September 2023 Sightings

highlights: 11am-1:30pm, mid 70s, sun, calm

I ‘dipped’ on the Long-tailed Skippers seen earlier by Karlo Mirth and Steve Walter, despite repeated surveillance of the same small plot in Row L where they had been seen previously.

My consolation prize was a Common Sootywing in the adjacent plot, and a ragged Variegated Fritillary a few rows over.

Weather was clear, 79°-80°, 6mph winds
Surveyed 3:15pm-4:30pm

Weather was clear, 74°-77°, 6mph winds
Surveyed 12:50pm-2:30pm

Plenty of sun and very little wind thus creating perfect conditions for butterfly viewing! Temps in the mid to upper 70’s. Efforts made from 10:30 AM-12:00 PM.

Conservative count of the Cabbage Whites.

Morning, low 80’s

I saw Pipevines for first time for a while. Both males on damp sand along river.
Probably beginning of third brood, which seems to come later here in SW PA compared to SE Pa.

Starting weather: clear, 68° 10mph wind gusts
Ending weather: mostly cloudy, 81°, 10mph wind gusts
Start time: 9:50am
End time: 3:45pm

R. Spink, D. Dunlap, and Q. Edwards

We’ve had a lot of rain this summer. Zinnias, cosmos, abelia, plumbago, MX sunflower, salvias, echinacae, lantana, passion flower, and a few natives are still blooming and providing nectar.

Morning, Sunny, mid 70’s

Mostly sunny with a few clouds and temp of 91 degrees

Sleepy Orange Caterpillar found 8/20(new yard butterfly #35). Eclosed 8/31 and zipped away. Today, Sleepy Orange out in the yard nectaring on Zinnia’s. Hoping they return again.

Mostly sunny, light breeze, mid-80s. Lots of Sachems!

Partly cloudy, light breeze, humid, low 90s. Finally seeing a few Meadow Fritillaries, however none would stop for a photo opportunity. First Great Spangled in some time…

Sunny, mid 70’s, 11:55-1:50
Asters and Rabbitbrush were the main nectar sources.
I saw two distant Copper species.

I was working in my garden and looked up to find a Giant Swallowtail on the phlox. it is a new yard butterfly #36 and 2023 butterfly #31. I ran inside for my camera hoping the Giant Swallowtail would still be there when I came back out and she was still nectaring. About 18 Monarch caterpillars on Swamp milkweed. Also, yard high yard of species today at 18.

Partly Cloudy, breezy, 80s. Hoping for some late-season Leonard’s Skippers, but unfortunately no dice. Had to settle for a 15 species day. Bonus - both Limenitis arthemis subspecies seen today in the same location (arthemis and astyanax), including several intergrades between the two. The single White Admiral flew into the forest before I could get a photo. Shown below is a solid “astyanax” or Red-spotted Purple, as well as an intergrade with a partial white band seen on the ventral FW. These intergrades are listed as the generic “Red-spotted Admiral” on the tally…

Sunny, mid 70’s, 11:55-1:50

Observations along a short distance of powerline.

Brief roadside observations.

Obs. made from 10:35 to 5:30, Mostly sunny, 86-95 degrees. Observations made from Washington Ditch & Jericho Ditch.

Obs. made from 8:30-9:25 a.m. Butterfly Garden has been well maintained the last couple of years.

Obs. made from 9:05 to 5:40, Part sun, 82-92 degrees. Simply a wonderful place to observe butterflies. Eastern Tigers included 3 dark females.

Backyard butterflies seen September 4-8.

Every day there have been multiple Painted Ladies, mostly in good condition but some very tattered. Coronis Fritillaries are dispersing, as usual, two this week have come through my yard and stopped to nectar on the Buddleia Bush.

Best visitor, a Marine Blue, second time this year in my backyard. In good condition but unfortunately no photo this time.

Butterfly Program for guests of The Lodge at Woodloch. Program occurs at the on-property Blackmore Organic Farm from 11:00 AM-11:45 AM.

Weather: Sunny with a little to no wind; temps in the mid to upper 70’s.

Species Notes: Conservative estimate on the Cabbage Whites.

Mostly sunny, light breeze at times, upper 80s. Sleepy Orange explosion…count of 78 is conservative! First sighting this season of a Cloudless Sulphur…a female ovipositing on Partridge Pea. Staggering numbers of Eastern Tailed-Blues and Pearl Crescents also seen…no official tally for those species as they were literally everywhere.

