February 2018 Sightings

With L Williams. Sunny, 81 degrees. Viceroy and Monarch in Cypress and willow area near Water Treatment area. All others along drive into prairie.

With LWilliams. 4:15pm - 5:30pm. Also seen were 2 Faithful Beauty Moths and 12 Bella Moths.

Sunny, 77 degrees, light wind. Conditions are extremely dry. This area has received little to no rainfall the past calendar year. The Sonoran Blue count is conservative as males are on constant patrol looking for the still non-existent females. Nectar source is scarce. One blue seen but not positively ID’d.

Sunny, 72 degrees, a light wind. All 3 hairstreaks were all seen hilltopping.

2:00-3:15pm

A nice area with at least five habitat types. Duskywing, Queen, fritillary on woods’ edge; sulfur in hardwood hammock; Atala on Coontie.

66F

65F

Full sun, mid 70s

Full sun 75F, 1 unidentified white, 1 blue likely Ceraunus, 1 hairstreak gray or mallow-scrub

Sunny day (60F) following multiple days of cool (40F), rainy weather.

Downtown Las Vegas. Approximately 55 degrees fahrenheit when spotted. 12:00pm.

60-71F, with D. Rawlinson, J. Hibbard, N. Asquith.

Sunny, mid 80s, little wind. One no ID large white.

With Dusty Rhodes. Early spring birding trip morphed into a butterfly search. Most sightings roadside or in a recently burned flatwoods. 75F, light wind, partly cloudy. Will be back soon for spring thistles.

With Joe Mustion
9:30 - 12; 74-80 sun and clouds
The Julia colony survived the hard freezes

With LWilliams. Warm 84 degrees and windy.

In an area with a lot of Carolina Jessamine and wild cherry in bloom. The butterflies seemed to be more attracted to the Jessamine than to the cherry blossoms.

Full sun low 70s

Carolina jessamine, Chickasaw plum and Florida pennyroyal are blooming and suddenly there are butterflies where few were present a week or so ago.

65, 59F

Mostly sunny, 70f, 1 unidentified blue and 1 unidentified white. Pretty good selection for drought year

Bidens was blooming like always, as well as scattered patches of lantana and sleepy morning (Mallow host).

So dry, the roadway along Alameda Creek is being watered down for the construction vehicles, otherwise there would have been few butterflies to be seen. Most of what I was able to photograph were puddling.

Full sun 70f

Plum trees done or nearly done; few butterflies on them. Larger species using Carolina jessamine. Roadside wildflowers absent.

Early for Pipevine Swallowtails. Drought conditions this year. Very cold freezing nights expected starting tomorrow.

Possibly an early record sighting.

A new park discovery this month has been Little Metalmark, first found by Mark Kenderdine on Feb 8th. I found three today at a stand of thistle within coastal scrub. (The last known Pinellas County report I know of was in May 1999, 20 or so miles north of Fort De Soto).

With A. Fenimore, D. Skye & P. Baker
Sunny high 70’s
Vaccinium and Gelsemium ruled the day nectar-wise

Mostly sunny, high in the mid 70s. First butterfly of the year!

Warm and breezy, up to 80 degrees and mostly sunny. Also saw 4 unidentified anglewings.

While traveling through the area, I took a break and sought my FOS butterflies at this spot.

4PM 70degrees
Personal earliest Mass.sighting

FOY

Three Bridges rd and Pull Tree Tram

Rattlesnake rd and Scrub Island rd

With Jane Lampkin
Comfortable sunny 80’s
Monarch was ignoring the blooming mature milkweeds and laying eggs on many of the young up and comers, as shown.

With Leigh Williams. 1120am until 2:15pm. 86 degrees, partly cloudy, breezy. Various locations observed. Flowering plants include Bushy Fleabane (Cure for All), Pineland Acacia, Blue Porterweed, Poisonwood, Pineland Croton, Coastal Plain Yellowtops,Butterfly Pea, Bidens alba, Scarlet Milkweed.

Very cool but sunny

Visited on 24th & 25th. On 24th, 59 degrees, clear skies became increasingly cloudy, breezy cold wind. For 25th see report posted by David H. Bartholomew.

Not much flying. Was still cool with wind coming off Gulf. Fountain area

My first Little Metalmark in Pinellas County

Bill Berthet’s wonderful article in the latest “American Butterflies” came just in time for my journey to Florida. This gem of a site didn’t disappoint!

Limited time today and sightings were only from a portion of the area accessed from the Penny Haddock gate.

With D. Rhodes (photos); low 80s, winds 10-15mph. Nectar: Spermacoce, Bidens, Frogfruit, Black Medic, Ricardia.

57F

Sunny but barely got up to 60 degrees. Enjoyed getting out, though, along the Penitencia Creek Trail with Fran Bartholomew and Ken Wilson; and Nancy Asquith joined us in time to see the Thicket Hairstreak.

Full sun low 60s, a series of cold nights has taken a toll on some species and plants.

First of the season

Brief early morning visit.

With M. Duncan, J. Revill and G. Revill
72-80, overcast; 2 hours

Spent a short amount of time at the manatee observation platform area. no manatees, but a good amount of butterfly activity nearby.

87 degrees and mostly sunny. Around 3 hours. Windy. 36 species. Butterflies are definitely picking up. 5 species of Crescents.

winter coat weather but sunny.

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.; 78-86 degrees, light winds; sun a.m. 30%, p.m. 80%. All Black Sw were males. Area very dry. Lots of areas recently burned. Nectar: thistles, daisy fleabane, coreopsis.

Up to 94 degrees. Sunny. Moderate wind. 26 species. Great fun!

Cool Coat Weather.

My earliest sighting ever. Also saw a yearling Garter Snake.🦋🐍

Hardwood bottomlands.
A couple other brushfoots that wouldn’t land frustrating any attempt to ID.