April 2018 Sightings

The first White M Hairstreak I’ve seen within the city boundaries since 2012.

Enjoyed exploring along FR-204 and FR-211 for about 2 hours.

With Jane Lampkin
2 hours in bright sun; upper 70’s
Dismaying to see half the fields overtaken by exotic Cogon Grass.

Mid-morning visit for two hours.

Noon to 4:30, about 70 degrees, 8 miles of walking. Mostly, the butterflies seen were on the Wildcat Canyon and Chamise Trails.

Warm, sunny day, very little wind.

10:15-12:00, Hiked 2.5 miles, Sunny with temps in low 80’s. Dry and very little in bloom

Partly cloudy, low 60s

Morning visit from 8:30 to 10:30.

64F

61F

Over the last several weeks, there has been an explosion of Great Southern Whites. I have been living down here over a decade and do not recall ever seeing so many every day.

Explored the park area and the nearby powerline access road. Also included counts of butterflies seen along AL-65 highway.

we are having a very slow start to butterfly season. lots of weird weather. some snow and cold and lots of fierce wind and clouds. but, today i saw my first mountain butterfly of this season. only one, but it made me glad.

Tuesday night we had a record low of 13 degrees with a high on Wednesday of 44. Today was around 55. I was a little surprised to see any butterflies, but did see 5 Eastern Comma

Dry, sunny and windy

Hot, windy and very dry.

Seen mid afternoon after I was done work outside and eating my lunch. I had walked the woods’ edge and paths finding no other butterfly until this time today. Later in Nottingham Park a Comma.

The only butterfly seen here on this 60° sunny afternoon, flying high and nectaring on Red Maple Pistl and staymens today.

Sunny, upper 70s, and breezy. Conditions remain quite dry in this region. Most places not in the mountains have gotten less than 1.5 inches of rain this water season. Hardly any nectar was seen. Water was absent at higher elevations.

70F
Northern Checkerspot on Euryops daisy

Surprised to find butterflies today — it was 48 degrees, mostly cloudy (spotty showers) and super windy.

Sunny, warm and dry conditions

61F

Gray Hairstreak - my first of the year

Mostly sunny, humid, high 70’s. Checkerspots were only along the High Meadow Trail.

Mostly sunny, high around 60.

With R. Epstein, S. Shaull D. Miller

60F

Sunny, low 70s.

It was around 60 degrees and cloudy

60F, sun, and 30 mph winds. i was surprised to see anything at all. three Hoary Commas braved the wind.

First Butterfly since weather weirdness🦋

Sunny, warm day. <5mph winds.

seen all over the park, including shoreline while canoeing around the picnic area, count is likely modest and they were everywhere

Sunny with cold wind until afternoon. very dry conditions

Low 80’s, bright sun.
2-4 pm

Mostly sunny, 84 degrees during a late morning and early afternoon visit.

Spring is delayed here as well, as very few butterflies were on the wing.

Trailside vegetation has been recently mowed to lawn height. Western Pygmy-Blues were still finding a few tiny flowers among the wreckage.

Lots of Cloaks and Commas. Commas we’re flying too fast🦋

Tons of nettle, lantana and spiderwort growing in this field/lot. Skippers present, didn’t get positive IDs.

Sunny.

First Butterfly for 2018 - Seen off of the Saw Mill River Parkway.

A very slow start to butterfly life here in Franklin County.

This has been a very cool and moist April. Today was the first day that the temperatures hit 62 degrees and no rain! Flowering plants are starting to flower and butterflies are starting to show up. This was an exceptionally good day for Pearly Marbles!

Wonderful warm day, first of the season butterflies

One PM at home and tried in our county park for other early butterflies to no avail, nor any others in the nearby fields edges.

Noontime while driving along Amish farmlands

Driving towards Nottingham, PA, saw a Cabbage White — my first butterfly of the year — about 10 A.M. In short order, saw Cabbage Whites behind the Wawa in Nottingham, PA, and then driving along Route 40 in New Castle County, DE

11:00 - 16:45 EDT (break 13:40-14:20).
Sunny to partly cloudy, 73 - 83 deg F.
South wind 5-10 mph early, increasing to 10-15 mph by early afternoon. Falcate Orangetips were all males.

