pm

Flew back onto our skin when we tried putting it back on a flower. It happily stayed on a tree trunk when placed on it.

A pleasant surprise when I down loaded the picture. I thought it was a Western Tiger Swallowtail but it is was a Pale Swallowtail!

Dogbane just starting to bloom, and all the Aaron’s Skippers were nectaring on it.

Sunny, 80 degrees.

The Zabulon was a male.

Did a hairstreak search stopping along the highway to check places and flowers!

Nice to see Hermes coppers too!

monarch male was brand new, not tattered

Full sun, up to 80F.

elevation: 5200 - 6200ft

Surveyed from 11:45 am to 1:30 pm but rain set in at 12:45 pm. Saw very little before that and the rain shut that down. Nectar sources were Elliott’s milkpea, Nuttall’s thistle, pickerel weed, Coreopsis, Bidens, blue mistflower, sweet clover, camphorweed, and yucca. EPerry & RWarner

65 degrees, sunny, breezy

Inside and outside the park. 75-89 degrees. Area very dry. SFarnsworth, D&MCutler, JDuBois, ABuyer, JGoins, NPrine, TPalmer, LCooper.

Late afternoon, about 6:45 p.m.

backyard

63 to 65 degrees, partly sunny, 2:35 to 3:45pm

Observations made in about 30 minutes before afternoon thunderstorms arrived.

Part of the Beaver Brook Bio-Blitz.

Celebrated National Trails Day with a 2-hour late morning hike.

Made the 2000’+ climb up the dirt “truck road” to check Tecate Cypress area’s for Thorne’s Hairstreak. They were out!

A nice hike through bear country. Really warm and sunny with a slight breeze. 79 degrees.

I’ve never seen four species of swallowtails in my garden before.

65F

we were out from 10:20 am to noon. the sky was mostly cloudy, 56F and breezy. every now and then the sun would peek through bringing the butterflies out. the seeps were full and over flowing due to all the recent snow melt.

Butterflies seen in my yard while working here and there outside and in. Rainy, hot, humid, with periods of sun and extra high humidity.

Warm sunny morning. The usual urban suspects - Cabbage White, Silver-spotted Skipper, and Horace’s Duskywing visited the yard. Then a surprise - a Hackberry Emperor! Wasn’t able to get a pic, but happy to sight this visitor for the first time for this address.

Just a short, quick sighting

Located in Polk and Highlands Counties. 9:30-3:30. 74-88 degrees. D&MCutler, J&JEvoy, SFarnsworth, JDuBois, TPalmer, D&LRhodes, LCooper.

Assume Tiger Sw. was Canadian based on range but both were fly-bys. Crescent in image looks like Northern to me but experts on FB say just Pearl. Season is late. Also Harris’ Checkerspot caterpillars just about everywhere.

Though this is a private growing field, with many deep, dangerous holes from plant removal, that I’ve had permission to carefully walk and monitor a colony of Checkered Whites for the past five years here.

The sighting of a female Checkered White today marks the earliest emergence for the site.

76F

11am- 2pm; all trails. low-mid 80s, sunny

We should’ve known it would be a good morning for Red-banded Hairstreaks when we saw one in the grass border of the sidewalk next to our parked car. Wound up seeing at least 30 throughout the park.

Midday - Partly sunny to sunny, beautiful afternoon!
Disappointed not to find any Hairstreaks, or a variety of skippers

Made it further than last week but still short of 3 miles due to Spring flooding.

66 to 723 degrees, sunny, 9:25am to 12:15pm

96 degrees in the shade.

8:15 AM - 11:15 AM

A rainy day, but some butterflies were flying in the rain. And I found a Statira Sulphur — a species that seldom stops for a photograph — at rest.

84F
The mylitta crescent was only about half the size of a typical one.

Full sun

This is the third or fourth sighting I’ve had of this one. The butterflies keep returning to the Chives and Swamp milkweed planted on the property.

Sighting reported to me by Museum horticulture staff. It was a male seen nectaring near the Education Center.

Nice, sunny, and warm. Lots of butterflies, which is a first for the year! The California Crescent was a surprise, but this is turning out to be a good year for them.

