October 2022 Sightings

Sunny, 92 degrees, breezy.

Partly sunny, breezy, 2:00-2:30PM

Sunny, 89 degrees, light winds.

Several locations including Fort Chaffee and Springhill Park. We had one Marine Blue at the boat launch at Springhill Park. Photo available.

Mid 70’s, around 4 pm

Los Poblanos open space in the vegetable gardens. Around 9 am; partly cloudy and mid 60’s.

Sunny 77degrees.

Start 3:30pm - sunny, mid-60s.
Elevation: 8480 ft

Rabbitbrush and asters are still blooming here. The two Copper species have been in the same clumps of asters since I first saw them.

11:25-12:30, sunny, 75 degrees, another beautiful day in Colorado.

Low 70’s F. Sunny. Area with pond along access drive was most productive, though butterflies were almost everywhere. After circuit of park, I returned to that area and focused on one large patch of heath aster in particular. That added Red Admiral, Ocola Skipper and Eastern Comma to the list.

After several cold, wet days it was nice to see some butterflies again. The season is drawing to a close soon. I cherish every one I see these days.The Bronze Coppers were not in the best of shape but they were beautiful to me as they were new to my yard list.

12:45-2:05PM, sunny, high 60’s

Species seen 10/4 and 10/6, localities visited include scissors crossing, sentenac canyon, plum canyon, box canyon.

Sunny, 75 degrees. A short visit, but long enough to see that the prior six days of dank, cold, wet weather in the remnant low pressure of Tropical Rainstorm Ian probably wasn’t good for lingering Autumn butterflies; numbers and diversity way down from past years at this time.

Sunny, 80 degrees. The fritillaries are almost gone, but California Tortoiseshells have arrived. A single large aster patch continues to attract the most activity.

in front of Barnes & Nobles.

Sunny, upper 40s
Elevation: ~9200ft

There are several more Chrysalis on the back porch and more, late stage, Caterpillars on Milkweed

After a couple of weeks of NE wind we finally got the first Horace’s Duskywing for our yard, species #146.

Seen just before exit 6 going west on side of road.

Williams Road Unit 9:30-2:30. Weather: 75°-82°, winds 7-13 mph, cloudy with intermittent sun then overcast at 2. Only covered 3.5 miles of Williams Rd checking habitat after Hurricane Ian. Lots of mosquitoes. Nectar: liatris, carphephorus, rayless sunflower, elephant’s foot, hawkweed. LCooper, EPerry

Partly cloudy after days of rain, mid 60’s

12:45-2:15, sunny, high 60’s

Sunny, breezy, low 60s. Several locations across the northern part of the county. Finally a couple of nice (although cool) days after 5 days of rain and wind from the remnants of Hurricane Ian. Nice to see a few species still hanging around after the first frost advisory and as the season winds down…

Low 60’s F. Sunny and cloudless. East side of Conservancy — Tulip Poplar Trail area and eastern meadow. At end of walk, top end of Grassland Loop added a few individuals, though I passed over very faded grass skipper.

12:25-1:25PM, sunny, mid 60’s

Sunny low-humidity abd 66 degrees when a late-comer female Monarch visited certified garden #2490.

(15-170) Warm and mostly cloudy. A very short stay. The Orange Sulphur would not settle down for a photo op.

Incidental observations while visiting the Amish farmland tourist areas. Sunny and temps 60-72. Light variable winds. Primary nectar source was asters. Mourning Cloak flying in a deliberate manner south.

Temp in low 70’s F. Sunny with a few scattered clouds. 12:20-2:45pm. Grassland Loop; Davis Branch and ‘The Swale’; clump of New England aster near main bldg.

Nick Flanders last 2 yrs has had Dukes’ Skippers here; A quick check today and still found one (late date); on Blue Mistflowers

I’m just amazed at how many species have flown through Alder Park over the last three days, nectaring on the many rabbitbrush shrubs there, none of which I had seen there previously. American Ladies were the new species today.

12:00-1PM, partly sunny, mid 60’s.

(35-543) Mostly cloudy with temps reaching 82.

Hwy s22 area.

1:15-3:10pm. Temp about 70 F. Sunnier at start; increasing clouds. Lake circuit and branches. Most butterflies were at constr. staging area south of lake, but I found individuals and pockets of activity in other areas. One of the commas was puddling on drainage from (water tanks?) being used during work at Lakefront.

12:30-1:20PM, sunny, mid-high 60’s. Overnight temps have been in the 40’s, with no freeze expected for the next ten days or so.

I went for a quick walk to see if any more Monarchs were flying through the park, finding seven today, with three nectaring on the same rabbitbrush shrub.

3:00-3:40PM, sunny, low 70’s.

Seen about noon on a rubber rabbitbrush with approximately 15 other butterflies.

12:50-1:30, sunny, high 60’s

Mostly sunny, high of 96, breezy at times. With Bob Gorman.

Saw two males drinking from New Gold Lantana.

Temp about 74 F. Sunny. 12:25-3:25pm. First butterfly seen, a buckeye, was not seen until about 30 min after start. Looked mainly along Davis Branch, Grassland Loop, east meadow area, community garden. Both Fiery Sk. were together in latter, where skippers and sulphur were attracted to specific type of marigold blossom, avoiding other marigolds. Good look at a Mourning Cloak flying around me at bottom end of Grassland Loop; no chance for photo of it.

Obs. made from 1-5 p.m., sunny 70-72, winds S-SSE 6-10. Observations are from the formal garden areas. Did not explore the meadow.Most butterflies were found on Gomphrena, Lantana, Marigold, and tall Verbena.Found one of the Painted Ladies on Dahlia.

