September 2015 Sightings

Late afternoon visit

Perdido River WMA has opened up an access to the river, with a gravel road and parking at the rivers edge. I hope it prove to be a productive new site.

Observed in butterfly garden.

Initial butterfly monitoring with the intent of setting up annual count. With Karen Finch and Michelle Leahy.

The Painted Lady was spotted while we were hiking the Echo Trail at about 8,000 feet.

Observed in butterfly garden. The Giant Swallowtail was the first one of the year, a female, laying eggs on Northern Prickly Ash.

Very humid and quite warm. Mosquitoes were unbelievable!

A small area of roadside nectar along White Marsh Rd.

Observations made between 10:23 a.m. & 6 p.m. mostly sunny and high 80’s. Eupatorium “Joe-pye weed” the most active nectar source.

Observations made between 8:10 a.m & 9:10 a.m. Hazy sun and 78 degrees.

We were getting ready to go out for dinner (approx. 5pm) and as we were pulling out of our driveway we saw a monarch butterfly fly across our yard!

Observed in butterfly garden.

Brutally humid and miserable. Hazy with some clouds. 91 degrees.

South side of the James River between Boulevard Bridge and Lee Bridge.

Native plant landscaping section of condominium complex. Male and Female Sandhill Skipper landed on dirt trail in native plant area presumably to mate. Partly cloudy day in the 70’s F with breezes. Male Sandhill Skipper and Fiery Skipper feeding at Alkali Heath.

Observations made between 8:15 a.m. & 10:30 a.m.

Observations made from 11:45 a.m. & 5:15 p.m. Sunny, breezy, and temp.high 80’s. A butterfly paradise! Also 1 Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillar.

Was great to have the common checkered return to the butterfly garden Fri eve along with the Peck skippers

75F

Scouting trip prior to NABA count.

Observed in butterfly garden.

Weekly survey with Della Wells and Nancy Slowik. Air temperature 76 to 77 F. Initially clear skies, but increasing clouds during survey. High wind gusts 8 to 12 mph.

Frosted Flasher was found by Troy Zurovec the previous day.

Ten of us surveyed the park this morning.

All very fresh.

Peck’s Skipper was everywhere.

This is day 8 of the chrysalis

First Fiery Skipper this fall. A second location in town for Common Sootywing (all three county records in town this year).

The Berry’s Skippers were found in 3 separate areas, males and females flying in thick stands of sedges)

Now have 3 different species of caterpillars in the garden - about 20 Gulf Fritillaries (passion vine), a few Sleepy Oranges (sennas), and one Monarch (common milkweed).

Observed in butterfly garden.

Gravel farm access road. Sunny and less humid. 86 degrees.

From 12:15 - 1:45 PM.

Sunny to mostly sunny, 75 – 85 deg F, wind 0 – 10 mph.
10:20 - 16:00 EDT. Also visited southern Greene County: Simmons Gap Road (628). Good diversity (28 species). Numbers are starting to drop for some species (swallowtails, Great Spangled Fritillary), but the Sachem horde continues, and there remain large numbers of Pearl Crescents & ETBs on the wing.

My first Monarch sighting this year

Male monarch emerged this a.m. A couple hours later, it was ready to fly away. Temps were 92 for a high. The monarch flew around the butterfly garden, then was gone by evening. A black swallowtail was nearby, but wasn’t able to take its picture, as it flew away too quickly.

Observed in butterfly garden.

Most of the butterflies were seen at the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens, Upper Montclair. Peck’s Skippers were everywhere. The first Variegated Fritillary sighting I know of in Essex County in well over a decade. My third Common Checkered-Skipper ever in town, all in September. There were at least three mating pairs of Peck’s Skippers, a mating pair of Cabbage Whites, a mating pair of Pearl Crescents, and two mating pairs of Clouded Sulphurs (both involving white females) in the garden. Labor Day, I guess?

Hot day, set record.

My wife and I went hiking in the Siskiyou Mountains of Southern Oregon and chose the O’Brian Creek Trail, which is a popular BLM trail. It is one of the closest trailheads that summits the Siskiyou Crest, from our house in Grants Pass. The coolest thing about the hike was seeing seven Green Commas at the trailhead area! They were patrolling sunny forest openings right along the creek. I was lucky that five of them posed for me. That doesn’t happen often, to be sure. In the past, I’m lucky to see one or two Green Commas, so seven is an outstanding day! Also, there were Hoary and Satyr Commas along the hike which gave the impression that Commas were a constant companion on our journey to the top.

