December 2014 Sightings
Jim Wilkinson
Blandair Regional Park
Howard County, MD
- Eastern Comma 1
Jim Egbert
Plantation Rd Gulf Shores
Baldwin County, AL
Same as yesterday: temps and sun and fewer butterflies.
- Cloudless Sulphur 3
- Common Buckeye 3
- Monarch 7
James Fleullan
Savannah NWR (Solomon Tract)
Chatham County, GA
Unseasonable Zebra Heliconians seen flying today.
- Sleepy Orange 1
- Gulf Fritillary 4
- Zebra Heliconian 2
- Common Buckeye 4
- Gemmed Satyr 1
Jim Egbert
Plantation Rd Gulf Shores
Baldwin County, AL
- Cloudless Sulphur 5
- Gulf Fritillary 1
- Red Admiral 1
- Monarch 3
Jim Egbert
West St Gulf Shores;Roscoe and Russian intersection Orange Beach and Hwy 98 and Co Rd 95 Elberta
Baldwin County, AL
Sun early; high clouds late morning; temps upper 50s AM to mid 70s PM; sea fog moved in late afternoon. Volunteer canola from past crops are providing food for our late season butterflies.
- Cabbage White 5
- Cloudless Sulphur common
- Little Yellow 1
- Sleepy Orange 1
- Gulf Fritillary 8
- Common Buckeye 6
- Monarch 9
- Common Checkered-Skipper 2
- Tropical Checkered-Skipper 7
- Fiery Skipper 3
Jim Egbert
Meyer Pk Gulf Shores; Wolf Bay Ter and Oak St,and Hwy 161 Orange Beach
Baldwin County, AL
AM lower 60s, fog burned off with the sun rise, but it left every thing dripping with a heavy dew. PM got into the upper 70s. I took about an hour to check on a couple of the colony sights for the White Peacock I found in Aug.; to see how the host plant were doing after the cold spell from mid Nov.; and found that the Frog Fruit flower heads had been killed back, and the Water Hyssop showed a little frost burn as well….As I was leaving the 1st sight I found a small patch of Spanish Needles and there was a badly worn White Peacock feeding and sunning.
- Cloudless Sulphur 1
- Little Yellow 1
- White Peacock 1
- Monarch 1
- Common Checkered-Skipper 3
Jim Egbert
Plantation Rd Gulf Shores
Baldwin County, AL
Early season Camellia are getting all of the attention now even
though the Thorny Olive hedge is full of flowers. This was another warm and mostly sunny day, highs in the upper 70s.
- Cloudless Sulphur 4
- Gulf Fritillary 3
- Painted Lady 1
- Common Buckeye 3
- Monarch 8
- Fiery Skipper 1
Jim Egbert
E 16th Ave Gulf Shores and Wolf Bay Ter. at Oak St Orange Beach
Baldwin County, AL
Surprise; Surprise additional White Peacock sighting, and they were definitely different individuals from the sighting of a couple of days ago, and they appeared to be a courting couple. Warm and partly cloudy, back into upper 70s.
- Cloudless Sulphur 3
- Red-banded Hairstreak 1
- Gulf Fritillary 2
- White Peacock 2
Jim Egbert
Plantation Rd Gulf Shores
Baldwin County, AL
More of the same in this location; cooler today low 60s for high, started in upper 40s with clear skies.
- Gulf Fritillary 3
- Monarch 7
- Fiery Skipper 2
Jim Egbert
Plantation Rd Gulf Shores
Baldwin County, AL
- Gulf Fritillary 1
Alice Anderson
Las Cruces, Valley View Park, Heske Garden
Dona Ana County, NM
Warm, sunny, very light breeze. There has been frost at night. Butterflies were nectaring on a cultivated Rosemary in Heske Garden, alongside honeybees. Elsewhere in the park were Checkered Whites and one Painted Lady.
- Southern Dogface 1
- Sleepy Orange 2
- Western Pygmy-Blue 5
- Common Checkered-Skipper 1
Jeanette Klodzen
Corner of 600N 2200W
Salt Lake County, UT
The month long record (near record) warmth is having an affect.
- Painted Lady 1
Jim Egbert
West St Gulf Shores and Wolf Bay Tr.Orange Beach
Baldwin County, AL
Today started in the lower 40s and warmed to the mid 60s. Checked on a couple of locations; both produced some good sightings.
- Cloudless Sulphur 3
- Little Yellow 2
- Gulf Fritillary 12+
- Common Buckeye 3
- White Peacock 2
- Monarch 2
- Common Checkered-Skipper 5
- Clouded Skipper 1
- Fiery Skipper 6
Jim Egbert
Gulf State Park, Lake Shelby,Gulf Shores and Florida Point, Orange Beach
Baldwin County, AL
Upper 30s,morning;warmed only to the upper 50s for the afternoon. Spanish Needles is providing food to the beach goers.