Got out just a couple hours late afternoon before a thunderstorm rolled in. The Ponderosa pine, fir, and aspen with wet meadows with flowers is glorious right now! Patches of irises are particularly draws.

Dozens, and caterpillars feeding on neighbor’s Pipevine plant, denuding it.

74F

Overcast & chilly day meant it took a long time for leps to get active.

Sunny low 70,s
1:15 -5:00PM

This Silver-spotted Skipper around 11am came to the Jupiter’s beard.

It’s been hot in the 80’s and sunny

Sunny, low humidity and 70 degrees at 1pm when viewing butterflies.

Overcast. 2-4 pm.

Sunny and 77 degrees at 8700 - 9440ft.

Lower part of trail is clear but the rest is a snowfield (with some small open patches)

70 degrees, windy

78 to 80 degrees, sunny

63 to 68 degrees;
Juniper HS were Thorne’s

3:30pm to 4pm, 78 degrees, sunny

Incidental sightings as I volunteered outdoors. Monarch was a male basking and nectaring on milkweeds, this was a cool day.

75 and breezy. Low diversity - not a single sulphur

Mostly sunny, up to mid 70s.

Sunny mid 70,s
12:30 to 2:15PM
New Jersey Tea- Ceanothus herbaceus, just starting to bloom.
Wet area very attractive to butterflies in otherwise very dry dusty conditions

Saw these around 9:00 a.m. before the heat of the day

Cloudy skies, windy & some rain
2:00pm-3:30pm

65 degrees, partly cloudy

76-82 degrees, partly cloudy

Tawny Emperor is the southern (flora) race.

Amethyst Hairstreak(s) seen on four days: June 5 and 7-9. All sightings were either between 7:00am and 9:00am or between 5:00pm and 7:00pm. (They were sought at most other times of day.) All sightings were within a 50 square foot area of mangrove thicket adjacent to a small tropical hardwood hammock. At least one female (appeared bright blue in flight due to blue dorsum) and one male (appeared dull in flight) were observed and probably no more than two total; only one individual was seen during any given time. Nectaring was observed at the tops of the tallest (10-12 feet) Black Mangroves (Avicennia germinans) and usually well concealed among the leaves. A male nectared briefly in open-wing position, revealing a deep violet dorsum. A female was observed apparently checking out egg-laying sites on White Mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa), although no egg was found. List shows for each species the largest number of individual seen on a single day during the four-day period.

Driving down one road, 11am - 3pm or so

Warm with some fair weather clouds and light winds. 77 degrees.

Incidental sighting

Sighted while looking out the window to front yard

Very slow here, with only Cabbage Whites building quickly this year. Only blooms are White Clover, Dandelion and just emerging Canada Thistle that Cabbage Whites are the only ones taking advantage of now.

80 and sunny at 6:30pm

Evening hike after work. 6 - 7:30 pm.

Lunch break hike.

Butterflies passively seen while working from an outdoor location.

Black Swallowtails seem numerous for this area at the northern fringe of their range.

Elevation: 6600 - 8150ft

One moose!!

Full sun, low 70s, often very windy.

Excited to see the Black Swallow Caterpillars on Rue plant. On 17th May, my Mother’s Birthday, I had a female Black Swallowtail laying eggs. Then we had snow on 20th May. I usually see the small black spots eggs on the leaf, but I did not see them recently.Today a surprise I saw around 9.30 am one caterpillar on each plant.

There is land owned by Nebraska Game and Parks that I walked today, part of it is in prairie plants. It was around 80 degrees. This is the second time I have been there. Today saw coppers for the first time.

Did not get all the way to the Ridge because of fire closure, Did look along Tassajava Road in the afternoon. Partly cloudy, cool

Much of the park was under water due to recent heavy rains.

This butterfly was at the beginning of the trailhead on one of the stops during the Montgomery Butterfly Count. It landed several times, but spent the most time on Elizabeth Robinson’s lucky butterfly hat which she always wears when on a count!

