September 2022 Sightings

Visited several sites off Catalina Highway. We missed the Meridian Duskywing seen by a friend. Photos available.

sunny, humid, low 80’s, approximately 1 to 3 p.m.

Eastern Comma pristine fall-spring form

Variegated Fritillary was new for my yard
Clouded Sulphur was a white form

Did the loop from Silver Lake to Lake Solitude, Twin Lakes and back.
Saw a few Frits as well.

The Sachem was laying eggs on the crabgrasses.

dark grass skipper photos attached appear to be of a Clouded Skipper, Lerema accius

Most of the butterflies were on rabbitbrush, which is blooming in many places in my town.

10:55-11:30, sunny, high 80’s

Annual park wide butterfly survey with the Pocahontas Chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalists

Weather was partly cloudy, 80-84°, calm-5mph winds
Surveyed from 12:45pm-3:45pm

Lance Verderame called me when he found Fiery Skippers on the ball field. I made the trip and was able to see 4. He ended up seeing a total of 7. Last week when he found his life Varieagated Fritillary, he surpassed his goal of seeing 50 species of butterflies for Delaware County this year. Congratulations Lance!

Observed butterflies around 5p.m. at the certified butterfly garden #2490. Hot and muggy weather with m
sunshine. Monarchs are migrating, enjoying the Mexican sunflowers.

We had a surprise visitor to our backyard, which dropped in and nectared for a couple minutes on our Buddleia.

There were a few stands of New York Iron weed in the Butterfly garden where all the butterflies were located.

This continues to to be a very poor summer for butterflies at the Heinz refuge, Most sighting have been “one offs” of individual species.

8:45 a.m.-4:15 p.m. Weather: 79°-91°, winds 5-8 mph, mostly sunny all day. Fall wildflowers have not started to bloom very much yet. Florida False Sunflower & Florida Elephants Foot were major nectar choices along with frog fruit, buttonweed, loosestrife, thistle, goldenrod.
LCooper, EPerry, NPrine.

Black Swallowtail cats on Rue plants. Long-tailed Skipper showed up at 18:20 and was extremely active.

There were a few Frits flying above 10K.
Flowers are pretty dry at this point.

Fiery Skipper was new to Sullivan County. John Haas and I found a total of 8.
Found 1 dead white form of Clouded Sulphur

Morning. Sunny, mid 70’s

Weather was cloudy, 66°, calm-6mph winds
Surveyed from 11:45am-1:45pm

Weather was cloudy, 66-72°, calm-6mph winds
Surveyed from 10:00am-4:00pm

Mostly cloudy today early, and late day clouds thickened and rain arrived

Overcast with temp about 67 early afternoon. Released 2 male Monarchs after they dried from pupas. Had 2 other Monarchs in the butterfly garden

Top of Mt Washington

It was 73-93 degrees from 9-2 at different elevations.

Around 5:30 pm. Mid 80’s, sunny

With Clinton Gibson, Christin Meilink and Kate Smithson; Temps mid-upper 80’s; impending rain. 9-12.
We searched unsuccessfully for Western Pygmy Blues but found abundant hostplants, Sea Blite, Sueada linearis.
Photograph shows Monk Skipper on Virginia Saltmarsh Mallow, Kosteletzkya pentacarpos.

After three days of rain it was nice to see the butterflies again.

While biking through Forest Park, I saw two Giant Swallowtails. This is the first time I’ve seen them in the park since 2019.

Mid afternoon. Sunny, temps in mid 80’s

between 2 and 3 p.m., sunny, mid-70’s

in addition to species listed there were two un IDed duskywings

We visited several locations along Catalina Hwy. The biggest thrill was finding Xami Hairstreak perched alongside the host plant.

Stopped to explore a small powerline ROW. Abundant nectar but late in the day around 4 p.m. with much of it shaded.

Obs. made from 10:20 to 3:45, Cloudy to partly sunny 75-80, winds N-NE 6-10. Explored both Washington ditch & Jericho ditch. Nectar overall poor, with skippers very hard to come by. Great Purple Hairstreaks were found in the tornado damaged area of Washington Ditch. In addition to the posted list there was at least one Anglewing & one large grass skipper that appeared to be Dion.

A brief visit here on the way south. Obs. made 8:15 to 9 a.m. Very dry, but the revitalized butterfly garden drew in a few early morning butterflies. Sunny 64 degrees

Sunny, calm, low 80s. Great late season numbers, including a rare Fiery Skipper sighting (not commonly seen here).

Record breaking heat wave moved out last night! 39 degrees at Silver Lake (8800ft) this morning (8am). Yea!

