September 2020 Sightings

Breezy while observing butterflies. Temp of 78 and humid. Two female Black Swallowtails came out of chrysalises.

940am-1240pm, 83-90 degrees, sunny, calm. Counted 191 White Peacocks, breaking last weeks personal record for that species.

Partly cloudy 70’s
Power Line area of park

Breezy, some humidity with temps around 80 during observation. Released 2 female Black Swallowtails after the wings dried off. A tiger swallowtail visited, while moved too fast to get a portrait.

Mostly cloudy with scattered showers. 70’s.

Instead of walking by we ventured in the mostly shady community lot. The snow square stem was in full bloom and there were Zebra Heliconias flying in the shadows. Otherwise the beginning of yet another scorching day but although not as frequent we are still getting enough rain that I don’t need to water my garden. I think we are over that 12 year drought in SE GA!

Sunny, upper 80s.
Just walked to 1.5 mile road to the trail head to see what may be flying. (3:30-4:30pm)

Williams Rd Unit. 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Weather: 81-92, partly cloudy all day. Very wet conditions with much standing water. Road 1 has areas not passable by passenger vehicle. Not much nectar. Musky-mint, roserush, Phoebanthus, spermacoce, Spanish needles, Carphephorus carnosus. LCooper, SFarnsworth, EPerry, NPrine, RWarner.

96 degrees, sunny. Upland longleaf pine woodlands with beautiful wiregrass, Sandhill and Floodplain Swamp roadside stands of pickerelweed.

Sunny and windy with gusts up to 25 or 30mph. Saw a Monarch while driving in this community.

Breezy with temps of 84 degrees and sunshine. One new female Black Swallowtail came out.

Three days of rain, then finally a brief partly sunny window before rain returned.

Observations are during the afternoon hours after morning rain.

Fiery Skipper is an unexpected find this far north. Northern Crescent was identified based on large size and orange antenna clubs. They are difficult to distinguish from Pearl Crescents in this region.

(19-159). Sunny and hot! Lots of bidens about.

Weather was mostly clear, turning partly cloudy, 70°-73°, 13-15mph winds
Surveyed from 12:00pm-1:35pm

Weather was partly cloudy at the start and ending up to be mostly clear, 70°-72°, and windy
Surveyed from 2:25pm-3:47pm

Obs. made from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. 90 degrees, sunny & W6 winds.

Obs. made from 10:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. 86 degrees sunny and WNW6 wind. Overall low butterfly numbers but a fair amount of diversity. One E.Tiger was a dark form female.

Obs. made from 8:10 to 9:05 a.m. 81 degrees and sunny. Most of the action was in the overgrown butterfly garden behind the visitor center.

A brief roadside stop at around 1:15 p.m.

Sunny, upper 50s-low 70s. Early morning hike.

Butterflies seen on the way down between (8700-9000 ft)
One unIDd Frit.

Most Cloudless Sulphurs were flying north along the beach and buckeyes were flying southwest

Dwindling numbers here for the most part with the exception of Sachems. Fiery Skippers have been on again and off again visitors.

1015am-110pm, 84-91 degrees, sunny, calm.

Breezy afternoon, temp of 72degrees. Saw a Monarch flying around a ranch.

The Red Admirals have been rare this year at this location.

low 70’s, 1:30 to 2:30, cloudless

11:30 – 16:45 EDT. Mostly sunny, some cirrus: 72-75 deg F, wind 0-5 mph. Locations include Albemarle & Greene counties. Sachem horde impressive.

Third annual Pocahontas State Park parkwide butterfly count 10-2pm
Areas included in count include:
front field
Swift Creek dining hall, group and scout camping area, path from that area to Swift Creek Dam
Bright Hope Parking area and trail from there to Group Camp Lake 7
Bright Hope Trail
Campground
Canoe Launch
Wetlands North of foot bridge across of Swift Creek
Parking areas near pool and Visitor Center
Native gardens near CCC Museum, Beaver lake, Visitor Center, Amphitheater
Beaver Lake dam area

Weather was clear, 72°, 11mph winds

R. Spink, J. Rutgers, C. Rutgers, K. Rutgers

Obs. made from 10:10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. Temp. range 78-82, part sun, winds N and NNE 10-21. Always a pleasure to tour this well designed & managed Botanical garden. E.Tigers include 3 dark form females.

