December 2022 Sightings
Tom Palmer
My yard
Polk County, FL
- Polydamas Swallowtail 2
- Cassius Blue 1
- Monarch 2
Ron Smith
Fort De Soto Park
Pinellas County, FL
(13-243). Sunny and temps 68-75. Flowering sleepy morning brought out the butterflies - especially the Mallow Scrub-Hairstreaks which use it as a host plant.
- Barred Yellow 68
- Little Yellow 1
- Dainty Sulphur 1
- Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 61
- Cassius Blue 1
- Ceraunus Blue 22
- Gulf Fritillary 7
- Phaon Crescent 40
- Painted Lady 1
- Common Buckeye 4
- White Peacock 23
- Monarch 9
- Fiery Skipper 5
Steven Glynn
National Butterfly Center Gardens
Hidalgo County, TX
Lack of sunshine didn’t keep butterflies from flying during a warm and humid day. 54 species in December was a nice day of finds.
- Pipevine Swallowtail 2
- Checkered White common
- Orange Sulphur 2
- Southern Dogface 1
- Cloudless Sulphur 3
- Orange-barred Sulphur 1
- Large Orange Sulphur 5
- Lyside Sulphur common
- Mexican Yellow 3
- Little Yellow common
- Sleepy Orange 1
- Dainty Sulphur 3
- Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 5
- Dusky-blue Groundstreak 2
- Western Pygmy-Blue 1
- Cyna Blue 2
- Ceraunus Blue 1
- Reakirt's Blue 3
- Fatal Metalmark 6
- Curve-winged Metalmark 1
- American Snout 8
- Gulf Fritillary 7
- Zebra Heliconian 2
- Mexican Fritillary 2
- Texan Crescent 2
- Phaon Crescent 12
- Question Mark 1
- Red Admiral common
- Common Buckeye 1
- Malachite 1
- Mexican Bluewing 3
- Tropical Leafwing 8
- Hackberry Emperor 10
- Empress Leilia 1
- Tawny Emperor 1
- Carolina Satyr 1
- Monarch 4
- Queen 15
- Soldier 1
- Guava Skipper 1
- Dorantes Longtail 1
- Brown Longtail 2
- Sickle-winged Skipper 1
- White Checkered-Skipper common
- Laviana White-Skipper common
- Fawn-spotted Skipper 2
- Clouded Skipper common
- Southern Skipperling 1
- Fiery Skipper 9
- Southern Broken-Dash 3
- Sachem 1
- Common Mellana 1
- Eufala Skipper 8
- Purple-washed Skipper 1
Daniel Jones
Jones yard at Progreso Lakes
Hidalgo County, TX
Butterflies seen in our yard over the past three days following some cold wet weather.
- Pipevine Swallowtail 1
- Checkered White 3
- Great Southern White 1
- Giant White 3
- Orange Sulphur 1
- Cloudless Sulphur 8
- Large Orange Sulphur 4
- Lyside Sulphur 2
- Boisduval's Yellow 2
- Mexican Yellow 5
- Little Yellow 2
- Red-crescent Scrub-Hairstreak 1
- White Scrub-Hairstreak 1
- Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
- Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
- American Snout 2
- Vesta Crescent 1
- Pearl Crescent 1
- Red Admiral 6
- White Peacock 2
- Pale-spotted Leafwing 1
- Carolina Satyr 5
- Queen 3
- Dorantes Longtail 1
- Brown Longtail 3
- Sickle-winged Skipper 2
- White Checkered-Skipper 3
- Tropical Checkered-Skipper 5
- Laviana White-Skipper 2
- Julia's Skipper 1
- Clouded Skipper 5
- Fiery Skipper 1
John and Nancy Crosby
Sea Way NE, Shellman Bluff, GA
McIntosh County, GA
We have enjoyed all these species common to our yard daily for a couple of weeks along with a surprise Sleepy Orange today. It was about 80 degrees with full sun. The Little Yellow’s behavior suggested it was trying to mate with the Cloudless Sulphur.
