September 2018 Sightings

Mostly cloudy turned into partially sunny. High in the mid 80s.

Just walked 1/4 mile to Mushroom Springs.

10AM -2PM

Locations:
Governor’s Garden behind CCC museum and adjacent field
Bright Hope Equestrian Complex including Bright Hope Butterfly Garden, segments of trails surrounding center, parking lot areas and fields surrounding parking lot
Front CCC field including juniper trees on edge
Canoe launch at Swift Creek and segments of surrounding trail areas near pedestrian bridge
Nature Center and nearby surrounding area
Bright Hope trail parallel to Beach Rd

On Sept. 1, 2018, Chris and John Warmbrodt, who live in Franklin County, MO, photographed a Queen at Shaw Nature Reserve in Franklin County (near St. Louis). This is the first time I have heard of a Queen in the 20 years I have been a NABA member. On that same date, a woman in St. Louis County emailed a photograph of a Queen to Tad Yankoski who works at the Butterfly House in St. Louis County. She photographed the Queen at her garden in St. Louis County. The photos attached were taken by Chris Warmbrodt at Shaw Nature Reserve.

70, 71F

Scouting trip before next weekend’s Meeman-Shelby Forest count. Good numbers of butterflies, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Sunny, humid around 84degrees. Female monarch observed. Downpouring rain with lightning thunder and winds occurred an hour after this sighting.

Monarch butterfly eggs observed on A.syriaca [milkweed] leaves.

One unknown skipper.

10:45am

Cloudy conditions to start, but humid. Thistles and goldenrod the main nectar sources.

all seen in their 2 flower gardens in the parking lot

This time of year I get an occasional Coronis Fritillary on my backyard Buddlaeia.

Upper eighties and mostly sunny. The Viceroy was a surprise - I rarely see this species in SE PA

Across from Willow Ln. and east of Rte. 22.

70F

Also had some monarch caterpillars.

With Dusty Rhodes. Sunny (87F), Windy (15mph), very wet. Nectar plants: Mist Flower, Bidens, Phasy Bean, Eupatorium, Frogfruit, Pluchea. Numbers of individuals are low for this time of year.

I briefly visited both locations. Overall conditions were dry.

Rains have brought out the butterflies!

Alas, I did not see the Queen.

A huge number of butterflies on teasel and clover along a 2-mile stretch of road. Images and counts are for Sept. 1, 2, and 3.

Hot. High 80s. Clear skies

70s. Sunny

I was fortunate to be traveling by this location for Mormon Metalmarks reported by Ray Bruun starting 8/31. Ray took me to this area North of Reno to observe them nectaring on Rabbit Brush.

With L. Williams. Observed and photographed for 30 minutes before the rain started.

From 09:40 AM to 12:40 PM; air temperatures 79-90 F; dew point temperatures 73-75 F; wind gusts 3-11 mph from ENE. Survey with Della Wells.

We have had rain off on on since Aug 31 and lucky to get out butterflying. Had 100% cloud cover. Got done about 15 minutes before it started to rain.

Field of flowering weeds behind Shoney’s and Comfort Inn. With L. Williams. Spent about 30 minutes after lunch before having to get on the road again.

With L. Williams. Spent 20 minutes hiking to lake and back from parking lot.

On Sept. 5, 2018, Dennis Bozzay, a NABA member here in St. Louis, photographed a Gulf Fritillary at his home garden in Crestwood, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. It was chased off by Monarchs. Dennis also photographed a Gulf Fritillary at his garden last year on Oct. 14, 2017.

Sunny sultrying temperature of 104 in the shade late afternoon. Some butterflies flying in the shade

Observed approx 1.5 hrs this morning….backyard
Gets active at 10 am

Sunny/hot, reaching low 90s, from about 11-1pm

this small preserve includes the only (tiny) remnant of the prairie grasslands that formerly covered the western half of Long Island. Sandplains Gerardia, a federal and state endangered plant species, blooms here in late August/September. Lots of wild indigo too. A large portion of the preserve had been mowed very recently as part of the preserve management plan.

A couple walks to check the grounds produced the butterfly list. Cannot get a photo of the Julia; TDF, too darned fast!

Sunny 72F 5-10mph

With L. Williams. Spent the afternoon of 9/5 and morning of 9/6 observing.

2:00pm-3:00pm

Surveyed from 8:45 to 11 am mainly for the purpose of butterfly photography. The loosestrife is starting to fade but purple/yellow thistle is starting to bloom. Evidence of nectaring on pine lilies was present on both Palamedes Swallowtails and Cloudless Sulphurs that had wings dusted with yellow/orange pollen. EPerry & RWarner

My phone using the accu weather app said that we had 100% cloud cover today. Average temperature was 68 degrees. Even with the clouds our weekly walk was very beneficial.

