June 2019 Sightings

Sunny, mid 90s at lower elevation and 70s at higher elevation.

May 31 to June 2. All three days, pleasant weather in the 80’s, which is pretty good for the Pinnacles in June.

13th annual NABA Count. Area includes state park, water management district properties & roadsides. 9 a.m. - 4 p.m., 85°-92°, winds light, sun a.m.-100%, p.m.-70%. SAnderson, LCooper, DCutler, MCutler, SFarnsworth, JLampkin, JLampkin, TPalmer, EPerry, NPrine, KRivera, RWarner. Nectar: Nuttall’s thistle, wood germander, Spanish needle, trumpet vine, coral honeysuckle, Spanish needles, pickerelweed, fireweed. Area is dry and roadside areas mostly lacking nectar sources. 3 teams inside park, 1 team outside park.

Hazy and around 80 early afternoon when a Monarch visited along with Red Admirals and American Lady. The Monarch wings had been run down, and aged, but gracefully flew around the garden. Later afternoon it became stormy with severe conditions.

I had never seen both California Sister and Lorquin’s Admiral in my garden on the same day.

This survey is a portion of the NABA count done annually at Colt Creek State Park. I was on the north team with RWarner, NPrine, SFarnsworth, and Ranger KRivera. Survey time from 9a to 4p. Hot, mostly sunny, with a brief shower at noon. A good time was had by all.

American Lady laying eggs on pussy-toe planting.

2 separate sightings POSSIBLY of black swallowtail in flight but not positively identified.

2 hour visit to check for lingering snout after apparent wave of migrants in mid-late May; mostly overcast but hot/humid- 1 individual ‘flushed’ from small lone hackberry tree past the start of the West Pond Trail.

Massachusetts Butterfly Club field trip. Thanks to Steve for inviting me, and thanks to Rick from NJ for spotting the Early Hairstreak!

2:00 to 3:00 p.m., 79 degrees

all Elfins on gravel path

11th annual NABA Butterfly Count. This property is in both Polk and Highlands Counties. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Weather: 82°-90°, winds light, sun a.m.-100%, p.m.-50%, brief showers. LCooper, DCutler, MCutler, SFarnsworth, JLampkin, TPalmer. Nectar: gopher apple, frogfruit, pickerelweed, spermacoce, Nuttall’s thistle blackroot, redroot, tarflower, pluchea, coreopsis, mistflower, rudbeckia, Polygala rugelii. Area very dry and most roadsides mowed. Unidentified - 1 swallowtail, 1 cloudywing, 1 grass skipper.

field in the back with the mown trails

Warmer weather is bringing more butterflies!

Sunny (finally) and 65 degrees when started.
Walked road and then up to 7900 ft before I was blocked by dead fall.

Orangetip, M. Cloak, Spring Azure and Hoary Comma seen along trail.

All recorded bflies (except M. Cloak) also found along road.

Cool, hazy sun, 59-63 F. 12:15 to 2 p.m. Lots of fresh and old timber wolf scat for mineralizing. More “Northern” lucia Spring Azures. A few unidentified blues and duskywings.

Palmetto Blooms where we found Great Purple, Oak & Red-banded Hairstreaks are fried with the 100+ days. We did find a Red-banded and Common Buckeye in Jerry’s Blueberries field yesterday. We had 1/2” rain 2 days ago, 1st in almost 3 weeks. Temperature was 100 today by noon. Almost all wildflowers are gone.

Was out with the kids playing and pulling weeds in the garden and noticed the Arctic Skipper hanging out on the prairie smoke just before dark.

Checking the blooming sea grapes this morning on and off produced the following list. The fulvous hairstreaks were a nice surpise! Also were 7 Faithful Beauty Moths, which folks always come in reporting that they saw a red/white/blue butterfly! Hot, humid, full sun. The rain the previous evening made it a stuffy, humid morning. EPerry

72 and sunny

After 4 PM. Mostly sunny and warm.

73F

Heat wave has passed and we are down to low 90’s with 50% chance of rain several days this week. Nectar sources were plumbago, petunias, agapanthus, buddelia, gallarida, hydrangea, abelia, echinacae and more.

Appalachian Azure only based on location. Puddling in stream lower area of Park. Photographed 6-3-2019.

(19-388) Very dry conditions and few nectar flowers available. The Painted Lady was the morning’s highlight - found at park’s north end.

Sunny almost 70
Started around 415pm

overcast, breezy.

Sunny and warm.

Sunny, 72 degrees. 1:00 to 2:00PM.
I found Cobweb Skipper here last year, but I did not see one today.

Found at 10 am, somewhat overcast at times. Temp 72 and humid. One specimen and never seen here before.

