February 2021 Sightings

Linda Cooper

John Stretch County Park
Palm Beach County, FL

1 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.; weather: 79°-81°, clear, winds 10 mph. Nectar: Bidens alba, Virginia pepperweed. Mowers have made muddy holes in places too wet to mow.

  • Great Southern White 5
  • Orange-barred Sulphur 2
  • Gulf Fritillary 8
  • Julia Heliconian 5
  • Zebra Heliconian 30
  • Cuban Crescent 6
  • Phaon Crescent 3
  • Red Admiral 1
  • White Peacock 2
  • Monarch 1
  • Long-tailed Skipper 3
  • Dorantes Longtail 1
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper 7
  • Three-spotted Skipper 1
  • Monk Skipper 1
  • Ocola Skipper 1

Julia Heliconian

Julia Heliconian

Ocola Skipper

Great Southern White

Cuban Crescent

Cuban Crescent

Tropical Checkered-Skipper

Cuban Crescent

Gulf Fritillary

Monk Skipper

Scott Anderson

Old Miakka
Sarasota County, FL

12noon-225pm, 70-76 degrees, sunny, light wind

  • Great Southern White 1
  • Barred Yellow 4
  • Common Buckeye 1
  • Zarucco Duskywing 1
  • Fiery Skipper 12
  • Whirlabout 2
  • Southern Broken-Dash 1
  • Sachem 1
  • Ocola Skipper 2

David H. Bartholomew

Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve
Santa Clara County, CA

After recent rains and with sunshine today, Spring Azures were getting the new season started today. Mourning Cloaks and California Tortoiseshells have been out for awhile, but in fewer numbers.

  • Spring Azure 6
  • California Tortoiseshell 4
  • Mourning Cloak 9

Spring Azure

Mourning Cloak

Spring Azure

Amelia Grimm

Long Beach, Big Pine Key-Key Deer NWR
Monroe County, FL

3.3 miles, upper trail thru saltpans to southernmost berm/hammock, then along beach & dune trails. Partly cloudy, 80 degrees. Nectar: yellowtops, samphire, sea lavendar, blue porterweed, sparse bay cedar & sea oxeye.

  • Large Orange Sulphur 4
  • Eastern Pygmy-Blue 16
  • Gulf Fritillary 2
  • Malachite 1
  • Mangrove Skipper 4
  • Hammock Skipper 1
  • Fiery Skipper 1
  • Southern Broken-Dash 23
  • Obscure Skipper 28

Mangrove Skipper

Large Orange Sulphur

Malachite

Southern Broken-Dash

Fiery Skipper

Malachite

Obscure Skipper

Eastern Pygmy-Blue

Ken Wilson

Tijuana River Valley Regional Park
San Diego County, CA

Partly cloudy, mid 60s.

  • Western Tiger Swallowtail 2

Western Tiger Swallowtail

Ken Wilson

Escondido yard
San Diego County, CA

Sighting for the past week.

  • Cabbage White
  • Cloudless Sulphur
  • Gulf Fritillary
  • Mourning Cloak
  • Monarch

Roy Cohutta

Chickasawhatchee WMA, 7 Bridges Road
Dougherty County, GA

1:55-3:04PM, Partly cloudy, 63F, Wind SSE @8MPH gusting to 14. Field with planted mustard next to swamp.

Note visible hair-pencils on Queen in photo. At least 20+ Queen seen.

3 Monarchs:

First Monarch photographed (2 photos) while taking minerals from a large grassy puddle in field before leaving the area. Not observed taking nectar.

Second Monarch stopped briefly at some mustard blooms before flying high over trees and disappearing (not photographed).

Third Monarch took nectar briefly from several mustard blooms and then photographed while on suspected Verbena pulchella (Moss Verbena) of which there were a very few blooms near the field. This Monarch also flew off and out of sight as did the first two.

All three Monarchs headed in a northerly direction when they left.