48-53 degrees
Partly sunny

First Monarch I’ve seen for the 2018 season. Weather was sunny and time was 530pm.

On Sunday we had snow and a high of 33. Tuesday we got to 45 degrees on on my weekly hike looking for butterflies at Lauritzen Garden I was surprised to find an Eastern Comma and then just down the path a pile of snow

09:00-12:00, walked 4 miles along the entire dike perimeter of the island. Butterflies noted while conducting a shorebird survey. Temps in low 70’s, windy and sunny. Very little in bloom except for Sweet Clover and Bidens.

cool day, checking under logs and struck gold🦋🦋

Such a wonderful surprise to see a Monarch so early! Fluttering about iris and tree peonies before taking off Northward.

16:30-18:00. 2.8 miles. low 80’s, Sunny. Thistles just beginning to bloom but very little else flowering.

Full sun, 60f, 2 Acmon/Lupine Blue

Finally a 50 degree day!

63F Variable Checkerspot is somewhat early, very fresh

Sunny, high of 55

65 degrees
partly sunny
2:30-5pm

Staying low in breezy, sunny conditions with a low of 28° and a high of only 56° and seemingly nectaring on Purple Deadnettle, Roadside Penny-cress, Hairy Bittercress and Speedwell. Even a mile plus walk in woods and edges produced no more sightings.

With just under a hundred acres of rotational grass/legume pasture and meadows this is the only butterfly seen today. I was working in the fields for three hours for this single sighting.

This is the earliest I’ve tried to butterfly here and it is quite a gamble, but both target species (California Crescent & Indra Swallowtail) are flying! Also of note is how many Silvery Blues I saw. This is the most I’ve seen in one locale.

Sunny, 76 degrees. Some of what I saw during Meeman-Shelby Spring Count. This is not reflective of the final results of the count.

Walked a loop of 2.7 miles (~1-3pm) along main trail and Spring Creek. Third day of high 50’s and sunshine. 59 individuals of 6 species, 17 unidentified Comma’s encountered.

I only counted the highest amount seen, at one time, during my 5 hours outdoors today. Sunny, Breezy with a high of 51°. None seen before 13:00

1st Cabbage white of the season in my backyard

1st butterfly this year with the exception of an unidentifiable fly-by a week ago

Just a quick stop through to explore, was pleasantly surprised to find three Southern Oak Hairstreaks near the bridge. The Arogos and Palmetto skippers were on thistles on the entrance road cutting through the palmetto-pine flatwoods. All in all just about an hour spent surveying.

With Leigh Williams. Draught conditions.

Sunny, 75 degrees. This is some of what I photographed during the Clifton Bend Spring Count. This is not reflective of the final count results.

First Butterfly seen at this location for 2018 - flying over large Andromeda Bush !

Out photographing birds and counted some butterflies in the storage ponds area of the water reclamation facility at Viera Wetlands.

A nice, sunny day, but still unseasonably cool. 58 degrees.

Five butterflies in four hours.

10:00-11:30, 2.3 miles, low 80’s, Sunny with some wind. Lots of Bidens and Latana in bloom. First Oak Hairstreak of the season. strangely no Grass-Skippers were found

Partly cloudy surrounded by rain clouds, 68 degrees, breezy. All day rain up until the early afternoon created wet conditions. The Harvester was feeding on a snake carcass.

this is the first nice day without wind all month. the temp was about 50F slight breeze and mostly sunny. i was out from noon to 1:30 pm.
all the snow from yesterday had melted by noon so a few butterflies came out.

Mostly cloudy, high in the upper 60s.

Today these butterfies made an appearance here, with Orange Sulphur, Question Mark, Mourning Cloak in open field and Azure inside woods.

A great, sunny, warm day. 65 degrees with a slight, cool breeze.

My favorite road for finding my first Mourning Cloaks of the year did not disappoint! Not a lot of variety but double figures is good.

Around 60 with abundant sunshine.

Cloaks , Cloaks, and Cloaks🦋

Seen at 10:01 AM in cool 55° although sunny conditions, flying off north

Upper 70s, breezy. No ID white and duskywing seen.

