Sighting for May 16, 2015
Allan R. Loudell
Game Lands north of Ricketts Glen State Park
Sullivan County, PA
- Black Swallowtail 1
- Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 10+
- Canadian Tiger Swallowtail 5+
- Cabbage White 3
- Eastern Tailed-Blue 20+
- Spring Azure 40+
- Pearl Crescent 1
- American Lady 15
- Red Admiral 1
- Common Sootywing 3
- Pepper and Salt Skipper 5
New Sighting
Overcast to partly sunny; still apparently too early for certain specialty butterflies, such as Bog Copper, Harris’s Checkerspot, and Arctic Skipper.
Many, many blue leps, as the tinier Bluish Spring Moths flew and rested amongst the Eastern Tailed Blues (including one mating pair) and Spring Azures (some very dark underneath). The “bluish” moths could be confusing for a first-time observer here, as the moths perch vertically like butterflies, and have tiny antennae.
Surprised not to find a single Hairstreak!
Dark tiny duskywings that I couldn’t identify to species. (I know what I was thinking, but dare not say!)
Among the “better” nightttime moths observed here this time: Black Zigzag, Panthea acronyctoides; Lemon Plagodis, Plagodis serinaria; & Northern Thorn or Northern Selenia, Selenia alciphearia.