  • Cloudless Sulphur 1
  • Sleepy Orange 1
  • Monarch 3
  • Queen common

Monarch

Monarch

Monarch

Queen

Cloudless Sulphur

Tom Palmer

Saddle Creek Park
Polk County, FL

  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur 2
  • Barred Yellow 1
  • Zebra Heliconian 8
  • Red Admiral 1
  • White Peacock 4

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Scott Anderson

Sleeping Turtles Preserve North
Sarasota County, FL

140pm-350pm, 79-73 degrees, sunny, calm

  • Great Southern White 4
  • Barred Yellow 40
  • Little Yellow 7
  • Dainty Sulphur 8
  • Fulvous Hairstreak 1
  • Ceraunus Blue 10
  • Gulf Fritillary 4
  • Zebra Heliconian 4
  • Phaon Crescent 17
  • Pearl Crescent 4
  • Common Buckeye 1
  • Monarch 2
  • Queen 6
  • Dorantes Longtail 6
  • Horace's Duskywing 1
  • Zarucco Duskywing 1
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper 3
  • Clouded Skipper 1
  • Fiery Skipper 5

David H. Bartholomew

Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve
Santa Clara County, CA

Red Admirals were first of year for me.

  • Spring Azure 5
  • California Tortoiseshell 5
  • Mourning Cloak 10
  • Red Admiral 2

California Tortoiseshell

Red Admiral

Walter Wallenstein

Dagney Johnson SP & vicinity
Monroe County, FL

  • Giant Swallowtail 5
  • Orange-barred Sulphur 2
  • Cassius Blue 3
  • Ceraunus Blue 1
  • Julia Heliconian 40
  • Zebra Heliconian 26
  • Florida Purplewing 15
  • Mangrove Skipper 5
  • Hammock Skipper 5
  • Long-tailed Skipper 1

Julia Heliconian

Florida Purplewing

Mangrove Skipper

Florida Purplewing

Hammock Skipper

Cassius Blue

Julia Heliconian

Dennis Vollmar

FP&L access road off of US 27
Broward County, FL

1:45 - 3:00 80 degrees, cloudy, 15 mph wind

  • Gulf Fritillary 40+
  • Phaon Crescent 1
  • Pearl Crescent 3
  • Common Buckeye 6
  • White Peacock 4
  • Sachem 4
  • Twin-spot Skipper 8

White Peacock

Twin-spot Skipper

Sachem

Gulf Fritillary

Common Buckeye

Pearl Crescent

Dennis Vollmar

John Stretch Park
Palm Beach County, FL

10:20 to 12:15, Cloudy, some rain, some sunshine. 80 degrees, 5 mph breeze

  • Great Southern White 8
  • Orange-barred Sulphur 5
  • Gulf Fritillary 30+
  • Julia Heliconian 30+
  • Zebra Heliconian 30+
  • Cuban Crescent 6
  • Phaon Crescent 8
  • Pearl Crescent 4
  • Red Admiral 4
  • White Peacock 3
  • Monarch 1
  • Dorantes Longtail 2
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper 20+
  • Three-spotted Skipper 2
  • Clouded Skipper 6
  • Least Skipper 4
  • Southern Skipperling 5
  • Ocola Skipper 2

Clouded Skipper

Monarch

Zebra Heliconian

Tropical Checkered-Skipper

Red Admiral

Three-spotted Skipper

Phaon Crescent

Orange-barred Sulphur

Southern Skipperling

Ocola Skipper

Julia Heliconian

Cuban Crescent

Horace's Duskywing

Great Southern White

Dorantes Longtail

Amelia Grimm& Leigh Williams

Roadsides through Middle Torch & Big Torch Keys
Monroe County, FL

2:30-4:30 p.m. Our objective was to survey butterflies utilizing the profusion of Coastal Plain Yellowtops and Bay Cedar blooming this week along Lower Keys little-traveled roadsides through transitional wetlands. The two sulphurs were spotted flying along tropical hammock margins. The Hairstreak was near Bay Cedar.