Walked the loop from Silver, Solitude, Twin and back to Silver Lake.

Area suffered flooding earlier in the week.
Been a very poor year for butterflies in the area. Usually seen many more numbers and species in this section the park

Very strong cold winds, temperature in the low fifties, and light rain at 7:30pm. We camped beside Cook Inlet for beluga whale observation and photography and I was scanning the water in uncomfortable conditions when my wife called me over. She had found a Green Comma clinging to the cloth strap of a bag, the strong wind pressing the poor butterfly horizontal. As this was my first butterfly sighting in two rainy weeks, I swapped lenses and took photos despite the wind flapping the unfortunate butterfly all around. I eased the comma onto a battered conifer to give it some shelter from the wind (it’s perched on dried sap in a break on the tree in the attached photos). Then I very carefully lifted the butterfly and carried it back away from shore and placed it in a sheltered spot among twisted conifers where it would be far more protected. When I checked back on it half an hour later I couldn’t find it, so assume it located a hiding spot where perhaps it will pass the winter.

Obs. made from 9:35 to 5 p.m. Mostly cloudy to partly sunny and low 80’s. Winds ENE 8-15. Less than average numbers for this time of year but still well worth exploring.

Mostly sunny with temperature in upper 70s this evening. Observed 9 Monarchs visiting certified Monarch garden #2490.

Ilavia Hairstreak and Rita Blue were the most unexpected butterflies for today! California Patch was another good find.

9 a.m.-2 p.m. (rain). Weather: 77°-91°, winds 4-6 mph, partly cloudy and then rain. Nectar: Rayless sunflower, morning glory, musky mint, buchnera, Spanish needles, Florida Elephant’s Foot, pluchea, sky flower, roserush, buttonweed, blackroot. SClendenin, LCooper, DFraser, EPerry, NPrine.

0830-1400, checked along main dirt roads through both the Highway SR-60 Unit and the Prairie Lakes Unit. Colony of Palmetto Skippers were found all along a 1 mile stretch nectaring mostly on Liatris which is just starting to bloom. Colony of Arogos Skippers were all found along a 0.5 mile section nectaring on Bidens and Elephants Foot.

Late morning, sunny, 75 degrees

The main nectar sources are asters, rabbitbrush, zinnias, catmint, thistle, and coneflowers plus a variety of grasses. I was excited to see the Monarch fly into my yard!

From 9-9:30. Saw 3 ‘lifer’ Small Checkered-Skipper within 5 minutes warming up on mallow plant and the ground when disturbed. Within another five minutes we could not locate any. Had checked this location two weeks previous at 5 pm when it was 100 degrees but found none.

Elevation 9400 - 10500 ft.
Majority of the butterflies were seen above 10,200 ft.

Today was mostly cloudy, with misting and light rain showers, and only a few minutes at a time of sunshine

Muggy 80 degrees. The two Duskywing photos are of the same individual.

0900-1430, South Grade, Center Grade and North Grade Roads were covered. Mostly focusing for unusual and rare Skippers. Fresh broods of Red-banded Hairstreak and Twin-spot Skipper were encountered. Unfortunately the single (and very fresh) Duke’s Skipper flew before photos were obtained.

Hung out all morning, holding out for AZ Powdered Skipper - no luck. Temps: high 70s
Mostly sunny with rolling cloud cover.

Sunny, mid morning

6 Ad. Monarch & 3 Monarch caterpillers

Red Banded Hairstreak was the first of the year and found in Japanese stilt grass @ 09:13. Our half an acre of sunflowers is attracting lots of butterflies now, as well as birds too.

Sunny and around 80 degrees in the mid-afternoon. Observed 4 Monarchs in the certified butterfly garden, and an addinonal one flying around at a grocery parking lot.

Leaderless Walks, 7 participants. Sunny in 70’s.

It was quite windy and cooler today, with temperatures in the low 70s.

2 to 2:30 p.m., mid-70’s, sunny

one Eastern Comma was a beat up summer form and the other a pristine fall/spring form

Species encountered within or near my pollinator garden.

Sunny, little to no wind, 95 degrees. Conditions were dry. No water seen.

Very pleasant day, sunny, low 70’s.

Most of the butterflies seen were in one large aster patch, very little elsewhere. Asters and a sprinkling of purple thistles were the main nectar source.

Partly sunny, 84 degrees, wind was not a factor.

We hiked 3 miles to the top to find the mountainside with Parry’s Agave hostplant for Huachuca Giant-Skipper. The Huachuca Giant-Skipper was first seen on boulders at the creek below and later photographed on the Parry’s Agave! The biggest surprise was finding the Leda Ministreak!