This evening I was treated to an amazing sight. Just before Dusk I set out to look for Cofaqui Giant Skippers which like to fly loop-di-loops until it is almost too dark to photograph them. Sometimes it gets dark before they finally rest someplace, and often it is out of sight. I was surprised to see not one but FOUR Arogos Skippers have a dog fight near the same location.
At dusk when the two Cofaquis appeared, one of the male Arogos challenged them and followed them at close range. Finally only one Cofaqui decided to stay and sit for a second. I missed the photo as my camera could not find the subject in the dark. But what an experience! (I went back to this site and the photo below was taken on June 12th)

Incidental sightings as I was gardening and puttering around the house. A monarch was seen through my patio door fluttering in the back yard, by its behavior it seemed to be doing the “leg tap touch—&-go dance” search for milkweeds. Later came out to find an egg on a swamp milkweed leaf. ET Blue & Duskywing were both females, one nectaring & one basking on a sunny but chilly morning.

Yard. 10:30am - 12:00pm

Started with dark cloudy skies that eventually gave way to 70 degrees, mostly sunny, and winds around 10 mph.

8:30 am to 2:30 p, EPerry & RWarner. Day started out sunny, warm and humid but ended in heavy rains.

Cloudy at first and then very warm and sunny. 86 degrees. Great to see the Baltimore Checkerspots again.

These butterflies were seen within a 25 foot diameter clearing on the summit of a high hill; a location I know as a hot spot. At 82 degrees, the butterflies were all revved-up and chasing each other nearly constantly.

Seen mostly along Ironwood Rd.

Anise Swallowtail, very pale and beat up, it laid a few eggs on my fennel. I will be looking for caterpillars down the road.

Birding Trip with the Bedford Audubon Society: 3:00 - 4:00 PM

Sighted while volunteering outdoors.

Sunny Temps mid 70’s

Formerly called John U. Lloyd Beach State Park

Mostly sunny, breezy. Walked both the upper trail and the beach and hammock trail. With Leigh Williams.

Sightings made between 11 AM - 2:30 PM.

83 degrees at 9:30. Sunny with a little breeze

10:30-12:15. Warm & partly cloudy, first day in 8 days with no rain

Brief walks, 9 and 10 a.m. Mostly sunny, already hot!

One mating pair of Eastern Tailed-Blue.

High today is 91. It’s about 87 now

10:45 AM - 1:15 PM

Afternoon, sunny, 67 degrees

Driving up from Tucson, the temperature went from near 100F to 75F! The ceanothus flowers are finally starting to bloom on the mountain!

6:00 - 7:30 pm.

Mostly sunny became mostly cloudy in afternoon, 61 to 67 degrees

The first rain in over a month and a lot of newly emerged/migrant species were puddling on the trails. 80 degrees and sunny on a 45 minute hike at noon.

Sunny, 86 degrees

Sunny, 68 to 80 degrees, 9:25am to 12:15pm

My wife planted some Pincushion Flower (scabiosa) in our garden to attract butterflies. Well, it worked. Today we had Silver-spotted Skipper and California Crescent show up. Both are new to our yard!

1.5 hours.
New Jersey Tea very attractive for butterflies now.

2 hour hike

As I was driving to the marsh area I knew it was going to be a good day for butterflying when all these butterflies were flying up as I was driving. I stopped to see one and it was my first Red-spotted Purple of the year and the rest were Red Admirals. Hundreds of them on the road and seen walking. I also saw my first Hackberry Emperor of the year.

Incidental sightings made as volunteered outdoors. Monarch would not let me get close enough to determine gender, hung out in a milkweed patch between the 2 museum buildings.

6:15-7:30 pm. Still warm (85F). Watered the garden this evening and butterflies came in to puddle.

5:15-6:00 pm.

One stunning Red-spotted Purple

Cloudy, windy weather

Saw 2 tiger swallowtails at Mont Royal park. Later sighted a Mourning Cloak and Cabbage White near old harbor. Did not capture pics but enjoyed seeing these beauties this far North.

Wow

noon to 2:00PM

I was surprised by the early season Little Yellow. First Question Marks I’ve found at this location, and European Skippers were everywhere. About 20 would jump up every step I took on the prairie trails. A humid and mostly cloudy day, 80s. Noon to 1pm, and again 4:30 to 5pm.

I stopped by a few places this afternoon in Polk County. Hot and sunny

Very hot and humid.90 degrees. Blown away by finding 5 Two-spotted Skippers never before seen in this county.