Temperature was 81 degrees with wend at 5 mph NNE and cloud cover of 85%. as continued to walk the cloud cover disappeared. Forecast for rain at 4

temperature was around 78 degrees, wind 8 mph NNW with cloud cover of 48%. I was out for 2 hours.

68 degrees, Some sun not much!

(18-133) Hot & Humid. Only 2 swallowtails.

The only nectar on Wildlife Drive was fogfruit where we found Phaon Crescents & Little Metalmarks. At Woody Pond there was wild hydrangea, helitrope, buttonbush where we found Swallowtails, Monarch and Duskywings. At the boat ramp parking lot the Helitrope was where we found Great Purple HS, Skippers & Sulphurs.

Sunny clear skies

My favorite Mormon Trail is still underwater (and rising) on the lead in trail. So Lambs Canyon was on the way home; and the gate is now open. No road walking.

Two mated pairs of Monarchs.

Only second time that I’ve had Pepper and Salt Skippers. Last time was 5/24/2009. Arctic Skippers seem to be doing well in this area. Both Canadian and Eastern Tiger-swallowtails are abundant along this road. I counted 17 puddling on one spot.

Sites visited includes Royal Palm and Long Pine Key.

One individual on large balloon vine plant on the south side of small parking area

A pretty nice marsh and sedge meadow with two streams. Fairly warm and sunny with a slight breeze. 83 degrees

Highlights of 90 minute visit 12-1:30 PM. Worn pine elfin on sidetrail off main gravel path, nectaring in clearing along old RR tracks. Buckeyes on sandy trails after main gravel trail ends. The other butterflies were similar to Michael Troyan’s post for June 9th (but no red hairstreak).

I have counted 7..yes 7 tiny caterpillars this morning on the milkweed plants right outside our back door. I have only seen 3 adult Monarchs. I couldn’t tell if they were male or female. So excited for the babies!

All fresh swallowtails were mostly Canadians males but a few may have been Easterns. Seen between the lower camping area and the trailer camping area in Sundown Wild Forest along the Roundout Creek. The swallowtails were everywhere in the Catskills today.

All the swallowtails were fresh and mostly males and there may have bee a few Easterns. They were all over the Catskills today.

While this spring has been cool, its tough to complain today after an eight hairstreak species day!

EPerry & RWarner, from 9:30 am to 11:30 am. Main nectar source was winged loosestrife, but also Bidens alba, carpetweed, and blue mistflower. This was in our favorite 50-foot long ditch that turns into a butterfly magnet this time of year.

Breezy morning with male Monarch visiting along with Silver-spotted Skipper and tiger swallowtail.

Much cooler with temperatures in the low 80’s, cloudy, overcast. Have had rain for 3 days. Seen while gardening.

Surveyed from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm. Partly cloudy with temperature in the low 80’s.

A 2 day report. Sunny & low to mid 70s. Elevation was 7000+ feet. This area like most of California & Arizona is running about a month late. Many spring species were seen versus some that are normally seen the 1st week of June from previous years. Several no ID small whites observed. Thought to be a marble species. One no ID duskywing with white band.

1:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Overcast skies with temps in low 70s. Was greeted by a tiger swallowtail prior to a music program.

Warm and partly sunny with encroaching storms. 80 degrees.

Sunny, 65 degrees
Walked to the 2nd bridge

Red Admirals, mating on my old Masonry Brick Pile. Wondrous🥰

9a-11a 75 deg

Between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., around 80 degrees.
Juvenal’s Duskywing was very battered, late for this species.
American Lady or Painted Lady flew by, was unable to get positive ID.

From 2:00 - 3:30 PM.

Out from 2:45 to 4 p.m. with temperature from 68 to 70 f.

Sunny, 96 degrees.

Cassius Blue, tiny but plentiful here, most all during the year.

Inside and along edge of Dagny Johnson SP

Urban yard. First Banded Hairstreak and Great Spangled Fritillary seen in my yard since 2015.

Partly cloudy and 75 with low humidity. First black swallowtail and peck skipper in garden #2490.

63 to 69 F. from 9:30 to 11:15 a.m.; incidental to birding, peak of wild strawberry bloom

Temp 62-72 clear sky’s

Survey 09:40 AM to 12:40 PM; high, thin clouds; 65-74 F; wind gusts 4-10 mph from ENE. With Della Wells and Nancy Slowik.

Sunny

Results of NABA count. One of 4 unknown grass skippers looked to be a Byssus Skipper. I got very nice looks at it through binoculars, but was unable to get a photo. Unfortunate as this would have been a state record I believe.

With David Rawlinson and John Hibbard, we did the Ridge Trail to the 2-mile marker. San Bruno Silverspot was out in numbers, as were the usual Anise Swallowtails.

Plenty of clouds and windy. Saw a Banded Hairstreak today in the forest which I hadn’t seen before.

