June 2020 Sightings

Sunny 73degrees low humidity. First time in seeing swallowtails at certified garden #2490.

Finally found some Dusted Skippers after traipsing through every sand prairie and barrens in east central MN over the last 2 weeks.

945am-115pm, 79-88 degrees, sunny, light wind

Walked first half of the survey route today and saw my first Common Buckeye, Peck’s Skipper, Silver Spotted Skipper and Tawny edged skipper for the season. It was 85 degrees, winds at 15 mph and sunny. We were out almost 3 hours.

Cloudy with temps in 60’s with sun only occasionally.

Recent sightings.

Started 4:30 pm. Sunny, 74 degrees
Saw Hairstreak just before Lake at around 9300 ft

Start weather: Sunny, 83°, 11mph winds
End weather: Sunny, 86°, 11mph winds
Start time: 1:15pm
End time: 3:30pm

Things are picking up!

Unfortunately, wasn’t able to obtain a photograph.

Neil Bjorkland and I worked the Eight Dollar Mountain Road. Much of the butterfly activity was uphill from the Eight Dollar Bridge over the Illinois River. Our best spot was a hilltop 3 miles uphill from the bridge.
I returned to an area where I saw and photographed Leinira Checkerspot last year. What is cool is I found three this year and fellow butterfly enthusiasts Dennis Holmes and David Bartholomew each found Leinira Checkerspots in their own local areas in California, pretty much on the same day!

Start weather: Partly cloudy, 78°, 7mph winds
End weather: Mostly cloudy, 81°, 7mph winds
Start time: 11:30am
End time: 1:15pm

Near Salmon Creek

Finished my survey of Fontenelle Forest today. Temperature in the 80’s, sunny and little wind. Saw 3 more first of the year: ‘Summer’ Spring Azure, Dainty Sulphur, Gray Hairstreak.

Did a 1.5 hour survey with park volunteer, M. Avello. The park is still closed to the public but should be open soon!
Besides the one adult Atala, we saw 6 caterpillars and over a dozen pupae.

On a humid sunny day -heat index above 90degrees- garden #2490 had new butterflies visiting. Peck’s skippers have returned. The Common Ringlet hasn’t been here since 2014. It was a delight to have it visit as well.

Pleasant 72 degrees today, 9:30-1:30. Hoped to find Leanira Checkerspots and finally was rewarded with a bunch.

Sunny & partly overcast
Walked ~2.5 on the trail and back

Trail is very dry for this time of year.

First time that we have been able to go butterflying at Lauritzen Gardens. It just opened Monday. Hot day around 92, calm winds and sunny.

83 Overcast skies. Deer ate all my hollyhock which hosts several butterfly species! I’ll have to find some Milorganite to repel them.

Cloudy, overcast skies, high of 90 degrees. We had over an inch of rain yesterday 5 miles away but this location is dry.

Reakirt’s Blue is a very rare stray in Eastern Iowa.

1:15 - 2:30 PM. Mid to high 80s, very humid. We saw 11 checkerspots from the edges of the habitat restoration fields; there were probably many more out of view.

Intersection of County Rd. and Appalachian Trail. Another trip to a known site for Early Hairstreak came up empty. Too late in the season? Found Pepper and Salt Skippers for the second time today.

I had no luck finding an Early Hairstreak this year. Pepper and Salt Skippers were a welcome find.

Sunny in the 80’s

Happy to see 10 Monarchs as well as plentiful milkweed with many of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd instar caterpillars.

Thanks for the Dusted Skipper Harry. Southern Cloudywing was FOY.

10:00 – 17:15 EDT. Mostly sunny, a few cirrus (20%), 75-83 deg F, wind 0-5 mph.

Mini-field trip with BCBC-Broward County Butterfly Chapter member M Strumski. Overcast 10:00am-17:15pm

Sunny and warm.

Second location. Mostly sunny, windy, upper 70s. Saw my first hairstreak of the season, but unfortunately it never landed to get a species ID.

First location. Mostly Sunny, windy, upper 70s. By far the earliest Cloudless Sulphur I’ve ever seen! With the recent mild winters and warm summers, could they have colonized? Seems really early for the regular immigrants we see mid to late summer…

sunny, mid-70’s

Suburban foothills, sunny, mid 90,s. Late morning and afternoon before 1 pm. Most activity on chocolate flowers, catmint,prairie zinnias, and bindweed.

After a sunny start, this trip was cut short by thickening clouds and wind.

Visited the Croton, Lick Creek, Donnellson, and Farmington Units of Shimek State Forest in Lee and Van Buren counties, and nearby roadsides. An incredible emergence of Hackberry Emperors plus one of the few records of Pepper and Salt Skipper for SE Iowa.

1130am-230pm, 87 degrees, sunny, calm, also saw one Painted or American Lady.

Red-spotted Purple / White Admiral was an intergrade “hybrid” with partial banding.

Two darkly-colored Duskywings also passed through the yard, but I could not ID them confidently without photos.

Yard Butterflies. I am not sure I’ve ever had a sachem in my yard, so that was kind of fun.

