April 2019 Sightings

With Steve Moore.

Late afternoon visit. Overcast, 55 degrees and breezy. Not ideal, but still productive.

With Steve Moore and Mike Bearce.

Visited several areas in the Park, including the Chisos Basin, Green Gulch, Window Trail and Sam Nail Ranch, among others.

We had two Big Bend Scrub-Hairstreaks (Strymon solitario).

Streaky-Skippers appeared to us to be Scarce Streaky-Skippers, but it may be best to refer to them as Celotes sp.

Jill Johnson sighted the Small Checkered-Skipper, which is seen rarely in Pima County. I was fortunate to be nearby with my camera to photograph it.

Clear, mid 50’s, 1:30-4:30. Visited spillway entrance and end of saddle dam, perimeter trail. Also saw two Cabbage Whites in my nearby yard.

My observations as part of the NABA Sabino Canyon spring butterfly count (Mary Klinkel Count Leader)

Started around 43 degrees and after 3 hours was 50 degrees. Sunny with very little wind. Surprised to see 3 Eastern Comma and 2 Red Admirals

With Steve Moore and Mike Bearce.

Areas visited included Dugout Wells, Green Gulch and the Chisos Basin, among others.

The observed Streaky-Skippers may best be noted as Celotes sp.

Clear, becoming partly cloudy late in day, mid 50’s to low 60’s, occasional light breeze. 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. Upper end of FR#7, lower end of BT#5 had most species, also visited BT#12, Picnic Point and BT#8, and “magic parking lot” on FR#1. First really good butterfly day!

Sunny, high in the upper 60s. In addition, three unidentified anglewings were seen.

found nectaring on Pieris

Captured Mating!

With Steve Moore and Mike Bearce.

Sites visited included Pine Canyon Trail and Green Gulch.

Streak-Skippers may best be noted as Celotes sp.

82 degrees, winds 10-15, sunny. Butterflies seen while gardening. Watering newly planted petunias attacted the Azure and Zebra Swallowtail. Our American Holly is blooming, the Azure was a “Holly Azure.”

FOY Seen on embankment of mostly Roadside Penny-cress and individual plants of Garlic Mustard that they were sitting on, but no flowers were seen today on GM

On a canoe trip around the border of park, and on stream behind visitor center by beach. Saw three orange ones, either commas or Question Marks- not close enough to OD, and possibly a Viceroy (seemed too small for Monarch), but again too far to ID. Sunny, temps ended in mid70’s, light breeze

Sunny, high 65.

Started cloudy then got sunny. We saw 12 Eastern Comma in an area of the forest where the forester had been cutting some trees down. The Eastern Comma and Red Admiral were all over the sap.

74 degrees, light wind, partially cloudy. We saw Prothonotary & Prairie Warblers and a Yellow-throated Warbler chasing a small butterfly in the swampy area.

60F after rain

The first week of April spring slam!

Chased down a fresh male Orangetip today. Likely fresh from it’s chrysalis.

on my walk today, i saw the first butterfly in the mountains for this season. it was partly sunny, quite breezy and 51F. there is still lots of snow in the woods where i was walking. unfortunately i didn’t have my camera with me.

Outing cut short by more rain. Was 72 degrees & as a thunder storm approached the skies gradually darken, still the activity continued with dozens of satyrs in flight.

Love Cloaks!

80 degrees, Full Sun after several days with rain. New species noted. Saw First Little Metalmark this Season!!!!

sunny, low 70’s, slightly breezy

Heavy rains overnight, with mostly clear skies today. High of 80. Mostly still with a few breezes here and there. Also saw two Nessus Sphinx moths. After a butterfly-less overcast day yesterday, I was happy to finally see more than a handful of butterflies.

67F

67F

While watching my grandson’s baseball game a Red Admiral fly by. Sunny and around 70 degrees

Partly sunny, high in the mid 70s.

My first butterfly of the year in northeast lower Michigan. 64 degrees with a thin overcast.

