Sighting for November 4, 2016

Hundreds of butterflies in the last month at wildflowers along the Etowah River - an oasis in our drought for good numbers of Monarchs passing through (as recently as yesterday), as well as 15+ other species including rare Checkered White’s, consistently good numbers of Little Yellow’s, and lingering Long-tailed skippers. Some species, like Sleepy Orange’s, have wrapped up. Here are 17 species we’ve seen just this month.

We don’t know how long the wildflowers have been there - wildly seeded & not maintained. This new park and its footbridge provide access. It will be interesting to see what wildflowers, and butterfly species, fly in the Spring there. I still have a few visitors in my home butterfly garden including Long-tailed skipper (today), Cloudless sulphurs, Gulf fritillaries, and Clouded skippers.