FOY Long-tailed Skipper in yard this AM breaking yard record of 9/7/19. Also FOY for South Jersey Butterfly Blog. Common Checkered-Skipper FOY a month earlier than usual. Only second Variegated Fritillary seen here this year. Mating Monarch’s, Cloudless Sulphur’s, Common Buckeye’s and Sachem’s

Most activity at roadside thistles. Huachuca Giant-Skipper was at mud.

9 am to 3 pm. Sunny and pleasant. My first trip to this unique and wonderful area.

Mostly sunny, upper 70s, breezy. Walk around the neighborhood late afternoon with the kids…

A female black swallowtail and female monarch emerged from chrysalises late this morn-temp about 70 degrees, low humidity mostly cloudy but had sun on/off.

Sunny and dry; rain on Tuesday. Highs in low 90’s. Blue and yellow asters have started blooming. Fiery skippers prefer butterfly bush in nearby yard.

seen puddling on wet sand

Many frits flying but not providing still views. Only noted the Coronis that provided looks for ID.

74-84 degrees, sun. Extensive blue mist flower in bloom in field around garden with many buckeyes. Pilewort by edge of field had several snout, buckeyes, and silver spots. Surprise was seeing a Brazilian skipper on Obedient plant in the garden.

One male monarch came out of chrysalis this morn. A cool breezy day in the low 70s. Another monarch was visiting cert butterfly garden #2490.

My first caterpillar and egg sighting of this species.

Out exploring some hydric hammock in hopes of finding Dukes’ Skipper. Surveyed an area that looked good with Rhynchospora inundata and lots of blooming pickerelweed, but no luck this time. Hot, humid, with some light rain mixed in, from 10 am - 2 pm. EPerry & RWarner

Hundreds upon hundreds of Sachems on an acre of Sunflowers, more than I have ever seen at one time and still many on Mexican Sunflowers as usual. First Hackberry today! Best day of the year!

80 degrees, slightly overcast. Have been monitering this roadside powerline wetlands all summer as it is a historical site for Dukes Skipper but still no Dukes!

80 degrees, sunny, breezy. Adjacent to Altamaha River this wetlands has lots of sedges, pickerelweed & buttonbush (not blooming now) along with generous other wildflowers. Have been monitering this historical site for Dukes all summer. We checked each pickerweed bloom and other nectar sources but found no Dukes!

82 degrees, overcast. This roadside wetlands had a good stand of pickerweed, grasses and sedges.

86 degrees, overcast. Extreme roadside mowing of pickleweed has brought on disease with few blooms.

First Fiery Skipper of the year.

85 degrees, sunny, breezy.

Today is quite smoky from the Northern California fires. This was a very hot day too, 104 F. The highlight today was a Sachem and Umber Skipper. All summer, the grass skipper have only been Fiery Skippers. A Sachem appeared a few days ago. Today is the first day I noticed an Umber.

Plus approx. 40 Monarch caterpillars on Milkweed.

Most were seen in a once cut hayfield. Red and White clover dominated the nectar sources here today.

Temp in upper 70s when this Black Swallowtail took off. It came out of chrysalis late morning. Couple of Monarchs arrived, enjoyed Mexican Sunflower nectar along with tropical milkweed, lantana, among other flowers from certified garden #2490. Breezy at the time of observation.

Around 4pm, high 90’s. Butterflies mostly alighting on winterfat and chocolate flower.

85 degrees, cloudy becoming overcast, then rain putting a stop to our count.

83 degrees, sunny. We spent more time at the Silo as there were more wildflowers. But also made a stop at some roadside fuzzy bean and found skippers.

1010am-1210pm, 81-88 degrees, sunny to cloudy, calm

A chilly windy overcast day. Had some cabbage butterflies visit butterfly garden. One female Monarch left chrysalis, but remained in same spot for several hours!

Hot, sunny, calm, 80 degrees. Late afternoon…suspect this may have hindered the overall numbers.

1st. Cloudless of the year. I’m surprised since they’re all over the place. And I still haven’t seen a Giant Swallowtail in NY this year even though they too are around.