Cloaks and an Eastern Comma. You’re never to old, to appreciate Butterflies🦋🐛

Went walking in the forest on Oak trail and saw 2 Red Admirals flying by in front of me. Around 65 degrees. Also saw a Cabbage White at home about 1 mile away

birder now also looking at butterflies; warm (68 F), seen between 11:35 and 1 pm

Both angle wings were flying in the mid to top section of blooming Plumb trees.

First of year butterflies. Many Mourning Cloaks along the bike paths. Sunny and 70 degrees. Hard to believe a blizzard is on its way.

75F with occasional sun.

(16-281). A very high count of Mangrove Skippers - with most feeding on dying out thistles.

Partly sunny, high in the upper 70s.

First of the season!
Yeah–bring em on!

walked gardens for 2 hours. The longer we were out the cloudier it got. Temperature around 70 with light wind.

Southern Dogface is Lifer

Only walked a short portion of park. Very muddy.
Temps in 70’s clear sky

Foggy morning that turned sunny and warm. Lots of Redbud in bloom.

Falcate Orangetip is Lifer

Worn Painted Ladies were nectaring on the acres and acres of Dichelostemma pulchellum (Blue Dicks). The red Pearly Marble egg was found near the top of a Streptanthus (Jewel Flower) that was starting to bloom.

Sunny, but quite breezy and cool. All butterflies seen were along a two-mile stretch of the Ridge Trail.

Sunny, high in the low 70s.

Sunny, 82 degrees, NE winds 10mph. Gardening, no camera.

Sunny & 78 degrees. Targeted Goatweed Leafwing, Yucca Giant-skipper & Creole Pearly-eye. Habitat was variable from open areas with briars blooming, forest edges with Yucca, Pine, Oaks & other hardwoods & Cypress Swamp. 10:40 - 12:45 & 1:30 - 4.

Thistles attracted skippers. Mowing occurred during survey….

3/5 today. Good day, when your second favorite North American Butterfly Species are present in abundance🦋🐛

compilation of two consecutive days of butterflying at the same site at about the same time of day.

Sunny, 82 degrees.

Anise Swallowtail had been laying eggs on fennel.

67F

Mustard White is probably the first one I’ve seen at this location.

First swallowtail sighting of 2019

With Dusty Rhodes. Thistles common. Mid afternoon. One hour. Full sun. 80F.

Warm, low to mid 70s, intermittent clouds and sun, calm winds. Nectar sources included spring cresses, spring beauty, early saxifrage, violets, moss phlox

Partly to mostly cloudy, high of 82ºF, mostly calm but occasionally fairly windy

From 12:00 PM to 02:10 PM with Della Wells, Nancy Slowik, and Karen Nickeson. Rain and heavy overcast early in the morning, starting to clear by survey time. Air temperature 67 to 75 F with calm winds.

The form lucia was seen here not a Flanders.

At least one azure was form lucia.

Partially sunny, 82 degrees, light wind. 11:30-1pm.

More Species, coming out. Dig Biodiversity and a smidge less repetition🦋🐛😃

Sunny, low 70s, winds 8 mph.

warm cloudy slight breeze

82 degrees, cloudy with wind gusts up to 15 mph. Didn’t find the expected Juniper Hairstreaks or Little Metalmarks. Butterflies overall scarce.

Gorgeous day, around 55 degrees and winds around 6 mph. Sunny. Walked trail I hadn’t walked this year. Most of the butterflies were on the ridge. First sighting of Spring Azure

With Dusty Rhodes. Full sun. Very windy. 80F. Thistles and Black Swallowtail host plant Mock Bishop’s Weed abundant. We spent 1.5 hr. surveying roadsides. Best spring showing of Black Swallowtails in several years of observation.

Wow, storm inbound🐛🦋🥰👍

Temperature around 64, winds 24 mph. Saw Painted Lady for first time in the garden. Painted Lady feeding on pachysandra and Red Admiral feeding on violets and pachysandra

Temperatures were around65 degrees with wind at 20 mph. Sunny. Saw Painted Ladies for the first time today. Painted Ladies were nectaring on pachysandra as were the red admirals. Red Admirals were also feeding on violets.