Bethlehem to Easton stretch of the trail. Sunny, light breeze, 80 degrees.

Sunny, clear skies and warm.

The Viceroy spent a long time on the compost in the wheelbarrow this morning.

Swallowtails were a mix of Eastern Tigers and Canadian Tigers. Many more were seen but not identified. There were several puddle parties going on along the road. I’m sure there were probably a few hybrids mixed in there too. All butterflies were nectaring on what I believe to be Robin’s Plantain (Hairy Fleabane) Erigeron pulchellus.

Interesting variant Canadian Tiger here in the images. Does anyone have any info on this?

A friend who was there on Monday alerted me that Harris’ was out. I didn’t arrive until 4:30 pm so a lot less activity.

This is the first time I have seen a Horace Duskywing in my yard.

12-2. Very hot.

We were out for 3 hours doing the first half of our weekly survey of Fontenelle Forest. It was around 83 degrees and partly cloudy.

Sunny, breezy, humid, 90 degrees. Lots of Swallowtail and Skipper activity today! Also first Fritillary of the year…

very hot, overcast and humid day. This Monarch was in the yard late in the day. i have been seeing butterflies later in the day recently.

On a large Rosemary bush.

Much Thanks to Steve and Grace Finn for locating The Baltimore Checkerspot caterpillars and chrysalis

I like having my garden visible from a window! We saw the Silver-spotted Skipper & ran out to get some shots before a thunder storm. Helitrope is my new favorite butterfly nectar plant. I noticed the deer don’t bother it at Barbour Landing at Harris Neck so I transplanted some from a family member. (Deer consumed 200 Echinacae (Purple Cone Flowers) in one evening! Coneflowers have always been easy to grow from seed and butterflies love them. I’m starting more and treating them with Milorganite to repeal the deer. They ate my roses and Blueberry Plants last night! Wish me Luck!

Start weather: Mostly cloudy, 67°, 4mph winds
End weather: Sunny, 80°, calm
Start time: 11:15am
End time: 5:00pm
R. Spink and D. Dunlap
We went to several locations including: 59th Street, Fenville Farm Unit, 46th Street, 52nd St./126th Ave., 48th Street, 51st Street/120th Avenue, and Swan Creek.

Start weather: Cloudy, 74°, 4-7mph winds
End weather: Mostly sunny, 80°, 4-10mph winds
Start time: 10:35am
End time: 2:55pm
R. Spink and D. Dunlap

As far as I know there is no name for these natural areas.

Mostly sunny in the morning then gradually became cloudy 75F, 10-15mph; Was really surprised to see a Dainty Sulphur. I ran back in to get a camera but wasn’t able to relocate it. First time I’ve ever seen a dainty in NE WI! (This was the first Dainty in the state this year. MR)

10:30 a.m. sunny and humid 82. Three first of season Silver-spotted Skippers.

90 Degrees with overcast skies. Historical spot for Dukes Skipper.

Sunny, 91 degrees. Last year late May I photographed nearly 40 species here, this year there was much habitat loss to roadside mowing & the magic hasn’t happened.

We checked this site about 11 am & again about 1 as we had intermiddent sun & clouds. 90 degrees with heat index over 100. Our target was Dukes Skipper known historically from this spot.

Cool and very windy, but managed to get my target Bronze Coppers, 3 males and 2 females. Ocola Skipper is a very early sighting for this area.

Somehow Mike Troyon and I see mostly the same species without seeing each other. I was in a big field in the back with a lot of Blue Flag Iris still in decent shape. Uncertain if the Azures were “Summer”=neglecta or one of the others like “Cherry Gall” =serotina.

Did our weekly survey of Lauritzen Gardens. It was around 75 degrees with winds out of the NW at 20 mph. We were out for 3 hours.

Start around 3:30. Sunny, temps low 60s.
After several days with near record highs, the last couple have been in the 50s with below freezing and snow in the high elevations including this trail. Evidence of snow visible from the start (6600ft) to the top (8100ft). Not many butterflies flying except the CA Tortoiseshells which I start all along trail from start to end.

GPS location, 26.51796, -80.17034

Very muggy and 80degrees at 11am. Saw first Silver-spotted Skipper. Also a beautiful tiger swallowtail was flying around a honeysuckle bush as flowers open up.

Saw two on my corn stalks in my backyard vegetable garden.

Start weather: Clear, 72°, 15mph winds
End weather: Clear, 77°, 12mph winds

Most butterflies seen in the morning when it was quite warm, cool afternoon breeze from the ocean was nice for me but the butterflies tapered off dramatically. Curiously, not a single Swallowtail today.

Did the second half of the survey at Fontenelle Forest. It was 78 degrees, little wind or clouds. I was out for 2 hours.