Trail along far side of creek (far side from parking lot off 460)

Far fewer Sachems mainly due to birds, mostly Eastern Wood Pewees feasting on them. The plus a cooperative Cloudless Sulphur that was cooperative.

310pm-445pm, 84-82 degrees, cloudy with occasional rain.

Partly Cloudy, relatively calm, mid 80s. Amazing how several weeks ago the same 5-6 mile walk would produce over 100 Swallowtails! Overall, still good numbers across the board with fall rapidly approaching…

We discovered a roadside patch of Liatris before we reached the actual landing but close. 82 degrees, sunny, breezy. The Giant Swallowtail was oviposting on this plant.

920am-1235pm, 82-88 degrees, sunny, light wind. First Mangrove Buckeyes of the year for me in Sarasota County. Also, a large number of Statira Sulphurs.

Warm enough for some activity at 55 degrees.

84 degrees, sunny.

86 degrees mostly sunny with some light rain.

Drizzle most of day and some butterflies out in it but at about 3:30 PM the sun came out strong for about 1.5 hrs and the butterflies came out from everywhere. Temp high 70’s and very humid. Common Buckeyes were all over with several mating pairs and others trying to horn in on the mating to no avail. Est count 110. Sachems were also everywhere and wanting to mate. Est count 75. 2 Brazilian Skipper’ s chrysalis found with many nests. Other caterpillars in the yard American Snout, Question Mark, Black Swallowtail, Spicebush Swallowtail, Cloudless Sulphur, American Lady, and Monarch.

There are many Black Swallowtail and Monarch cats here now. Sachem numbers fell sharply from Bird predation.

Overcast and 65 degrees. From late morning until late afternoon, there were 7 Monarchs that emerged from chrysalises. Saw a Monarch in the community. Also, two additional Monarchs visited the cert butterfly garden.

With Dusty Rhodes. Two hour hike, partly cloudy, 80F, light winds. Conducted flowering plant survey in preparation for an upcoming butterfly survey. Frostweed was the favored nectar.

One Monarch flying around near a mall in Sterling Heights.

Second location of the day…early afternoon…partly cloudy, light breeze, upper 70s. FINALLY had a Sleepy Orange sit for a split second to get a quick camera shot…unfortunately turned out a bit blurry but good enough for a positive ID. Numerous Cloudless Sulphur caterpillars on Senna…it’s been a very good year for this species. First Fiery Skipper of the year…

First location of the day…midday…mostly cloudy, windy, mid-70s.

Sunny warm day with winds from the southeast. Temp in mid-70s. Had 2 new monarchs today, one male, one female.

Mostly cloudy in the low seventies with far fewer butterflies out today. Over a dozen each of Monarch and Black Swallowtail cats.

Finally, two days with a few butterflies after several days of nothing due to the heavy wildfire smoke. Interestingly, no Cabbage Whites.

Thousands of Monarchs in the same black locust groves and on the same goldenrod as last year (9/13/19). Rainy to overcast all day. 72 degrees. Viceroy flying among the Monarchs!

From 1:15 - 3:15 PM.

(21-222) Morning skiesere sunny. Record number of Three-spotteds. Limited nectar sources; frogfruit and lantana.

85 degrees, mostly sunny with light rain at times. We had Palmetto Skipper which is not listed.

85 degrees, breezy, cloudy, overcast & light rain at times.

My latest, and the second latest Regal Fritillary in Wisconsin.

Sunny breezy and around 76 degrees much of the afternoon during observation. Three female monarchs emerged. Additional monarchs visited the very butterfly garden#2490.

My first Long-tailed Skipper.

Another quick look, rain ended this survey. Some Liatris starting up on the ziz-zag just before coming to Powerline Road. Also some thistle and mistflower. A short distance north on Powerline before the rain started gave a bonanza of common skippers on mistflower and a patch of pine lilies with lots of action from Cloudless Sulphurs & Palamedes Swallowtails. EPerry & RWarner from 12:15 pm to 1:15 pm.

A fairly quick survey here as the bush hog mower ran us out early. Lots of pickerelweed in bloom. EPerry & RWarner—10 am to 11:30 am

A male Monarch came out of chrysalis. Two other Monarchs were in the butterfly garden. Low humidity and 68 degrees at time of observation.

We were targeting a Mimic documented at this location yesterday probably brought in on the Tropical Storm.