Sighting for May 17, 2014

Azures were two different entities: Most were fresh and what some taxonomists have described as Celastrina idella and the few others were well-worn early-flying taxon that feed on Blueberry sp. in the barrens and is referred to by some as a disjunct population of C. lucia. At MM9, the famous Hessel’s locality, there were far more butterfliers than butterflies (7 to 2) and I saw no Hessel’s although I saw an email report later that stated one came down late in the afternoon. I suspect that spot is subject to insecticide drift from adjacent commercial blueberry field. The weather was sunny a good deal of the day and low numbers of species and individuals is perplexing and troubling.