- Cloudless Sulphur 6
- Sleepy Orange 1
- Gulf Fritillary 10
- Zebra Heliconian 1
- American Lady 1
- Common Buckeye 3
- Long-tailed Skipper 3
- Ocola Skipper 4
John and Nancy Crosby
Lake Elberta Park, City of Tallahassee
Leon County, FL
We saw the White Wagtail and on the way out of the park stopped to check out the butterflies. It was about 80 degrees with full sun.
- Gray Hairstreak 1
- Fiery Skipper 2
Jim Wilkinson
Masonville Cove Environmental Center
Baltimore city, MD
- Orange Sulphur 1
Dennis Vollmar
National Butterfly Center
Hidalgo County, TX
11am to 5 pm
low 80s partly sunny, wind 15-20 s-sse
- Pipevine Swallowtail 4
- Checkered White 5
- Giant White 7
- Orange Sulphur common
- Southern Dogface common
- White Angled-Sulphur 1
- Large Orange Sulphur 6
- Lyside Sulphur common
- Mexican Yellow 5
- Little Yellow common
- Sleepy Orange 1
- Gray Hairstreak 3
- Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
- Dusky-blue Groundstreak 2
- Western Pygmy-Blue 1
- Ceraunus Blue 8
- Reakirt's Blue 2
- Fatal Metalmark 7
- Curve-winged Metalmark 8
- American Snout common
- Gulf Fritillary 5
- Mexican Silverspot 2
- Zebra Heliconian 3
- Texan Crescent 2
- Phaon Crescent 8
- American Lady 5
- Painted Lady 6
- Red Admiral common
- Common Buckeye 4
- Malachite 3
- Mexican Bluewing 2
- Common Mestra 3
- Ruddy Daggerwing 1
- Tropical Leafwing common
- Empress Leilia 1
- Tawny Emperor common
- Monarch 7
- Queen common
- Dorantes Longtail 7
- Texas Powdered-Skipper 1
- White Checkered-Skipper common
- Tropical Checkered-Skipper common
- Laviana White-Skipper abundant
- Julia's Skipper 1
- Clouded Skipper abundant
- Southern Skipperling 1
- Fiery Skipper 5
- Whirlabout 2
- Southern Broken-Dash 5
- Sachem 2
- Common Mellana common
James L. Monroe
Lucky Hammock just outside Everglades NP
Miami-Dade County, FL
- Cloudless Sulphur 1
- Barred Yellow common
- Dainty Sulphur common
- Cassius Blue common
- Ceraunus Blue common
- Zebra Heliconian 2
- Common Buckeye 3
- White Peacock abundant
- Monarch 5
- Queen 8
- Dorantes Longtail 4
- Tropical Checkered-Skipper 3
- Twin-spot Skipper 1
- Ocola Skipper 2
- Pipevine Swallowtail 3
- Giant Swallowtail 3
- Florida White 2
- Checkered White 4
- Giant White 1
- Orange Sulphur common
- Southern Dogface 4
- Cloudless Sulphur 2
- Large Orange Sulphur 4
- Lyside Sulphur common
- Little Yellow 6
- Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 3
- Dusky-blue Groundstreak 4
- American Snout common
- Gulf Fritillary 7
- Mexican Silverspot 1
- Zebra Heliconian 2
- Elada Checkerspot 2
- Vesta Crescent 2
- Phaon Crescent 8
- Red Admiral common
- Common Buckeye 1
- Mexican Bluewing 2
- Common Mestra 1
- Tropical Leafwing common
- Empress Leilia 3
- Tawny Emperor common
- Monarch 6
- Queen common
- Soldier 3
- Mercurial Skipper 1
- Dorantes Longtail 5
- Brown Longtail 6
- Sickle-winged Skipper 3
- Funereal Duskywing 1
- White Checkered-Skipper common