78 Degrees, full sun, windy but not a problem on boardwalk through the swamp.

In Between storms, Marathon Monday🦋👏😋

This was the second trip of the season to this location (the first trip on April 8th when the temperature hit 80ºF with no butterflies). In the area along the power lines, there were 21 Falcate orangetips in a 1½-hour trip. The garlic mustard was blooming and is a favorite with the males, with many necatring on the flowers. Of the 21 individuals, only two could be confirmed as females. One additional fly-by individual was too far away to determine whether it was a Falcate orangetip or cabbage white.

Clear becoming partly cloudy late in afternoon, 55-75 degrees, 10:30 am to 5 pm, occasionally breezy. Several dark female Eastern Tiger Swallowtails present. First Black, Pipevine and Spicebush Swallowtails of season. Season progressing quickly due to temps in upper 70’s several day this spring.

Gorgeous day. Saw Dainty Sulphur, Clouded Sulphur and painted lady for first time this year.

Also several duskywings

Clear and warm. First butterflies of season at park for me

Azures are happily emerging 🦋🦋🦋 YAY!

Mostly sunny, 70’s, breezy. Quick stop, best sun of the day so far, only butterfly seen, but a good one.

Mostly sunny, upper 70’s, 1:30 to 3:30 pm. Far fewer butterflies in Adams Co. than Scioto County/Shawnee State Forest, but very nice specialties. Still too early for Cobweb Skippers, but not by much.

62F & sunny for the second day in a row. The Copper was an unexpected surprise but within its flight period.

🦋🐛🥰

1-5pm. Mainly looking for the Golden-cheeked Warbler.

There were approximately 20 Falcate orangetips on this trip that lasted about 1½ hours from 3:30-5:00 pm. More individuals might have been seen, but I ended up staying for about half of the time near a stand of Garlic mustard in order to try out a long camera lens tethered to a tripod-mounted flash unit, which hampered mobility. There were 3 females among the individuals sighted

84 degrees mostly sunny, 10 mph winds. All the butterflies esp the Swallowtails are loving the Old Fashioned Petunias as they are so fragrant! Firecracker plant (Cloudless sulphur) survives the winter and nourishes the sulphurs. Foxglove (CL Sulphur) is blooming a short time but also provides nectar. The most popular is the Passion Vine, host plant for our Gulf Fritillary (no photo) but gallarida (whirlabout) is also popular.

73f

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail nectaring on Plum blossoms

Mostly sunny, 76 degrees, a light wind. Numerous no ID whites.

Lower Road

Bashakill

73-75F

i didn’t have much time 11:00 to 11:30 am. today was sunny and warm 51F so butterflies are waking up. still snow in the woods and some ice on the creek but lots more open areas now. you can see in the pictures that both commas are nectaring on ice.

A cool and overcast morning with sunshine by and warmer (low 70s) temperatures by 2 pm

Rain until near noon, windy SW and mostly sunny sky late

Birding and butterflying in OK for the first time. Great place for the Black-capped Vireo. 7 am-5 pm.

3:30-4:30 pm - 70 degrees but clouds rolled in and it was 15 mph winds temperature soon dropped. We are almost positive we saw a Hackberry Emperor never before seen at this location but we saw one 30 miles South of here April 2018.

11:45 am - 3:40 pm.

Sightings between 2 and 3 p.m.

Azure ID based on brood timing, see Butterflies of Pennsylvania, a field guide.

Could we be in for an irruption of Red Admirals?

Cool overcast turning sunny by 1 pm, mid-70’s F, light breeze.

Partly cloudy, mid 60s, windy. Monarch larva is on our milkweed & Cloudless Sulphur larva are being seen on their host, cassia.

