February 2021 Sightings

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.

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

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.

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.

Partly cloudy, mid 60s.

Sighting for the past week.

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.

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

Red Admirals were first of year for me.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

(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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

Mostly sunny, high of 68, breezy.

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.

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

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!

Warm and sunny

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.

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.