  • Large Orange Sulphur 2
  • Martial Scrub-Hairstreak 1
  • Mangrove Buckeye 2
  • Fiery Skipper 2
  • Southern Broken-Dash 5
  • Salt Marsh Skipper 1
  • Obscure Skipper 50+

Salt Marsh Skipper

Fiery Skipper

Mangrove Buckeye

Amelia Grimm & Leigh Williams

Key Deer NWR pine rocklands & transitional wetlands on Big Pine Key
Monroe County, FL

This survey included the recent burn area east of the Blue Hole & the small “pollinator garden” at the Jack Watson trailhead with nectar plants Wild Sage, Cocoplum, Bay Cedar, Blue Porterweed, & Blackbead. Yellowtops were the only nectar source along the wetlands trail.

  • Large Orange Sulphur 5
  • Eastern Pygmy-Blue 31
  • Gulf Fritillary 1
  • Mangrove Buckeye 3
  • Monarch 1
  • Florida Duskywing 21
  • Fiery Skipper 1
  • Southern Broken-Dash 3
  • Obscure Skipper 12

Mangrove Buckeye

Southern Broken-Dash

Eastern Pygmy-Blue

Florida Duskywing

Dennis Vollmar

FP&L access road off of US 27
Broward County, FL

10:30 to noon, sunny, 82 degrees, 10-15 mph wind. Thistle starting to come to bloom

  • Barred Yellow 3
  • Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 1
  • Gulf Fritillary 16
  • Pearl Crescent 2
  • Common Buckeye 6
  • White Peacock 2
  • Queen 1
  • Eufala Skipper 1
  • Twin-spot Skipper 11

Twin-spot Skipper

White Peacock

Gulf Fritillary

Queen

Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak

Barred Yellow

Eufala Skipper

Dennis Vollmar

Westlake South Trail (Sheridan St) Dania, FL
Broward County, FL

8:15 to 9:00am 80 degees, sunny, 5mph wind

  • Zebra Heliconian 2
  • Mangrove Skipper 3

Mangrove Skipper

Mangrove Skipper

Ron & Lori Smith

Dinner Island Ranch WMA
Hendry County, FL

(19-138) Mostly sunny with temps reaching 83. Very little nectar sources. All of the scallopwings were in the same place. There easily may have been more.

  • Cloudless Sulphur 1
  • Gulf Fritillary 8
  • Julia Heliconian 7
  • Zebra Heliconian 18
  • Phaon Crescent 9
  • Pearl Crescent 2
  • White Peacock 13
  • Viceroy 2
  • Carolina Satyr 12
  • Georgia Satyr 1
  • Queen 16
  • Long-tailed Skipper 1
  • Hayhurst's Scallopwing 17
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper 1
  • Least Skipper 1
  • Southern Skipperling 2
  • Whirlabout 11
  • Twin-spot Skipper 1
  • Ocola Skipper 15

Carolina Satyr

Twin-spot Skipper

Hayhurst's Scallopwing

Hayhurst's Scallopwing

Hayhurst's Scallopwing

Hayhurst's Scallopwing

Hayhurst's Scallopwing

Hayhurst's Scallopwing

Georgia Satyr

Julia Heliconian

John and Nancy Crosby

Sea Way NE, Shellman Bluff, GA
McIntosh County, GA

First sunny day we’ve had in awhile. In an area protected from wind where it was warmer we discovered these butterflies at about 60 degrees.

  • Sleepy Orange 2
  • Spring Azure 1
  • Red Admiral 1
  • Common Buckeye 1

Red Admiral

Common Buckeye

Spring Azure

Sleepy Orange

Scott Anderson

Scherer Thaxton
Sarasota County, FL

1050am-150pm, 79-82 degrees, partly cloudy, very windy

  • Barred Yellow 2
  • Little Yellow 6
  • Dainty Sulphur 2
  • Red-banded Hairstreak 3
  • Ceraunus Blue 3
  • Little Metalmark 7
  • Gulf Fritillary 12
  • Phaon Crescent 42
  • Pearl Crescent 14
  • White Peacock 41
  • Zarucco Duskywing 1
  • White Checkered-Skipper 1
  • Southern Skipperling 5
  • Fiery Skipper 1
  • Tawny-edged Skipper 1
  • Twin-spot Skipper 2

Red-banded Hairstreak

Zarucco Duskywing

Tawny-edged Skipper

Little Metalmark

Pearl Crescent

Little Metalmark

Twin-spot Skipper

David H. Bartholomew

Sunnyvale
Santa Clara County, CA

While Dog-Walking the neighborhood, very surprised to see a Monarch at the park.