Metalmarks found along the Cedar Creek Trail nectaring on Wild Hydrangea at the base of a steep limestone slope. Plenty of Roundleaf Ragwort in the area.

(16-426) 7:30-11:30 Partly sunny, eventual rain. Didn’t get to check the entire park.

85 degrees, much cooler this past week with rain daily.

Hiked from the trailhead to the summit. There were also some unidentified swallowtails at the summit, but they were too worn to identify. I couldn’t identify the skippers at the summit either.

We saw only 1 Mitchell’s Satyr. The locals say this colony has not fared well since the location was announced. Mitchell’s and Wild Indigo Duskywing were ‘lifers’.

Surveyed from 11:30 am to 5:30 pm. Partly cloudy with temperature in the upper 80’s. Excited to see a Common Wood Nymph after not seeing one for several years, then I was really surprised to see 16 of them. There were Red-banded Hairstreaks everywhere. A lot of satyrs as well, however, I did not take the time to identify most of them.

In Madera water is running, but things pretty dry. In Box Canyon water is running below the bridge…and seems a locally abundant flight of Leda Ministreaks…ie 100s in shady trees and bushes by moisture

Sunny breezy 71

east end. Cool temps 70’s

Surveyed 50-foot ditch from 9a to 12:30p Major nectar was winged loosestrife, blue mistflower, St. John’s wort, and carpetweed. EPerry & RWarner; a good time was had by all!

Perfect day for butterflying, temperature around 73, wind 10 mph. Out for 3.5 hours

Hiked in the morning before the storm clouds rolled in.

We went with locals and butterflied Forest Roads 6 hours midday without seeing another person the entire time.

24th annual NABA Butterfly Count. 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. two teams inside the Preserve, 1 team outside. 79°-86°; sun a.m.-70%, p.m.-20%, winds 3-6 mph. Nectar: pickerelweed, thistle, fireweed, milkpea, wood germander Spanish needles, redroot, frogfruit, verbena, eryngium, polygala, loosestrife. LCooper, SFarnsworth, KKane, DMiller, TPalmer, NPrine, PRoyston. Total party hours: 21.5, total party miles on foot: 7. Brazilian Skipper was caterpillar only. 40 species inside Preserve, total species for Count was 56.

Results of the NABA count, includes some areas of Lake County, too.

From: 2:00 - 3:15 PM.

Obs. made from 9:15 to 5:30 70-82 degrees, mostly cloudy a.m. mostly sunny p.m. 8-15 S-SSW winds with stronger gusts. A very conservative count on Snouts as they seemed to be everywhere. Many fresh 2nd brood Zebra Swallowtails. Common Milkweed & Buttonbush the major nectar source today.Two Eastern Tigers were dark form females.First flight of Silvery Checkerspots appears to be finished.

We surveyed the ditch until rain set in and sent us home. 10am to 11:15am. Main nectar is winged loosetrife, blue mistflower, and carpetweed (Lippia sp.).

2-4:10 pm. Conservative estimate for E. Comma—many were on Common Milkweed.

12:15-1:30.

10:30-11:30

Yard butterflies while home for the afternoon. Cooking and cleaning and counting butterflies.

We turned off of Hwy 80 onto Forest Rd 905 & butterflied to Forest Rd 906 from 10-11 am. Due to heavy shade on 1 side of the road some of the butterflies were just waking up!

15th annual NABA butterfly count. 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Weather: 81°-87°, sun a.m.-20%, p.m.-75%, winds 0-4 mph. Two teams inside the park. LBork, LCooper, SFarnsworth, NPrine. Nectar: Chrysopsis, Spanish needles, Piriquita, Balsam Apple, praxalis, galactia, verbena, buttermint.

Sightings made between 4:00 - 5:30 PM. Partly cloudy, around 70 degrees.

Sightings made between 3:30 - 5:00 PM. Sunny, low 70s. Four of the Jutta Arctics were seen from the boardwalk; the other on the trail.

Sightings made between 10:30 AM - 1 PM. Brilliant sunshine, low 70s. As one local remarked, “The first sunny day in two years”!

12:30 to 3:45PM. Sunny. 72 degrees.
New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus herbaceus) just starting to bloom. An unbelievable number of Eastern Pine Elfins this year.

Cloudy with some very light rain now and then.

64 degrees, mostly cloudy

Absolutely gorgeous “hairstreak” day!

Painted Lady appears to have FW spot. On Sunrise Hwy, about a mile east of Kitchen Creek road, there’s a small dirt parking area with a path, tons of wildflowers

Yard butterflies. EPerry

Surveyed the ditch for about an hour and a half. Major nectar sources are winged loosestrife, blue mistflower, Bidens alba, and carpetweed. EPerry

Mostly sunny and 77 degrees in the afternoon. A variety seen, as it’s been damp and cool in previous days.