Continuing to get good numbers of Three-spotted Skippers. This was probably an undercount.

Overcast day with temperature around 72degrees. Two male Monarchs.

With Clinton Gibson
Mid-90’s, humid; 12:30 - 3

Was 72degrees at the time of observation in the late afternoon. Had 3 Monarchs visit the Mexican sunflowers. Saw 2 others flying around in the community

1030-1230, 2 miles. about 3,000 ft elevation. 68°-75° some Rabbitbush in bloom, another two weeks and this area should be great. Found my first Columbian Skippers which was my main target today. Also good movement of migrating Painted Ladies

This is the most Variegated Fritillaries that I have ever seen in one day in Wisconsin and as many as I have seen in the previous three years.

With Clinton Gibson
mid-90’s, humid, 3-5:30

Hiked from Millie Lift (~8700ft) to Twin Lakes Pass (~9900 ft) - 43 degrees @ 8am when I started.

Overcast day with temps in the mid-60s. Two Monarchs visited for nectar before it rained.

The large aster meadow opposite the winery clearly benefited from the spring rains. Five feet high! But unfortunately 99% gone to seed. Currently the primary source of nectar is weedy Yellow Star Thistle, of which there is plenty, and a few purple Bull Thistles.

One Coronis Fritillary, pictured on Bull Thistle, was strikingly pale.

I spent just a few minutes on the Grizzly Flat Trail to see if I could find a Golden Hairstreak. I only observed one, but it kindly sat for a few photos.

Sunny and warm in the 80’s.

1:15pm-2:55pm, sunny, low 80’s.
Asters and Rabbitbrush were the main nectar sources with a little bit of Goldenrod.

Seen mostly around the landfill edge.

Sunny, low dew point with temp of 72 degrees early afternoon. Mornings and evenings are cool and temps of 48 degrees.

Sunny, breezy, low 70s. Great late summer day and numbers with several fall migrant species noted. Worn late-season Hackberry Emperors, Spicebush Swallowtails, and Zabulon Skippers.

Sunny - started at ~8am (48 degrees)
8700-9600 ft.

Sunny, breezy, low 70s. Beautiful late summer day with solid numbers and variety persisting.

Partly sunny, then a thunderstorm, low 80’s
11:05-12:35

14:30 - 14:34, sunny

pond is behind restaurant

camping and birding in the area

Invited to visit my former home’s yard where over the years I had 55 species of butterflies with 4 large butterfly gardens. I was grateful to see both Long-tailed and Fiery skippers. Long-tailed is 2nd in the county in 2023 and 4th one in SJ. The gardens are 40-50% gone. Very sad to see the changes for the worse. Black mulch everywhere and looks to have been placed on all annual self seeders before they could get started. 7 stands of swamp milkweed all gone. Many perennials gone. Sachems estimated count.

Most of these butterflies were in weedy areas around the lake. 14:13 - 16:10 driving around the lake.

1.9 mi, 10:59 - 12:50. Sandy soil in this woods.

13:16-13:44, 0.4 mi. Big trees here and not much sunlight filtering through.

The Giant Swallowtail was a female ovipositing on Ptelea trifoliata.

Weather was mostly clear, 74°-79°, 9-10mph wind gusts
Surveyed 12:15pm-3:15pm

Pleasantly warm, but smoky from wildfires up north. Season is winding down, but still has a few butterflies to offer.

Yellow Star Thistle is the main nectar source, with some mustard. Surprisingly, a Common Ringlet chose the tarweed.

It was mid 70’s, sunny, winds about 8-10 MPH. Viewing along sidewalk. I was delighted to find southern strays Long-tailed, Ocola and Fiery. This is only the third Long-tailed documeneted in the SJ region this year A few minutes later a pretty fresh year. A Giant Swallowtail came through, not nectaring on the front sidewalk lantana but the first grouping on the side behind them.

Partly Cloudy, light breeze, low 70s. Monarch numbers increasing with fall migration picking up. The few Joe Pye Weed still in bloom were a magnet over the surrounding fields of Goldenrod.

Nights have been in the low 40’s here, with afternoon temps increasing to the 70’s or low 80’s. Today the temp was 65 when I started up into the canyon at 11:30, increasing to 76 degrees by 1:30PM on this partly sunny day.