  • Monarch 1

Mimi Gardenerd

Wolf Lake Park
Broward County, FL

Observed an abundance of butterflies in the grassy areas of Wolf Lake Park walked once around the lake 9am - 12pm, 80 degrees, sunny with a few white clouds passing by on a light breeze.

  • Giant Swallowtail 1
  • Barred Yellow 10
  • Dainty Sulphur 10
  • Ceraunus Blue 5
  • Gulf Fritillary 12
  • Zebra Heliconian 20
  • Phaon Crescent 5
  • White Peacock 12
  • Ruddy Daggerwing 3
  • Monarch 12
  • Dorantes Longtail 3
  • Horace's Duskywing 3
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper 12
  • Fiery Skipper 20

Phaon Crescent

White Peacock

Zebra Heliconian

Tropical Checkered-Skipper

Tropical Checkered-Skipper

Monarch

Gulf Fritillary

Dorantes Longtail

Fiery Skipper

Eufala Skipper

Barred Yellow

Fiery Skipper

Dennis Vollmar

Florida Panther NWR
Collier County, FL

1:15 to 2:15, 10mph wind, sunny, 78 degrees

  • Black Swallowtail 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur 2
  • Zebra Heliconian 2
  • Phaon Crescent 1
  • Whirlabout 3
  • Southern Broken-Dash 3
  • Monk Skipper 4
  • Twin-spot Skipper 2
  • Ocola Skipper 1

Cloudless Sulphur

Ocola Skipper

Monk Skipper

Twin-spot Skipper

Phaon Crescent

Whirlabout

Whirlabout

Southern Broken-Dash

Dennis Vollmar

Dinner Island Ranch WMA
Hendry County, FL

9:40 to 12:30 mostly sunny, strong 20mph wind. 70-78 degrees. drove the main circle road and looked in the wind sheltered areas.
Found Hayhurst’s in 2 locations about a mile apart along the road.

  • Great Southern White 2
  • Dainty Sulphur 9
  • Gulf Fritillary 7
  • Julia Heliconian 5
  • Zebra Heliconian 4
  • Cuban Crescent 1
  • Phaon Crescent 3
  • Pearl Crescent 1
  • White Peacock 9
  • Carolina Satyr 9
  • Monarch 5
  • Queen 25+
  • Dorantes Longtail 1
  • Hayhurst's Scallopwing 30+
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper 6
  • Fiery Skipper 2
  • Sachem 3

Carolina Satyr

Carolina Satyr

Dainty Sulphur

Dorantes Longtail

Gulf Fritillary

Great Southern White

Hayhurst's Scallopwing

Hayhurst's Scallopwing

Pearl Crescent

Phaon Crescent

Monarch

Tropical Checkered-Skipper

Zebra Heliconian

White Peacock

Sachem

Queen

Julia Heliconian

Monarch

Hayhurst's Scallopwing

Hayhurst's Scallopwing

Cuban Crescent

Fiery Skipper

Roy Cohutta

Chickasawhatchee WMA (Large area covered)
Dougherty County, GA

58-64F, Chilly wind E-ESE 10-15 MPH, Partly to mostly cloudy
Highlights:
FOS Question Marks (Very wary, hard to approach, taking minerals in the dirt road).
Monarchs on mustard blooms and tiny Cerastium fontanum flowers.
Queen butterflies continue.

  • Sleepy Orange 2
  • Question Mark 4
  • Monarch 2
  • Queen 15

Question Mark

Monarch

Monarch

Monarch

Queen

Tom Palmer

Everglades Headwaters NWR Hatchineha
Polk County, FL

  • Zebra Swallowtail 4
  • Orange-barred Sulphur 1
  • Barred Yellow 2
  • Red-banded Hairstreak 1
  • Gulf Fritillary 1
  • Phaon Crescent 2
  • Pearl Crescent 1
  • Carolina Satyr 2
  • Long-tailed Skipper 1
  • Northern Cloudywing 1
  • Sleepy Duskywing 3
  • Juvenal's Duskywing 1
  • Southern Broken-Dash 1

Scott Anderson

Celery Fields
Sarasota County, FL

12noon-250pm, 77-80 degrees, sunny, windy. Significant number of Monarchs and Queens today, milkweed was in bloom. Also, an unusually high number of Great Southern Whites.