The lake is in the tertiary dune area; where Florida Point aka west end of Perdido Key is a secondary dunes area.
- Gulf Fritillary 3
- Painted Lady 1
- Common Buckeye 4
- Monarch 2
- Common Checkered-Skipper 1
- Fiery Skipper 6
Jim Egbert
Wolf Bay Tr Orange Beach East Canal Rd Gulf Shores
Baldwin County, AL
Low 30s start warmed only to the upper 50s,another clean day here in Lower Alabama aka LA.
- Red Admiral 1
- White Peacock 1
Jim Egbert
Plantation Rd Gul;f Shores
Baldwin County, AL
lower 40s in AM, to upper 50s in the afternoon mostly clear with some high thin clouds. The only sighting was on the wing by 9AM.
- Monarch 1
- Cloudless Sulphur 2
- Large Orange Sulphur 2
- Little Yellow 1
- Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
- Cassius Blue 2
- American Snout 1
- Bordered Patch 1
- Elada Checkerspot 1
- Vesta Crescent 1
- Phaon Crescent 1
- Monarch 1
- Queen 2
- Guava Skipper 1
- Brown Longtail 1
- White Checkered-Skipper 1
- Tropical Checkered-Skipper 8
- Fawn-spotted Skipper 2
- Clouded Skipper 3
- Fiery Skipper 2
- Brazilian Skipper 1
Jim Egbert
Plantation Rd Gulf Shores
Baldwin County, AL
- Gulf Fritillary 2
- Common Buckeye 1
- Monarch 4
Daniel Jones
National Butterfly Center, Mission
Hidalgo County, TX
from 11:00 to 15:30. I missed getting a photo of Jeffrey Gassberg’s Ruddy Hairstreak.
- Black Swallowtail 1
- Checkered White 1
- Southern Dogface 4
- Cloudless Sulphur 4
- Large Orange Sulphur 5
- Lyside Sulphur 5
- Tailed Orange 2
- Little Yellow 2
- Silver-banded Hairstreak 1
- Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 5
- Ruddy Hairstreak 1
- Dusky-blue Groundstreak 25
- Cassius Blue 2
- Ceraunus Blue 5
- Red-bordered Pixie 1
- American Snout 3
- Gulf Fritillary 8
- Zebra Heliconian 4
- Bordered Patch 2
- Vesta Crescent 2
- Phaon Crescent 10
- Red Admiral 8
- White Peacock 5
- Malachite 1
- Common Mestra 1
- Tropical Leafwing 2
- Tawny Emperor 25
- Carolina Satyr 1
- Monarch 5
- Queen 40
- Soldier 10
- Brown Longtail 3
- Sickle-winged Skipper 3
- White Checkered-Skipper 20
- Tropical Checkered-Skipper 8
- Laviana White-Skipper 8
- Julia's Skipper 2
- Fawn-spotted Skipper 3
- Clouded Skipper 50
- Southern Skipperling 5
- Fiery Skipper 6
- Whirlabout 1
- Sachem 1
- Eufala Skipper 3
Jim Egbert
Plantation Rd Guf Shores
Baldwin County, AL
- Gulf Fritillary 7
- Question Mark 1
- Red Admiral 1
- Monarch 2
- Fiery Skipper 1
Jim Egbert
Plantation Rd Gulf Shores
Baldwin County, AL
Wind switched to the SE today allowing temps to get into the low 70s.
- Cloudless Sulphur 1
- Gulf Fritillary 2
- Common Buckeye 1
- Monarch 5
- Fiery Skipper 1
Sally Volk
Roma Bluffs World Birding Center, Roma, TX
Starr County, TX
Saw in the middle garden near monks caps and other bushes.
- Gulf Fritillary 1
Cynthia Slack Ehlinger
Clambake parking lot, Greenwich Point Park, Old Greenwich
Fairfield County, CT
Unusual late date. medium-small yellow butterfly with slight orange tinge, shape of sulfurs, flew up out of weedy lawn area, seen while driving slowly by. No photo.
- Orange Sulphur 1
Jim Egbert
Wolf Bay Tr Orange Beach
Baldwin County, AL
I am still looking for the end of the White Peacock sightings at this location, and this may be the day.
- Gulf Fritillary 2
- White Peacock 2
- Common Checkered-Skipper 1
Laurel Rhodes
Scherer-Thaxton Preserve
Sarasota County, FL
With Karen, Marty (photo), Marie (photo), and Riz. Partly cloudy and then full sun; 72F; 2.5 hrs. We were thrilled to see so many Hairstreaks this late in the season. Key nectar plants: Asters.