At Plash Island the Frog Fruit has been taken over by Fiery and Ocola Skippers; and there were no Salt Marsh Skippers to be seen.

Observed in butterfly garden.

Observed in butterfly garden.

The sun was very hot, but the shade was nice. A slight breeze. 92 degrees.

This is the first American Copper that I have seen all year. Once common, these seem to be quite scarce now.

This little butterfly was resting on a desert willow the morning after a long and intense thunderstorm. Temp 80F with some humidity.

Temp was 75 at the time of seeing the butterflies around 4:30pm. The Common Checkered-Skipper returned as did some summer spring azure.

Observed in butterfly garden. Several hours of much needed rain this morning, them mostly cloudy and cool with temperatures in the 60’s kept activity down.

Hundreds of acres full of red clover, golden banners and sunflowers.

Beautiful, clear, cool day! Fall is coming!!! 75 degrees.

Went above the lake to the Wasatch Crest Ridge.

1 UnID Skipper

Periodic survey, with Jane Lampkin
9:30 - 11:00 am. 88-91, sun with some clouds
The Barred Yellows were in a group and all had a strong bluish cast as shown in the photo.

1:30 to 2 pm; 3:45 to 4 pm

Observed in butterfly garden.

We planted rue for the first time in our garden and have been rewarded this summer with a Giant Swallowtail caterpillar amongst the many many black swallowtail caterpillars who also find it a wonderful host plant. It truly does look like a “bird dropping” but one that moves and keeps getting bigger.

One Monarch on butterfly bush in front yard at 1:00.

The day was cool with showers, temperatures in the low 60’s. 20 minutes of sunshine brought out a few butterflies.

12:15-2:30. 60 degrees, mostly sunny, and windy. 80 of the Monarchs were in a single area less than 100 yds long that was sheltered from the wind, and had lots of asters which the Monarchs were using almost exclusively for nectar.

Weekly survey with Della Wells and Nancy Slowik. Received 2.4 inches of rain the previous night; skies beginning to clear. Air temperatures ranged from 71 to 84 F. One of the individuals listed as Orange Sulphur was a female white morph Orange/Clouded Sulphur (see photo).

The list here is a portion of the 45+ species seen during a field trip hosted by the Tallahassee Hairstreak Chapter. Total # of individuals seen were higher than what Lori and I noted. Many thanks to D.Harder, V.Craig and D.& S.Jue. We also lepped just over the county line and in Franklin. FL (133).

Observed during sunny periods between rain showers. Cool and only in the low 60’s.

Both butterflies seen around 10,400+ ft

Very beaten Copper

Very first Variegated Fritillary of the season, species number 45 for the year in our backyard … a record.

Full sun, temp. 90F, wind 15 mph, with Dusty Rhodes (photo).

The highlight of trips sightings, was a Texan Crescent.

First Viceroy of the season, finally, and species number 46 for the year in the backyard. Temps in the mid 40s to start the day, warmed to the 70s.

Survey dates include 09-4,8,10,11,14- 2015

13 hours field time usually from 10-12, sunny-partly cloudy to cloudy,
Winds 5-10

Habitats surveyed include: Bottomland, Upland Longleaf Pine, and Upland Slope Forests, Sandhill, Mesic and Wet longleaf pine flatwoods, floodplain swamps and seepage/drainage slopes and roadside hotspots.

Nectar sources in the following Genera: Elephantopus, Lilium, Carphephorus, Liatris, Clitoria, Verbena, Bidens, Eupatorium, Lachnanthes, Diodia, Marshallia, Conoclinium, and Pontederia.

Several swallowtails mineralizing along forest trail/road.

Observed in butterfly garden.

Migrating Monarchs nectaring on Tickseed Sunflower and White Boneset

Cool walk along the river with my wife produced a couple interesting sightings.A moth welded to a tree trunk by fungus,and several newly identified Intricate Satyr.

All seen at the base of a Burr Oak oozing sap.

Observed in butterfly garden.

Sunny and temps near 83 late afternoon.

Today the blooms/nectar source was almost exclusively Thoroughwort (Eupatorium hyssopifolium), with scant Purple Loosetrife still in bloom. The raised pond with the asphalt walkway had many more blooms, however today time was my enemy and I was unable to do that pond area.

With Jane Lampkin
9:45-11:45, 76-86
Also observed 3 Monarch caterpillars

A small subset of these individuals were seen with Susan Coppelli (NPS) as part of a formal survey conducted by TNC and National Park Service.