Weather was partly cloudy, 82°, 11-13mph wind gusts
Survey time:1:30PM-4:15PM

A beautiful sunny day at 55° with scattered clouds and steady wind. I was observing the last of a distant group of belugas pass by for our photo identification work when a flutter in the parking area of the scenic pulloff caught my eye. A vibrant, fresh Mourning Cloak flew about in the sun among the cars. After photographing the butterfly, I couldn’t resist the urge of offering it my gloved hand. The Mourning Cloak crawled onto my glove and remained perched there as I walked slowly with it to show my wife. As we approached her, the butterfly lifted off and fluttered away high over the parked cars.

Sunny and humid, temps in mid 80’s. Ten Monarchs visited the cert butterfly garden enjoying nectar before migrating.

Red-banded Hairstreak was on the side window of the car.

Visited September 17th & 18th.

The Rosita Patch was first found by Peter DeGennaro while we were searching for rarities along with Steven Glynn. We found the Hammock Skipper at the local church garden. We were really excited to find a ‘lifer’ White-barred Skipper on a local creek.

Rosita Patch found by Peter DeGennaro and represents a very rare find in Arizona.

Diversity and numbers seem to be building now, after monsoon season has subsided.

Sunny, breezy, low 70s. There appears to be a nice Sleepy Orange colony again established, which has been consistent nearly every year. A lone tattered female Cloudless Sulphur seen…usually by now we’re seeing decent numbers. Not a good year for them in this area, as only a handful of adults have been seen between several sites - and not a single caterpillar.

Weather was clear, 72°, 9mph winds
Survey time was 12:00pm-1:00pm

R. Spink and D. Dunlap

Weather was partly cloudy 70°-77°, 6-9mph winds
Survey time was 10:15am-4:30pm

R. Spink and D. Dunlap

This property is located in Polk and Highlands County. 9:30 a.m.-4:15 p.m. Weather: 78°-90°, partly cloudy, winds light. Property is very wet and recent burns have lots of wildflowers that will bloom soon. Nectar: Redroot, liatris, carphephorus, Eryngium yuccifolium, physostegia.
LCooper, SFarnsworth, CGibson, SGilman, GHill, KNolan.

After several overcast or rainy days, and nightly temperatures in the 40’s, temperatures have warmed up to the low 80’s with nighttime lows in the 50’s. Today I saw five butterfly species in my yard, including an undetermined Fritillary species.

Terry Mortier found a single Southern Dogface here on September 17 and I went to find them. I had only seen eight total in Wisconsin and was surprised and happy to find nine today including a mated pair.

Nectaring on ironweed

Sunny, windy, low 50 degrees

0830-1300, spot checking for Duke’s Skipper in appropriate swampy habitat so not a thorough survey for all species in other habitats. Nectar sources are increasing, more blooming Pickerelweed and Bidens however today was pretty cloudy and overcast

The Tropical Least Skipper was spotted oviposting on grass with the roots submerged in the creek. We watched with binoculars but were unable to get a photo.

First survey of butterflies at Homestead National Park. Will be doing one each month next year. It was 95 degrees with strong wind but still saw plenty of butterflies. The Marine Blue was the first one seen in Gage County.

Williams Road Unit 11:15 a.m.-4:15 p.m. Weather: 82°-88°, winds 5-6 mph, partly cloudy to cloudy. Covered only a few miles. Looking specifically for Arogos Skippers.Area very wet. Some fall wildflowers starting to bloom. LCooper, SFarnsworth, CGibson, GHill, JLampkin, EPerry, NPrine.

9 a.m.-10:45 a.m. Weather: 79°-82°, winds light, partly cloudy. Surveyed about 1/2 mile looking for Arogos Skippers only. Not a lot of wildflowers yet. LCooper, SClendenin, SFarnsworth, CGibson, GHill, JLampkin, EPerry, NPrine.

I had two pickups, one each in Carneys Point and Pennsville before stopping here, well out of my way and not on my assignment so I rushed a quick observation here.

We hiked all the way up (and down) but did not find the target species, Black Checkerspot, until we headed out of the canyon and John spotted it in the middle of the road at much lower elevation than expected!

The main nectar sources today were asters and rabbitbrush, a shrub which lines almost every path in my neighborhood. 11:50-12:50, partly sunny, high 70’s.

In the field from 8:00am to 4:00pm. 100% sunshine & tons of butterflies! With S.Wallenstein, D.Vollmar, B.DeWitt, S.McCleod, & E. McCleod