- Barred Yellow 18
- Dainty Sulphur 1
- Red-banded Hairstreak 8
- Ceraunus Blue 4
- Gulf Fritillary 3
- Pearl Crescent 2
- Common Buckeye 11
- White Peacock 10
- Fiery Skipper 1
- Whirlabout 2
- Southern Broken-Dash 1
- Sachem 2
Jim Egbert
West St Gulf Shores
Baldwin County, AL
Wind returned to the S. today pushing up the temps from upper 40s to upper 60s .Sighting are repetitive this time of year, but these are some our winter residents. .
- Little Yellow 4
- Gulf Fritillary 5
- Monarch 3
- Common Checkered-Skipper 3
- Fiery Skipper 4
Alice Anderson
Valley View Park, Heske Garden, Las Cruces
Dona Ana County, NM
We’ve had some night frost, so the chrysanthemums were frostbitten. The rosemary is still vigorous and bloming, with honeybees nectaring. The Clouded Sulfur was nectaring on a dandelion. The Sleepy Orange and the Checkered White were just flying around.
- Checkered White 1
- Clouded Sulphur 1
- Sleepy Orange 1
Jim Egbert
Plantation Rd Gulf Shores
Baldwin County, AL
Finally after several days heavy overcast and light rain the sun came out and it warmed into the mid 70s; and no rain.
- Clouded Sulphur 1
Steven Rosenthal
Estero Llano Grande St Park, small hedge by hummingbird feeder behind visitor center
Hidalgo County, TX
one of the park docents/hosts found this right after that cold front came through, and tipped us off: highlight of a rather slow outing due to that same front mentioned in previous post today.
i also think i MAY have gotten two very fast fleeting views of a Blomfild’s Beauty on the ground by the bait log, as whatever it was sped off the first two times i approached the log, not seen again after the cold front passed through, whatever it was.
- Brown-banded Skipper 1
- Cloudless Sulphur 1
- Orange-barred Sulphur 1
- Large Orange Sulphur 1
- Lyside Sulphur 1
- Mexican Yellow 1
- Little Yellow 3
- Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
- Cassius Blue 2
- Red-bordered Pixie 1
- American Snout 2
- Gulf Fritillary 1
- Bordered Patch 1
- Elada Checkerspot 1
- Vesta Crescent 1
- Red Admiral 1
- White Peacock 1
- Monarch 1
- Queen 9
- Brown Longtail 2
- Sickle-winged Skipper 1
- White Checkered-Skipper 1
- Tropical Checkered-Skipper 10
- Laviana White-Skipper 1
- Fawn-spotted Skipper 1
- Clouded Skipper 2
- Fiery Skipper 2
- Whirlabout 1
- Southern Broken-Dash 1
- Eufala Skipper 1
Jim Egbert
Wolf Bay Ter. Orange Beach and West St Gulf Shores
Baldwin County, AL
We had a break between two broad squall bands where the sun came for a little while.The sun popping out brought us out of the mid 60s into the low 70s before the 2nd band of rain arrived.It was enough time to do some sighting .
- Clouded Sulphur 1
- Little Yellow 5
- Gulf Fritillary 4
- Phaon Crescent 2
- Common Buckeye 1
- White Peacock 1
- Common Checkered-Skipper 2
- Fiery Skipper 1
- Eufala Skipper 1
Mike Reese
Manatee Park, Fort Myers
Lee County, FL
- Cloudless Sulphur 1
- Large Orange Sulphur 5
- Gulf Fritillary 1
- Zebra Heliconian 6
- White Peacock 1
- Monarch 1
- Cloudless Sulphur 2
- Monarch 1
Jim Egbert
Plantation Rd Gulf Shores
Baldwin County, AL
There was small break in the weather; sun came out for about 30mins.Temps AM & PM mid 60s to lower 70s.
- Monarch 1
Jim Egbert
West St Gulf Shores
Baldwin County, AL
Mid. day sun came through the high clouds between the rain showers. Little temp difference for the past couple of days. No time to check another location.
- Little Yellow 5
- Gulf Fritillary 6
- American Lady 1
- Monarch 5
- Common Checkered-Skipper 2
- Fiery Skipper 3
- Eufala Skipper 1
- Sleepy Orange 1
- Gulf Fritillary 6
- Zebra Heliconian 5
- Viceroy 1
- Carolina Satyr 1
- Gulf Fritillary 1
- Monarch 1
- Red Admiral 1
Jim Egbert
Plantation Rd Gulf Shores
Baldwin County, AL
In the heat of mid day when the temps reached the mid 50s a couple of sightings where made.
- Monarch 2
- Red Admiral 1
Eastern Comma winter form flying on day of temperatures in the 60s