2:10-2:55, sunny, low 70’s

Sightings since last backyard report. Higher than normal levels of humidity for an extended period has helped push some desert species towards the coast.

9:30-4:30 Weather: 76°-84°, winds 9-12, sun all day. Nectar: liatris, carphephorus, FL Elephant’s Foot, pickerelweed, hawkweed, Spanish needles, buchnera, palafoxia. KBarylski, LCooper, EPerry, NPrine, RWalsh, AWhitlock.

from 10am to 3pm, first strong southerly wind of the fall ahead of cold front tomorrow. The Fawn-spotted Skippers were our first since the big Feb. freeze last year.

Temps were in the mid 60’s today, with overnight lows in the high 30’s; my neighbor’s tomatoes froze on the vine.

1-2PM, partly sunny

Scissors crossing area + Box canyon. Cool wind most of day. Activity is winding down but still good for this time of year.

Sunny, high 60’s, 1:15-1:45

Warm and sunny, 12 species at the large aster patch, the only surprise being a Northern White Skipper. The Orange Sulphur was a white female. No photos.

I walked the same section of Alder Park that I have walked for the last couple of weeks. Rabbitbrush lines both sides of the trail. There is one large rabbitbrush shrub popular with Monarchs; today I saw three other species on that shrub, as well as a number of moths and other insects.

1:15-2PM, sunny, high 60’s, another beautiful day in Colorado.

Full sun, 65-80 F, light breeze. The park had recovered somewhat from drought due to a few recent showers. Nectar: Asters, Goldenrod, Mealy Blue sage, Boneset, Frostweed. Participants: Amanda Zumwalt (Park Superintendent), A.M. Levy, Sherry Wilson, Patty Pasztor, Becca Taylor, Rheda Boardman, Brenda Fest, Dusty Rhodes.

Second Cloudless Sulphur reported in Wisconsin since 2020.

Spent from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. observing butterflies. Weather was sunny with mild winds. Temperatures ranged from mid-60s to upper 70s. Other observers included Tom Haworth and Cathy Wiley. Also observed were two Texan Crescents (see photos)- a 1st record for Riverside County as well as Joshua Tree National Park.

Surveyed from 9:30a to 4:30p. Mostly sunny; 59-76 degrees. Areas of Liatris and wildflowers are fading fast but a good spot just south of Crossroad on the inside of the loop persists. Conditions were not favorable with moderate cool winds, and most skippers were down near the ground. Sue Farnsworth, Ed Perry, Nancy Prine. We missed Linda’s company! Yet, a good time was had by all!

At this location, I had usually been able to observe a half dozen species, however, the park now mows everything to the ground in September, leaving no nectar sources. These two Monarchs are the only butterflies that I have seen here in five trips here recently.

CR 30 annd CR 20 from 1-4pm

Sunny, breezy and 72 degrees. One late coming Monarch visited cert butterfly garden #2490

Morning, Partly cloudy, mid 50’s. Dry but a lot of rain recently.

As the season winds down we are still enjoying the remaining species. No freezing temperatures yet so flowers are doing well.

Partly sunny, winds 20 mph, 1:25-2PM, 68 degrees

The forecast for the next 48 hours is rain and snow showers with temps dipping as low as the high 20’s.

Rain and overcast until 11:30a.m. Windy and 85 after that.

1330-1430. 1 mile. Spot checking areas that had Balloon Vine. Got extremely lucky and found a fresh Silver-banded Hairstreak laying eggs on one of the “balloons”

0900-1230, 2.5 miles, very little in bloom. Weather extremely pleasant for the keys and very little biting insects. Numbers seen a little low perhaps compared to what was reported in July/August.

Overcast and 74 degrees.

sunny, a little windy, and temps in the low 80s. 1:20-2:50 in the butterfly garden and in the short grassy area near the parking lot.

The Dusted Spurwing was first seen by Ryan Rodriguez on October 25.

Noon, cool & breezy but decided to try to find the Little Metalmarks we saw the third week in October last year. The carphephorus is in full bloom along with a few yellow composites which the Little Metalmark prefers. We only saw one but last year this happened and we returned on a sunny day and saw 49!

Probably my last trip to Long Ridge this year. The main attractant (aster patch), is 90% gone to seed. Butterflies getting fewer, more worn and faded. One very nice American Lady the exception.

Moved from NJ to PA this spring - I thought I was done with new yard butterflies for the 2022 but today Eastern Comma butterfly #31 and also Eastern-tailed Blue butterfly #32 were here. Good day with 7 species. Temps mid-65, sunny with winds 10-15 MPH

Community other than my yard. Good to see some late season butterflies.

Combined report for 10/23 & 10/28. On 10/28 with Diane Broduer & Bob Gorman. The only species seen on 10/23 but not 10/28 was Pale Swallowtail.

The sun came out for about 10 minutes and all the butterflies came out!

Midmorning, sunny, high 40’s with night temps in low 30’s

With the recent frosts, although light, few nectar sources are available now.

just after crossing over I-84.

I was trying out a new trail on Burning Mountain and stopped to have lunch, seeing an Orange Sulphur fly by. There is still some rabbitbrush blooming on the trail.

Sunny, early afternoon, mid 50’s

Much warmer today and despite a front moving through there was a little sun. The carphephorus is in full bloom along with a few yellow composites so we stopped to check the metalmark colony we discovered late in October 2021. Until now we’d never photographed a mating pair of Little Metalmark!