Hot and sunny for this 30 minute walk.

Hot, humid, and sunny.

Vacation rental home. Sunny and warm. With L. Williams.

All at Mendocino Botanical Garden except for the California Sister, which was in a nearby wooded area.

The fall bloom is starting-up at this location with liatris, plenty of pickerelweed, skyflower, and horrible thistle. Surveyed entrance road and most of Powerline Road, but not Fish Hole as it was still a little wet. EPerry & RWarner from 8:30a to 2:30p

Cool day with 73 degrees when observing

cloudy and hot

Travelling from Highway 282/76 to the boat ramp and back. Various trails and stops along the road produced good nectar sites. Partly cloudy with occasional brief light rain. LWilliams and AGrimm, 11:30 - 4:30.

Entrance Road and Powerline Road up down to Fish Hole Rd. Liatris, Skyflower, Carphephorus spp., purple thistle, and lots of pickerelweed blossoms present. This area looks like there will be a strong liatris bloom in 2-3 more weeks. EPerry & RWarner from 9 am to 3pm.

Roadsides, parking lot for tower, tower trail and tower area with wildflowers. Eastern Comma and Red-spotted Purple photographed in the parking lot. Amy (Amelia) Grimm and Leigh Williams.

Found on Sedum

Very excited to see a Brazilian skipper necataring in my garden. Also saw Pipevine Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Long Tailed skipper, Sleepy Orange, Fiery Skipper, Variegated Fritillary, Gulf Fritillary,

9:15 - 1:00, Warm and sunny day, Lower Wagonwheel and south Birdon Road in the Preserve.

(20-151) Hot and sunny. Lots blooming, but few leps.

Cloudy, after two days of heavy rain.

Atalas have made it as far north as this beach park, again mainly due to efforts to establish coontie in area landscaping. An adult caught my eye as I was headed down to the beach to photograph birds. Sure enough coontie were in the landscaping and upon inspection several larva and chrysalis were present.

The Juniper Hairstreak is the “Olive” Juniper Hairstreak. We drove the 4 mile wildlife drive and made many stops to photograph and observe the wildlife. 11:20am - 6:05pm. A. Grimm and Leigh Williams.

Overcast and humid. Very wet between rain srorms. Not absolutely sure of the identities of the 2 species of Grass Skippers reported.

Extremely dry, numbers very low and plants in poor condition. Most of SD and neighboring counties seems to be in a major drought.

This very fresh Juba Skipper was on Bidens ferulifolia at a local nursery. I normally only see this butterfly at higher elevations. We are at an elevation of about 400’. Shapiro, in the Field Guide to Butterflies of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento Valley Regions notes it is “Unrecorded in the Sacramento Valley except at the far north end…”

Sunny 70 degrees
Hiking at Rockport State Park from 11AM to 3PM.

In my daughter’s garden.

Also have eight caterpillars of the Eastern Black Swallowtail

From 10:00 AM to 01:00 PM; air temperature 69 F; dew point temperature 67 F; wind gusts 3-5 mph from ENE. Survey with Della Wells and Karen Nickeson.

This place is really heating up for leps. In another week the liatris will be adding to many thistles, skyflower, pickerelweed, and Bidens that is currently in bloom. We enjoyed meeting other butterfly enthusiasts Amelia Grimm & Leigh Williams. EPerry & RWarner, 9a to 3:30p

Very surprised to have as many butterflies as we had today! We’ve been waiting on rain and wind(Hurricane Florence) which is now a tropical storm.

Conditions very dry, and most butterflies are worn and tattered.

Took some time to see them. They were resting deep in the foliage of the Coonties.

Overcast with great humidity, temp of 72 around 10 am.Saw four monarchs in Macomb county. Two in Warren, one in Sterling Heights & one in Clinton Township (of metro Detroit)

As with Teakettle Road, Monarchs were all over the road, this count is probably low.

Monarchs were all over the road, this count is probably low.

On Autumn Sedum

Rachel and I spent the morning with Florida Keys butterfly enthusiasts Amelia Grimm & Leigh Williams. We started out at Triple N WMA entrance road and then over to Bull Creek WMA. Archery season opened today in Bull Creek WMA so we stuck to road shoulders only.
Major nectar sources were purple thistle, Bidens alba, morning glory, and tall elephant’s foot. EPerry & RWarner from 9a to 1pm. A good time was had by all.