  • Black Swallowtail 5
  • Great Southern White 32
  • Barred Yellow 6
  • Sleepy Orange 3
  • Dainty Sulphur 14
  • Cassius Blue 2
  • Gulf Fritillary 10
  • Phaon Crescent 1
  • White Peacock 8
  • Monarch 24
  • Queen 16
  • Dorantes Longtail 1
  • Horace's Duskywing 1
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper 8
  • Fiery Skipper 31

Tropical Checkered-Skipper

Horace's Duskywing

Monarch

Great Southern White

Queen

John and Nancy Crosby

Dinner Island Ranch Wildlife Mgt Area.
Hendry County, FL

Hiked 3 hours on one of the side roads & found the Hayhurst Scallopwings in a moist area at the edge of a Hammock.

  • Little Metalmark 1
  • Gulf Fritillary 6
  • Julia Heliconian 3
  • Zebra Heliconian 7
  • Phaon Crescent 4
  • Pearl Crescent 2
  • Common Buckeye 5
  • White Peacock 12
  • Monarch 1
  • Queen 4
  • Hayhurst's Scallopwing 8
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper 7
  • Whirlabout 5

Little Metalmark

Phaon Crescent

Monarch

Tropical Checkered-Skipper

Common Buckeye

White Peacock

Carolina Satyr

Zebra Heliconian

Phaon Crescent

Hayhurst's Scallopwing

Hayhurst's Scallopwing

Arlene Marturano

Richland County unincorporated subdivision
Richland County, SC

One female Cloudless Sulphur nectaring on winter honeysuckle, Lonicera frangrantissima.

  • Cloudless Sulphur 1

Cloudless Sulphur

Cloudless Sulphur

Mark Adams

Sugar Hollow, ~10 miles west of Charlottesville, VA
Albemarle County, VA

A promise of spring, my first-of-season butterfly: a Mourning Cloak basking on a brightly sunlit winter afternoon (57 deg F), 25 Feb 2021.

  • Mourning Cloak 1

Mourning Cloak

David H. Bartholomew

Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve
Santa Clara County, CA

  • Mustard White 3
  • Spring Azure 30
  • Satyr Comma 3
  • California Tortoiseshell 15
  • Mourning Cloak 9

Spring Azure

Satyr Comma

Mustard White

John and Nancy Crosby

Blue Hole Pollinator Garden & at Blue Hole Main Entrance, Big Pine Key.
Monroe County, FL

Photography difficult as there was so few nectar sources, butterflies were in flight most of the time.

  • Large Orange Sulphur 10
  • Monarch 3
  • Florida Duskywing 12

Large Orange Sulphur

Florida Duskywing

Ken Wilson

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
San Diego County, CA

Mostly sunny, high of 68, breezy.

  • Black Swallowtail
  • Spring White
  • Desert Orangetip
  • Sara Orangetip
  • Bramble Hairstreak
  • Sonoran Blue
  • Silvery Blue
  • Mormon Metalmark

Bramble Hairstreak

Silvery Blue

Sonoran Blue

John and Nancy Crosby

Navy Wells near Homestead.
Monroe County, FL

We searched but found no croton along the road. It appears the area needs fire supression but development in the area is likely hindering this. Florida butterflies are in peril.

  • Barred Yellow 1
  • Cassius Blue 1
  • Julia Heliconian 3
  • White Peacock 1

Roy Cohutta

Elmodel WMA
Baker County, GA

Spring has arrived. Pollen! High 70s. South wind 7-15MPH. Partly cloudy. 12:38 - 2:51 PM.