- Tropical Checkered-Skipper common
- Laviana White-Skipper common
- Julia's Skipper 1
- Clouded Skipper common
- Southern Skipperling 2
- Fiery Skipper common
- Whirlabout common
- Sachem common
- Common Mellana 4
- Eufala Skipper 7
- Purple-washed Skipper 2
Tom Palmer
my yard
Polk County, FL
- Pipevine Swallowtail 3
- Great Southern White 1
- Cloudless Sulphur 1
- Cassius Blue 4
- Gulf Fritillary 1
- Zebra Heliconian 1
- Monarch 2
- Pipevine Swallowtail 2
- Giant Swallowtail 2
- Checkered White 2
- Clouded Sulphur common
- Southern Dogface 2
- Large Orange Sulphur 2
- Little Yellow 4
- Dusky-blue Groundstreak 1
- Ceraunus Blue 2
- Fatal Metalmark 2
- Curve-winged Metalmark 2
- American Snout common
- Gulf Fritillary 2
- Zebra Heliconian 2
- Texan Crescent 1
- Vesta Crescent 1
- Band-celled Sister 1
- Guatemalan Cracker 1
- Tropical Leafwing common
- Tawny Emperor common
- Monarch 5
- Queen common
- Soldier 2
- Long-tailed Skipper 1
- Dorantes Longtail 2
- Brown Longtail 2
- Laviana White-Skipper 5
- Julia's Skipper 1
- Southern Skipperling 2
- Fiery Skipper common
- Whirlabout 4
- Southern Broken-Dash 6
- Sachem 2
- Common Mellana 3
- Eufala Skipper 4
Ron Smith
Fort De Soto Park
Pinellas County, FL
(17-287). Warm and sunny. Pretty eventful day for mid-December in south central Florida. All pictures by Tim Adams.
- Barred Yellow 57
- Dainty Sulphur 4
- Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 64
- Ceraunus Blue 50
- Little Metalmark 3
- Gulf Fritillary 3
- Phaon Crescent 60
- Common Buckeye 2
- White Peacock 18
- Monarch 5
- Queen 4
- Mangrove Skipper 1
- Long-tailed Skipper 1
- Dorantes Longtail 2
- White Checkered-Skipper 3
- Southern Skipperling 5
- Fiery Skipper 5
- Polydamas Swallowtail 3
- Orange-barred Sulphur 1
- Cassius Blue 2
- Gulf Fritillary 1
- Zebra Heliconian 1
- Phaon Crescent 1
- Red Admiral 1
- Monarch 2
- Fiery Skipper 1
- Ocola Skipper 1
Tom Palmer
my back yard
Polk County, FL
Monarchs have been laying eggs in recent weeks. This is the result. Look for chrysales later.
- Polydamas Swallowtail 1
- Gulf Fritillary 1
- Monarch 8
Tom Simpson
Anza Borrego Desert, Borrego Springs
San Diego County, CA
- Large Orange Sulphur 1
- Queen 3+
John and Nancy Crosby
Sea Way NE, Shellman Bluff, GA
McIntosh County, GA
A little sun, a little nectar as we’ve had no freeze yet, but 21 degrees predicted for Christmas Eve morning!
- Cloudless Sulphur 2
- Little Yellow 2
- Gulf Fritillary 3
- Zebra Heliconian 1
- American Lady 1
- Common Buckeye 2
- Long-tailed Skipper 3
Karl and Dorothy Legler
Our yard in Weslaco.
Hidalgo County, TX
While preparing for an evening winter storm we noted an (uncommon) Mexican Yellow in our yard. Temperature in late afternoon was 75 degrees and sunny. But in the next 12-14 hours a cold front blasted through with an extreme drop in temperature to 28 degrees!
- Mexican Yellow 1
- White Peacock 1
Monarchs laying eggs on Calotropis