March 2019 Sightings

On tropical milkweed in my front yard.

Visited Long Pine Key and Mahogany Hammock only.

From Old Shellman Road take Priester Road NE, go 1/2 mile and take left onto Captain Cove Road then before Cul de Sac take a left onto the old Priester Road. Park at the gate and walk in. Turn right at pavement and walk through the concrete pillars. Redbud Trees are over the road. Best time is 11-2 pm as tall trees prevent the sun from getting in too early or too late.

These sightings are from March 1st and 3rd. There are thousands of Painted Ladies migrating through.

Bull Thistles are blooming, had to go see what’s being drawn to them

Low to Mid 60s, very windy, and partly cloudy.

Sighting from area around the Ed Center’s blooming Azaleas, and Lantana

68F

From Old Shellman Road take Priester Road NE, go 1/2 mile and take left onto Captain Cove Road then before Cul de Sac take a left onto the old Priester Road. Park at the gate and walk in. Turn right at pavement and walk through the concrete pillars. Redbud Trees are over the road. Best time is 11-2 pm as tall trees prevent the sun from getting in too early or too late.

10:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. Weather: 78°-82°, sun a.m.-40%, p.m.-80%, wind 10-16 mph. Nectar: thistle, pennyroyal, bidens, erigeron, spermacoce, rudbeckia. RSpink, LCooper.

A couple days of warmth brought out the action!

68F

10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Weather: 66°-73°; winds - 8-12 mph; sun a.m. - 100%, p.m. - 50%. Nectar: thistle, pickerelweed, sensitive briar, helenium. Williams Rd & Rd 1 covered. 1 Zebra Sw Cat & 2 eggs on Asimina. RSpink, LCooper.

Couple of days ago we had temperatures in the low 30’s. But butterflies were still nice today, 79 degrees. 39 species and undoubtedly there were species we missed.
Afternoon. Partly sunny. Wind moderate.

From Old Shellman Road take Priester Road NE, go 1/2 mile and take left onto Captain Cove Road then before Cul de Sac take a left onto the old Priester Road. Park at the gate and walk in. Turn right at pavement and walk through the concrete pillars. Redbud Trees are over the road. Best time is 11-2 pm as tall trees prevent the sun from getting in too early or too late.

10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Weather: 73° - 77°; sun a.m. - 70%, p.m. - 60%, winds 5-7 mph. Nectar: thistle, bidens, tickseed. 2 Monarch caterpillars on Asclepias perennis. RSpink, LCooper

Searching for a Creole Pearly-eye as cane is present on this trail from the Visitor Cnt - Ogeechee River. We saw blooming redbud trees and a possible Henry’s Elfin. We saw an anglewing either Question Mark or E Comma.

Second occurrence of Fulvous Hairstreak in my yard. I had photographed one on 4/26/16.

Falcate Orangetip was a lifer! It was 70 degrees, sunny & calm (11:30 am - 1:30 pm). We saw males in flight as soon as we got down the trail a bit between marker 6 & 9. Constantly in flight it took 1 1/2 hours to get a photo of them! One female was quite small. Another female was fresher and more cooperative. There were 5 males & 2 females.

With Dennis Forsythe

take Canyon Loop Trail, After 2nd Stream crossing veer of maim path down to stream.
All good butterflies here !!!

While trimming back ornamental grasses today, I flushed this Eastern Comma that was sheltering down in the clump. Temperature was in the low 60s. It won’t be long until things should be picking up here.

84 degrees, calm, partially cloudy.

With Jane Lampkin. 10-1; 75-80 degrees
The Juvenal’s wings are likely torn from tearing through those blackberry brambles and not as a result of predator encounters, but one never knows.

1-1:15, light breeze, mostly sunny. Reliable site for Red Admirals each spring.

went down to the dam and worked the west side of river, North on Sabino lake trail through Bluff trail and up to Rattlesnake trail

Only 65 with NE winds 8-15 so fewer species but a couple of new ones appeared. The Henry’s Elfin is D. h yawehus described by Ron Gatrelle in 1999. The host plant here in Coastal Georgia is Ilex vomitoria, yapon holly.

60F

First butterflies of the year.

11:00 to 3:30, and 7 miles of hiking yielded only 4 species of butterflies. California Tortoiseshells were plentiful.

Sunny, high in the mid 70s. Spring Azure not determined to subspecies but probably the “summer” type.

78 degrees, SE winds 8-10, partly sunny. Henry’s Elfin subspecies was D.h yawehus that was recently photographed at this site oviposting on Ilex vomitoria, yapon holly.

Low 70’s and plenty of sunshine. First significant break in long malaise of winter-like weather. Found in the sunny and warmer glade throughout the mid- and late afternoon.

Birding in the early morning and butterflies picked up between 11:00 - 2:00.

Ceanothus and some Thistle blooming. I saw no grass skippers today.

84 degrees, 12-15 mph S winds, Sunny. Long leaf pine habitat. Water in the ditches with little nectar source except briars.

My first butterfly of the season.

Sunny & warm.

64F

The Cabbage Whites are FOY non-hibernating butterflies.

Silvery Blues seen all along the Alameda Creek Trail. Painted Ladies were on their way to somewhere, from somewhere, and all showing nicks and tears from their travels.