92 degrees midday. We discovered a colony of Intricate Satyrs in late March and a 2nd brood today. We believe the ‘Carolina Satyrs’ reported here are actually Intricate Satyrs. Flight was very low to the ground and they flew only a few feet, (noticeably less skiddish and consistently easier to approach in field than Carolina Satyr). Two different grasses which are described as host plants are found here in maritime forest with numerous old oaks and grassy areas inbetween along a coastal river with lots of fresh water on the penisular. Intricate Satyrs have a postmedian line that is relatively straight above M-3 but forms a corner or bump, distad around M-3. Researchers identified a “sinuous band gap (SBG) near the ventral hindwing tornus, between the posterior most eyespot and the connection between the postmedian and submarginal lines. In Intricate Satyrs the SBG was observed to be larger and more open.

94 degrees, mostly sunny.

Saw our first Ceranus Blue on some frog fruit today - it was 92 degrees and very humid with scattered thunderstorms. Our partridge pea is in bloom.

Sunny, low 80s, breezy.

Observations from Blue Cypress Lake Road and Middleton Fish Camp on the western side of Blue Cypress Lake.

Visited the Thousand Acres, Chariton, and Cedar Creek Units of Stephens State Forest in Lucas and Monroe counties. Amazing abundance of Hackberry Emperors!

Yard Butterflies were good today. New observations for my yard were a Mangrove Skipper and a Gray Hairstreak caterpillar!

9:45 to 11:20 a.m.; 58 to 64 F.; Bog Laurel and Labrador Tea in bloom; Jutta Arctic cooperatively perched on boardwalk in bog

At first I thought it was a Common Ringlet behaving strangely. When I got home, it was clear that it was a leucistic Northern Crescent! Also spotted more than a dozen Harris’ Checkerspot.

Low 80’s, sunny. Midday between 10 am and 1 pm.

This is the only known location for Dukes’ Skipper in Tennessee.

Lots of milkweed and dogbane, but nothing has bloomed yet.

Sunny and warm.

Sunny, started in mid-50s; ended 700s — 8am to 10:45.
Walked from road (~7200ft) to trail head to large mine tailing pile (8400ft)

Also saw 2 Blues and 1 Duskywing/Cloudywing

Ringlet, 1 CA Tortoiseshell and N Checkerspot seen along the road.

Went here to search for Arctic Skippers, and I found a couple. The Silver-Bordered Fritillaries were a nice surprise.

New one for the yard! I didn’t have a camera but got a GOOD look at it.

10:45 – 14:20 EDT. Gradually increasing clouds (0%-100%), warm/pleasant 71-82 deg F, wind 0-5 mph.

16th Annual NABA 4th of July Butterfly Count. Hilochee WMA also covered this year. CConk, LCooper, SFarnsworth, TPalmer, NPrine. Cloudy in a.m., sun in p.m. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 79°-86°

Weather was sunny, 66°,10-15mph winds
R. Spink and D. Dunlap

Start weather: Mostly sunny, 57°, 5-10mph winds
End weather: Clear, 67°, 5-10mph winds
R. Spink and D. Dunlap

All seen along the McDade Trail and Rte. 209. from Bushkill north. Also had a cloudywing but couldn’t id. it.

11 AM - 5 PM. Gorgeous, sunny day, mid-70s.

At Tingley Ponds near river. Morning, high 70’s, sunny. Flowers included lantana, milkweed, and Apache plume.

1010am-130pm, 77-80 degrees, cloudy, calm

Upper picnic area to Sawmill Canyon parking lot, 09:30-11:45. Nectar mainly Arizona milkweed, Butterfly milkweed, introduced White clover, Yellowspine thistle, Penstemon barbatus. All roadside. Sisters were Arizona.

San Bruno Mountain is home to 4 federally endangered butterflies, of which one was observed today along the Ridge Trail. One species, that is, 42 individual San Bruno Silverspots (Callippe Fritillaries).

San Francisco weather conditions (drizzly fog and strong cold winds off the ocean), kept some butterflies expected under better conditions to wait for a better day. Can’t complain, nice to see those fritillaries.

15th Annual NABA 4to of July Butterfly Count covers three properties. Lots of good nectar sources. Recent burns at Triple N and overall wet conditions limited access at that property. Record high for Arogos Skipper on this count. LCooper, DCutler, MCutler, SFarnsworth, EPerry, NPrine, LShelp, RWarner.

Sunny with clear skies, light wind and low humidity/72 degrees during observation 115 pm. Certified butterfly garden #2490

After 2 days of rain we have some new butterflies! Temperature only 82 degrees down from over 100 with heat index. Jim Springer spotted a Brazilian in our yard last May but we had never seen one in our yard until today.

2PM to 5PM. Sunny

For the past 7 days.

Walked in about 2.5 miles
Sunny, start around 55 degrees at 9am. 64 degrees on return at 12:00.

Gulf Pier fields only- Variegated Fritillary only the second documented sighting at the park as per R. Smith. 12pm-1pm

Hot and humid, rainy off and on. A rare vistor these days, a Spicebush Swallowtail, along with regulars Gulf Fritillary and Monarch, at the same time.

Areas covered were part of the Long Pine Key Nature Trail & C Loop @ Flamingo

82 degrees cloudy. Of the 30 ‘Carolina’ Satyr types we found 15 met the criteria of Intricate Satyr.

82 degrees, partly cloudy, breezy on the coast.