In the median just south of the intersection with Alta Vista Dr.

Sunny humid morning, temp around 80 degrees. Two Monarchs in Sterling Hts and one in Clinton Township MI, getting nectar from milkweed flowers and Joe pye weed

Sunny, mid 80s, & breezy. One no ID skipper.

the mosquitoes and deer flies were really bad

Sunny with temperature of 83 degrees late morning. Male Monarch visited, stayed around much of the day. A Silver-spotted Skipper returned, which hasn’t been seen in a while.

Lepped for a couple hours in the late afternoon. 80+ degrees and sunny.

Just walked about 1.25 miles of trail. Looking for W. Pygmy Blues. Surprised to see the Yuma Skipper.

On my way to catch a plane back to Milwaukee this morning, I saw through the window at the airport three Monarchs fly by and a Common Buckeye which was settled on the window. It seems there are butterflies in the most unexpected places.

Seen at the Long Beach Rd. part.

Sunny, 75F, light breeze
Mosquitoes terrible!

NABA CONFERENCE FIELD TRIP LED BY BRIAN LLOYD & ERIC SHAW. 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., 78-93 degrees, mostly sunny. Nectar: Spanish needles, thistle, liatris, eryngium, frostweed, elephants foot, Melanthera. Others reported Appalachian Brown and Southern Pearly-eye. Several reports of Funereal Duskywing during the various field trips. This species is becoming more common in Florida.

Observations are for brief stops on 9/17 and 9/14. Three Gray Hairstreaks on 9/14 was more in one day than I usually see in a year.

overcast, light breeze, high 70’s.

Partly cloudy, with light rain for 10 minutes. 90 degrees. Nectar plants include Fiddlewood, Wild Sage, Blue Porterweed, Cocoplum. AGrimm and LWilliams 11:35 to 1:00.

In the field 9:30-12:15

Two Crown Fritillaries seen were in much better condition than a month ago. Asters are the primary nectar source at present.

PART OF THE NABA CONFERENCE FIELD TRIPS LED BY DAVE MCELVEEN. 9:15 a.m. - 2:15 p.m., 77-91 degrees, mostly sunny. Nectar: liatris, Spanish needles.

PART OF THE NABA CONFERENCE FIELD TRIPS LED BY WILSON BAKER. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. 80-93 degrees, mostly sunny. Nectar: liatris, Spanish needles, elephants foot.

I’ve been impressed by the work the West Des Moines Parks and Rec Department has done on planting native species therefore ensuring both nectar sources and Milkweed for butterflies. The Monarchs have been extremely abundant here in our community on their migration path back to Mexico.

Located in their meadow many butterflies. Numerous Monarchs.

A different White-M Hairstreak than on 9-18–fresh

80 degree and partly sunny

Many Red Spotted Purples and Eastern Commas on old fruit that I put out for them. I had been seeing these earlier on plumbs that had fallen from the trees, however these are all done for the year.

From 2:25 - 3:40 PM.

Missy Hammock Rd to Martin Grade Rd to Coker Rd to Swartz Tram Rd to Cow Creek Rd. 10 a.m.-2 p.m., 80-91 degrees. Nectar: pickerelweed, liatris, frostweed, Melanthera, Spanish needles. Deb Marsh, Bill Marsh, Linda Cooper

Leaderless Walks - 8 participants

All but the Viceroy were seen after 5:25 p.m. Viceroy was seen the next morning here at 8:20 a.m.

Much of this powerline is cleared of vegetation but some goldenrod & white flowering eupatorium was attracting some attention.

Obs. made from 2-4:36 p.m. Road was closed to vehicular traffic. Walked the 2 miles in and 2 miles back. Nice showing for Pearlyeyes, most fresh looking. Would have seen fewer if driving.

Obs. made from 10:15 to 1:25 with temps 78-85 degrees and partly cloudy. Most of the Joe pye weed along the ditch was past it’s prime and attracting very little.

Stopped here around 8:10 a.m. and left at 9 a.m. Cloudy and low 70’s. Buckeyes were early fliers this morning.

Few and sparse nectar sources but a good bloom of Florida Paintbrush looks just a week or so away. I think I might have found the first two eclosed Arogos Skippers for the fall season for this area; both were males perched high atop their own Rayless Sunflower. One flicked his wings nicely when a sweat bee approached his flower and I was able to catch the wings partially open—revealing the dorsal pattern and the animal’s sex. Other nectar sources were Tall Elephant’s Foot and morning glory which had started to close by the time I arrived. Full sun and hot; the car thermometer said 94 degrees! Yikes!