Today I was quite surprised to see 5 Fiery Skippers here at home, as I have not seen any here this year, only at Swan Harbor Farm in Harford County MD about 14 miles SSW of home and on the Chesapeake Bay.

Observed in butterfly garden.

Unable to get a good photo - very fast moving. Recognized the flight pattern as unusual and then was able to see the long forked tail and iridescent pale green head and back so identification is certain.

Blazing Star is holding a good variety of butterflies.

With David Rawlinson on a cool but sunny day.

4th Ocola Skipper sighting in the Cleveland area in the last 2 weeks! First time for finding an American Copper and Bronze Copper in the same field on a single trip. Love the light blue/gray spot aberration on the American Copper. First Common Buckeye seen this year!

10:30 am - noon; mostly sunny with temp rising from upper 70s to mid-80s. id on Sachems tentative due to very fast flights.

Observed in butterfly garden.

Weekly survey with Della Wells and Nancy Slowik. 1-4 PM. Air temperature 76 to 86 F. Clear skies. Calm to light breeze.

From 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM.

Sightings from 9/16 and 9/17.
No Swallowtails!!

With Katie Mac Millen
7 - 11:30 am; 74 - 86

This skipper was basking on indigenous Rabbit Brush in my backyard Certified Wildlife Habitat on a cool autumn morning.

all feeding on Sedum purpureum plants except for the whites.

feeding on my Euphorbia milii flowers.

Observed in butterfly garden.

This Western Tiger Swallowtail (and friends) have lived in the butterfly garden since June, flying a circuit between large trees, basking on the large Maple and Fruitless Mulberry trees.

Coastal flats behind rocky beach. Wandering Skippers and Umber Skipper were feeding at Fiddleneck flowers next to trail in shoreline area of Emma Wood State Beach. Other plants nearby included salt grass and Alkali Heath flowers. Western Pygmy-Blues were on unknown plant and Sandhill Skipper observed feeding at alkali heath. Sunny morning with temps in the 80’s F and light sea breezes.

Results from the fall count.

Went Blakeley State Park after reports of Zebra Heliconian sightings, and to see if I could locate the host plant; found the butterfly(9ea), but not the host.

Orange-barred Sulphur (Phoebis agarithe) male

With Jane Lampkin
10-11 am; Sunny 86-88

75 degrees, light winds

93 degrees, winds 9 mph

82F

11:30-2:00 PM.

Observed in butterfly garden.

These two butterflies were enjoying the garden in the morning of a cool autumn day.

A nice clear calm day with a high in the low 50s.

8 to 11:30. Species seen while on St. Pete Audubon Field Trip for birds.

a bit over an hours’ searching, sunny mid 70s. It took awhile but I finally found a late brood checkered white, they are much more common further west (eg Fort Tilden, Jamaica Bay).

An Incredible Monarch flight. 105 for the day. 80% after 4 pm, mostly from 5-7 pm. They were streaming by right up to sunset. A few went into the trees to roost after sunset.

1:00 - 3:45 pm EDT. Mostly sunny to partly cloudy, 75 – 79 deg F, wind 5 – 10 mph. Good diversity (22 species) with not unexpected relatively small numbers other than the sulphurs, Variegated Fritillary, & Sachem (though the Sachem horde was much diminished from 2 weeks ago). I was surprised that I did not see a Monarch or two.

11:30-2:30 survey with Brian Ahern, John & Jane Lampkin, Melissa Vetricek and JoAnna Clayton.
Photo Credits –
- E. Pygmy-Blue (Lampkin)
- Cassius Blues (Lampkin)
- Obscure Skipper (Lampkin
- 3-spotted Skipper (Vetricek)
- Great S.White (Vetricek)
- Giant Swallowtail (Vetricek)
- S. Skipperling (Smith)

Seemingly laying eggs on Mexican Orchid Tree.

Observed in butterfly garden.

Another nice day today. Warm enough for a few butterflies.

Observed in butterfly garden.

93 degrees and breezy.

My first Milbert’s Tortoiseshell since 2012!
Sunny, low 70s, plenty of nectar, but few butterflies.

Cool and gray all day.

88F

Observed in butterfly garden.

Pleasant day, warm sun, cool breeze. Very dry. Hardly any butterflies in 5 miles of hiking. You know the season is drawing to a close when only a single Woodland Skipper makes an appearance.

The Tailed Orange is a new state record for Oklahoma!