  • Cabbage White 4
  • Cloudless Sulphur 3
  • Sleepy Orange 9
  • American Lady 2
  • Common Buckeye 4
  • White Checkered-Skipper 2

Cabbage White

Cabbage White

Cabbage White

Linda Cooper

Three Lakes WMA - Williams Rd Unit
Osceola County, FL

8:30 a.m. - 3.30 p.m. 70°-88°, winds 7-12, partly cloudy all day. Few nectar sources - shiny blueberry, pennyroyal, sneezeweed. LCooper, BDeWitt, AHartman, EPerry, DVollmar, WWallenstein. A number of cloudywings and duskywings refused to stop for ID!

  • Zebra Swallowtail 25
  • Black Swallowtail 2
  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 3
  • Spicebush Swallowtail 2
  • Palamedes Swallowtail 3
  • Cloudless Sulphur 1
  • Barred Yellow 4
  • Little Yellow 1
  • Gray Hairstreak 1
  • Ceraunus Blue 3
  • Little Metalmark 22
  • Phaon Crescent 25
  • Pearl Crescent 15
  • Red Admiral 1
  • Common Buckeye 2
  • White Peacock 14
  • Carolina Satyr 20
  • Georgia Satyr 6
  • Northern Cloudywing 6
  • Confused Cloudywing 3
  • Sleepy Duskywing 6
  • Horace's Duskywing 1
  • Zarucco Duskywing 6
  • Swarthy Skipper 1
  • Least Skipper 1
  • Whirlabout 3
  • Sachem 1
  • Palmetto Skipper 3

Zebra Swallowtail

Palmetto Skipper

Pearl Crescent

Little Metalmark

Phaon Crescent

Palmetto Skipper

Phaon Crescent

Confused Cloudywing

Pearl Crescent

Whirlabout

Northern Cloudywing

Sleepy Duskywing

Sleepy Duskywing

Gray Hairstreak

Georgia Satyr

Confused Cloudywing

Sleepy Duskywing

Sleepy Duskywing

Jean Evoy

my back yard
DeSoto County, FL

Warm and sunny

  • Pipevine Swallowtail 1
  • Great Southern White 4
  • Zebra Heliconian 2
  • Carolina Satyr 1
  • Monarch 1
  • Queen 6
  • Monk Skipper 1

Monarch

Pipevine Swallowtail

Pipevine Swallowtail

Queen

Carolina Satyr

John and Nancy Crosby

Fort Zachery Tayler State Park, Key West
Monroe County, FL

85 degrees, sunny & windy. Hiked around the moat as well as in the hammock along the channel & the open field where we found biden & other nectar plants.

  • Great Southern White 3
  • Large Orange Sulphur 3
  • Barred Yellow 10
  • Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 60
  • Cassius Blue 25
  • Phaon Crescent 10
  • Red Admiral 4
  • Common Buckeye 30
  • White Peacock 8
  • Queen 16
  • Hammock Skipper 2
  • Dorantes Longtail 5
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper 10
  • Whirlabout 3
  • Southern Broken-Dash 7
  • Sachem 2
  • Monk Skipper 6
  • Ocola Skipper 2

Queen

Red Admiral

White Peacock

Dorantes Longtail

Southern Broken-Dash

Monk Skipper

Hammock Skipper

Monk Skipper

Phaon Crescent

Ocola Skipper

Sachem

Ocola Skipper

Tropical Checkered-Skipper

Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak

Large Orange Sulphur

Great Southern White

Common Buckeye

Cassius Blue

Barred Yellow

John and Nancy Crosby

Boca Chico Road, Geiger Beach Area.
Monroe County, FL

Winds 25-35, the only nectar sources were inside the Naval Station fence so we were shooting through the chain length fence. We saw crescents at the entrance but the wind was so strong we could not catch up with them.

  • Great Southern White 15
  • Large Orange Sulphur 2
  • Dainty Sulphur 3
  • Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak 6
  • Eastern Pygmy-Blue 1
  • Cassius Blue 5
  • White Peacock 5
  • Queen 5
  • Mangrove Skipper 6
  • Hammock Skipper 2
  • Dorantes Longtail 1
  • Tropical Checkered-Skipper 10

Hammock Skipper

Dainty Sulphur

Mangrove Skipper

Mangrove Skipper

Hammock Skipper