68F

Long Pine Key Trail Gates 4 & 8. Temp 78, sunny. Targeted FL Leafwing. We saw a ‘lifer’ Palatka Skipper!

lots of fresh Painted Ladies - migrants.

Targeted Hayhurst Scallopwing reported here a couple days ago. Inside info on this location needed as no signage marked trails, distances or entry points for reaching hammocks in pastures enclosed with barbed wire. Without info on where to find the Bloodleaf host plant this target was not feasible.

Many Painted Ladies flying in the park today. The odd thing is they ALL seemed to be flying in a downstream or southeasterly direction.

Hundreds of Painted Ladies are flying through our town! There’s a farm out back of Merced College and they seem to be coming from that direction (northeastish??). Beatiful!

my first butterfly of spring, and my favorite too.

17 spp - 263 individuals. Nice variety. Most were found feeding on thistle, bidens, lantana and/or cactus flower.

On daisy fleabane in my backyard.

Only butterfly species seen on a cool morning (50s) along a wooded trail.

Large numbers of Great Southern Whites were present both inside and outside of the park and in other nearby coastal areas.

On daisy fleabane in my backyard.

Butterflies seen during a Tennessee Native Plant Society field trip. Temperatures in lower 60s. Falcate Orangetips included 3 males and 1 female.

Seen along the”Blue Trail” in the mid-afternoon.

3 Weeks ago at this location we saw our first Coastal subspecies of Henry’s Elfin; Callophrys henrici yawehus. Yawehus feeds on Ilex vomitoria (Yapon Holly) not redbud. Today we saw a couple of fresh individuals & a couple not so fresh. It was sunny and 66 degrees with NW winds 5-10.

Wagonwheel Road and then south to 41 on Birdon Road. Warm and sunny day. 12:10 - 3:15.

Mostly sunny, light breeze, midafternoon temps in the low 60’s F. All species seen on gravel/sand road in mixed pine/oak/maple assemblage with extensive holly understory.

My earliest sighting ever, potentially the first Butterfly in Massachusetts for 2019? First Sunny day and Fifty Four Degrees.

We walked a path where our friend sees both Henry’s & E Pine Elfin but we were a little too late in the season. He saw them here 2 weeks ago! We saw 1 Elfin but it flew before we got our cameras focused.

Noticably absent were Henry’s Elfin (we’ve seen since March 3rd), Red-banded & Juniper Hairstreaks. It was sunny 68 degrees winds were 10 mph but this woodland is sheltered from most of it.

Overcast, 60 degrees during my mid-day visit.

Sunny. About 55 degrees.

60 degrees with 10-15 mph winds from NE. This woodland area is mostly protected from the winds.

Cool but sunny, ambient temps around 55F. Butterflies were basking on the sand surface of the road in a pine/oak/maple/holly assemblage along the Nanticoke River. Several other anglewings flushed op from the road but could not be ID’d to species.

Mostly sunny, 80 degrees. Late afternoon visit.

Mostly sunny, 72 degrees, but with strong, persistent winds of 15-25 mph making things tough.

While watering sweet peas, a 1st ever in our yard, Henry’s Elfin landed on a camellia leaf 3’ from me in perfect location for good look!

Left work early for a couple of hours at the park. Sunny and 72 degrees. Looks like this may be a very good spring for Red Admirals. All Falcate Orangetips were male.

Monarch on Prairie verbena

Second and third butterflies Of 2019. Mourning Cloaks!

This weekly field trip was 2 1/2 hours, led by Rick Snider. 10 people attended and 26 species were found. Temperature was about 82 and windy but protected. Mostly cloudy.

Partly sunny, high in the mid 70s. Spring Azures not determined to subspecies but probably the “summer” type. Falcate Orangetip a male.

2:20pm-3:30pm
Breezy day!

This location was quite slow. Due to unseasonably late rains and cold weather, most of Southern California appears to be running at least a month late.

With Steve Moore.

Some of the butterflies seen during the Cottonwood Spring Count; this is not a complete list. Cool morning, pleasantly warm in the afternoon.

My first butterflies of 2019

Also saw a swallowtail, but at a distance and unable to positively ID which one.
Sunny, 57 degrees, breezy

62F
migrant Painted Ladies - 10+ in the first 20 minutes

61F

Clear, sunny, and a bit breezy. 77º

Seventy Degrees Finally!

Turkey hunting was open and busy so Rachel and I did road shoulders only, driving and walking the short loop using Cross Road, as well as Cemetery Road. Temperatures started out cool but the leps picked up as the sun warmed things up. Lots of nectar with bull thistle, Nuttall’s thistle, Bidens alba, and tons of Daisy Fleabane. Car problems cut the day short; survey time 8:15 to 1 pm.

75F

The is a combined report from multiple visits to ABDSP within the month of March. Overall, due to rain & cold weather into late February the season is running approx one month late.

With Steve Moore.

Cool and Plum Canyons, with Ken Wilson and Bob Gorman. Thousands of migrating Painted Ladies dominated the landscape, making it difficult to differentiate the few other butterflies of similar size.

Seen while driving

Warm and sunny morning. Drove along the road and then walked .5 miles on the trail. 10:30 - noon.

sunny, breezy, 60 degrees, rained in the morning

Finally a sunny day around 45 degrees. First butterfly of the year basking in the sun.