My sightings come from Oldtown Orleans Rd., Mertens Ave., Kasecamp Rd., Bond’s Landing and Carroll Ave. I have no photos of the single Olympia Marble I was able to see with binoculars.

Sunny turning cloudy and windy, high in the upper 60s.

Sunny - 65 degrees
3:45 = 6:30

Just made it to the 1st saddle at 7600 ft

The coontie around the North Ranger Station are refoliating for the season and there are hundreds of atala chrysalis among the leaves. Some started eclosing this morning.

7 days ago we were in a blizzard. Today, 70 degrees and first-of-year butterflies.

Noon - 1 pm. Overcast with a storm blowing in.

1:30 - 3:00 pm. Overcast with rain approaching. Increasingly windy.

Cloak🦋

Loads of butterflies in the yard today!

Mid-70’s, with a gentle breeze. Wonderful hiking weather and the butterflies were enjoying it as well. Lots of checkerspots; almost all of them were males.

Not many nectar resources on the portions of the Green & Yellow Trails visited. The levee along the road appeared to have been mowed recently.

With Jane Lampkin
Sun & clouds; upper 70’s
Satyrs were common, but separating the Little Wood-Satyrs from the Carolina Satyrs on the wing was a challenge.

Mock BioBlitz training with the environmental club comprised of residents living on the property.

Sunny and 62 degrees when the first butterfly - a Cabbage White visited for the spring of 2018!

Leaderless Walks

Full sun, 70’s. This area seems delayed

Not lots of leps, but a nice variety with local highlights being a Queen, Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak & Little Metalmark.

It was a gorgeous day, sunny, around 70.

4 hours in afternoon;sunny; temp rising from 64 to abt 70; Additional 30+ unid azures, 10+ unid duskywings, and 2 unid anglewings.

Full sun low 60’s.

Started out sunny, then got cloudy and then sunny again. Butterflies are coming out.

sunny - 64 degrees (6500 ft)
Walk from the gate to trail head about 1.5 miles

Counted only on my way to the trail head.

74 degrees - sunny - around noon

At a single nectar source saw the Juniper and Great Purple Hairstreaks and the Desert Elfin. Butterflying couldn’t be easier.

Several patches of thistles were seeing a lot of action. Sunny and a bit windy. Photo by Bill Evoy.

Upper 70s, partly cloudy, breezy.

55 degrees and sunny. First Olympia Marbles of the season.

The morning started out cool and it had an effect on the leps, but by noon when things started warming up to about 80, the diversity increased. I was amazed we did not see a single hairstreak. Major nectar sources are Nuttall’s Thistle, Purple Thistle, Pickerelweed, Daisy Fleabane, Sweet Clover, and Bidens alba. Area surveyed was only entrance road and Powerline Road to bridge area.

Nice, sunny day. Spent four hours searching and trying for the best views of Dusky Azures and other nice butterflies in the area. Dusky’s seen were confirmed with views of the gray/dark topsides. About 8 other Azure “sp” were seen.

Sunny, high 75° and very breezy

Hard to believe is snowed yesterday and that the temperature at the time was about 45 degrees.

mid-70s, sunny, windy

Two visits, morning solo and afternoon With Joe Mustion
70-82
Fulvous Hairstreak is new for the site and appears to be established in Hillsborough County

10:30a.m.-4p.m. 75-86 degrees, 100% sun all day, light winds. Area continues very dry. Some recent burns should have good fall wildflowers. Nectar: Nuttall’s & Yellow/Purple Thistles, Daisy Fleabane, Yellow Colic Root. Amazing # of Monk Skippers! Sue Farnsworth, Linda Cooper

With Leigh Williams. Other leps include Bumble-bee Hawk moth, Oleander Moth. Yellow milkweed, Little Strongback, Pintas, Poisonwood, Pisonia, and Locustberry blooming and being used as nectar plants in yard. Large Orange Sulphurs were nectaring on pink Periwinkles and Orange Geiger flowers.

duskywings I saw looked like mostly Juvenal’s; one azure in photo was dark blue above leading to ID as Spring Azure