I saw a Red Admiral, which is not listed on the species list for my area.

Most of the activity, as usual, was in the restored stream habitat (crossed by excellent boardwalk) off Divided Sky Lane and Merriweather Drive at the west edge of the park. The edge of the habitat along the parking lot was most productive, with three Ocola Skippers in view together.

7:50- 9:12, 2.6 miles. This area has been converted to farmland where Roundup ready corn and soybeans are grown. The farmer doesn’t want birders there. There were plenty of mosquitoes and ants.

Sunny, low 60s, around 1:30pm

Visited several places in the park from 11:30 - 13:21. Illinois Trail had a prairie with Partridge Peas almost 5 feet tall! One Little Yellow was white. The Cloudless Sulfurs floated above the grass and Partridge Peas; whereas, the Little Yellows stayed close to the ground. Viceroys were mating.

10:40 - 11:17. A Viceroy chased a Monarch. The Little Yellows chased the Clouded Sulfurs. Hackberry Emperor was much darker than the same species in Wisconsin.

Weather was mostly clear-partly cloudy, 67°-82°, 6-8mph winds
Surveyed 10:00am-3:00pm

R. Spink and D. Dunlap

Mostly cloudy, windy, 70 degrees. Cloud cover and wind made for more difficult conditions, but decent numbers still present - particularly Sleep Orange.
Largest single day Common Checkered-Skipper tally this season, too. Unfortunately, a tropical system arriving tonight with 3 days of rain followed by cool weather, will probably cut the species/numbers as we progress into fall.

14:51 - 16:50, 1.72 miles

9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. 74°-86°, sun all day, light winds. Nectar: pickerelweed, spermacoce, elephant’s foot, liatris, Spanish needles, rayless sunflower. LCooper, CGibson, DGibson, JLampkin.

Mostly sunny with slight breeze.

12:07 - 12:12, stationary

11:21 - 11:48, 0.5 mi

9:11 - 10:00, 1.2 miles. The creek is dry.

everything is drier than in the past. 7:35-8:32

Visit Potato Patch CG, Mingo Mtn WMA and nearby areas

Sunny 38-56 degrees
Hiked from Silver Lake to Lake Solitude up to Twin Lakes over to Lake Mary and Dog Lake and back to Silver Lake.
~8700 ft-9700 ft
Add 1 moose and 8 deer at Lake Solitude

(24-206). Great mid-day run. Overcast skies but where there was nectar there were butterflies. FL YR (142).

With the U.F. research team studying Arogos Skipper. From 9:30a to 12:30p. Starting sunny then overcast then rain looming. We were pleased to find plenty of Arogos Skippers, mainly on Rayless Sunflower. One egg, one caterpillar, and two eclosed pupa were also located. A good time was had by all.

A productive 9:30-11:30AM excursion, with mostly sunny skies. They were loving the Snow Squarestem, with Bidens alba and Alligator Flag as contributing nectar sources.

This is private landholding with a conservation easement. 9:45 a.m.-4:30 p.m. 77°-89°, winds 5-10, cloudy to mostly sunny to cloudy. Nectar: carphephorus, liatris, rayless sunflower, honeycombhead, Spanish needles, Brazilian pepper. 1 Vanessa seen but not IDd to species. 5 Nastra seen but not IDd to species. The property is managed by Tall Timbers and survey was for listed skipper species. LCooper, Sfarnsworth, CGibson, RMeyer, DMcElveen, EPerry, NPrine.

Sunny, breezy, low 70’s, 11:55-1:40, another beautiful day in Colorado.

Nectar sources, asters and rabbitbrush.

Sunny cool/very windy morning. Temps in 40-50s.
Elevation: 9400 - 10,600 ft
Butterflies seen between above 9900 ft
Mostly Yarrow and a few Asters remain.
(And Mom & calf moose)

(35-170) Great day. FL Year (146).

Latest sighting here and happily surprised! Sunny and 83.

Pipevine Swallowtail is the first one I have seen here. It was very worn. All Dainty Sulphurs were fresh.

Possible Zabulon Skipper.

Sunny day with light winds. 76 degrees when observing in the mid-afternoon.

(36-353). Another nice day driving and walking the forest roads. FL YR (147).

Sunny, a high of 86 degrees, breezy.

Summer is still here at the Shawnee. It was sunny and 89.

Nectar was in short supply. Thistles were the main attraction today.