Sunny afternoon; temp of 58 degrees early afternoon when seeing my first Cabbage White.

also one unidentified brushfoot

Sunny windy upper fifties felt good.

Temperature around 72. It started 25% cloudly and ended up 76% cloudy. Even with that saw plenty of butterflies. For the first time in the forest a Goatweed Leafwing was spotted. Also saw Henry’s Elfin which is rare in the forest.

Seen in the garden. Weather sunny, 80 degrees, light wind.

69F

Warm and sunny all day, high temps reached into mid-80’s with light to moderate breeze. Mostly meadows habitat

With Jane Wallace and Jean Evoy (photo). Low 80s, full sun. Wind minimal. Observed roadside for about 1 hour. The plentiful Dusted Skippers were attracted to thistles only for nectar rather than other alternative nectar sources.

Sunny skies in the upper 70s

A fantastic day butterflying.10 species of butterflies which is good for this time of year. Right at 400 butterflies, mostly Red Admirals. Temperature mid 60 and wind less 10 mph. Out for 4 hours.

newly emerged pastures area

Another check of the power line area of the park for Falcate orangetips, which have been fairly abundant over the last week and a half. The trip lasted from 3:30 - 5:00, with alternating sun and clouds and a temperature around 80ºF. Eight Falcate orangetips (7 male and 1 female) were seen, along with several other species.

(23-146) Limited time, but nice variety. First American Lady of the year for me at this site.

Sunny and 74 degrees. All day.
With Teri and Roxy.
Possible a little Ocean County in results.

Full sun, 90 degrees in my garden. Saw swirling hairstreaks over blooming shrubs but never saw one land, did walk up to flower beds only to have a couple more hairstreaks fly off before I even got a look! Larkspur & petunias was nectar of choice for the swallowtails, Buckeyes & skippers liked the gallarida & Sulphurs chose larkspur and petunias.

Survey 10:00am to 12:00pm; air temperature 55-58F; wind gusts 12-20 mph; clear skies. With Della Wells.

With Shawn Christopherson and Roxanna Hinzman.

Very breezy, full sun and temperature in the upper sixties.

The ladies were coming in off the ocean continuously.

72-76F

i was out from 1pm till 2:15pm. 49F partly sunny and breezy. we are seeing quite a few of the Painted Ladies in lots of different locations. other than that not much was flying. it is still early for this elevation.

The day started off rather cool and it took several hours before we really started to count many butterflies, but boy when it did warm up! Survey time was from 8 am to 5 pm. Major nectar sources included pickerelweed, Nuttall’s and bull thistle, Bidens alba, sweet clover, and daisy fleabane. A good time was had by all. RWarner & EPerry

Thought to be extirpated from Ohio, these Mustard Whites are an exciting find!

64F

Full Sun, 82 degrees. Mid-day

Partly cloudy with warming into mid 70s turned cloudy, cool, and windy around 2 PM. One no ID Duskywing. The Cloudless Sulphur chrysalis was spotted while inspecting a milkweed plant.

Butterflies are late this season due to below normal Spring temps. But the Painted Ladies are migrating through in good numbers.

Female Pipevine Swallowtail laying eggs on native pipevine in my yard

Consoling, Stunning, Brushfoots🐛🐛🦋🦋

(13-68)

Sunny skies in the upper 70s

The Tiger Swallowtail was nectaring on a red chokeberry bush in my yard. I’ve never seen one this early before!

10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Weather: 81°-86°, winds 11-18 mph, sun a.m. - 10%, p.m. - 90%. Drove East Loop to Cross Road to West Loop & Cemetery Rd. Main nectar: Nuttall’s Thistle, very little Yellow/Purple Thistle remaining, Spanish Needles, Frog fruit, Spermacoce. NPrine, LCooper. Astonishing number of Dusted Skippers! Some thistle heads had 4-5 Skippers and some clusters of thistles had 12-14 Skippers!

(9-31) My first spring-season Statira at this site.

warm and sunny

early morning. Wildflowers just starting to bloom in mowed fields