Recent sightings

Monarch was a fly-by in the backyard… and a surprise!

The land owners have been tilling up the larger tract of commercial growing field and have the property posted.

The original field that had the Checkered White colony has been left fallow and looks very promising. Hopefully they'll leave this field fallow and full of wild flowers.

One flying adult Monarch and a caterpillar found today.

Checked out the few acres that I cleared of trees a few years ago. Lots of Sedge and Milkweed growing there. It's at the end of the Eagle trail. The Pecks was one of the very few that I have ever seen at the Glades. The list also includes other areas of the preserve. I don't recommend walking the Eagle trail for a while. The biting flies were really bad.

3 Red-spotted Purple (woodland trails), 1 American Lady (meadow) and 1 female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (perimeter walking path).

[Our log's first dark-form tiger for 2019. Good find, RK. jc]

Blurry shots of a Brazilian Skipper in flight!
I saw this bug nectaring and was puzzled. Got off two shots but it took Steve and me 5 mins before the "lights" came on and we had the ID.

[Very exciting find (and photos)!! We had our first report last year on May 20 (Sam Galick, CMPSP). Could this species now be over-wintering in CMY?? jc]

Started the day with a two hour walk around the fields that I have been working on. The Milkweed and Dogbane are really taking off. The Milkweed already has some buds on it. I saw more butterflies after that but didn't keep a list. The only different species were Dusted Skipper and Sachem.

Did an initial survey of the Sleepy Orange colony area today. Last year, I first found overwintering Sleepy's on 5/15, but today I was unable to locate any flying as yet.

Good diversity on this very warm day. The Mourning Cloak wouldn't sit for a photo opportunity, but this is the first time I've seen one in May.

83 degrees and sunny. E. Tiger nectared briefly on arrowwood viburnum. Still one snout visible high up in neighbor's hackberry.

Within 3 hours of putting parsley plants outside, a female black swallowtail found them and oviposited! My FOY black swallowtail in the backyard.

Obs. made from 2:40 till 4:40, mostly sunny 84 degrees with 12mph S winds. Was nice to get both of the orange & black royalties back to back within seconds. Black Swallowtails were male and female. Female was just outside the butterfly garden. Male was nectaring on a nice red & white clover patch in the fenced in pumping station area.

Incidental sightings while birding in the park today.

Seen off and on throughout the afternoon.

Snouts high up in a hackberry. Monarch flew through the yard.

Obs. made between 2:35 & 4:05 p.m., Partly to mostly sunny and high 70's. Still no American Coppers here. Very unusual for this normally thriving colony. Last visit here was on 4/28 so I may have missed a poor first brood. Crossline was very fresh.

[Dave had our last crossline of 2018 (9/22/18) and now he has found our first of 2019. Neat! jc]

10:20-12:30

8-10am

Incidental sightings while doing yard work. The Am. Lady & Zabulon Skipper were nectaring on blackberry.

All day in the garden today. Fresh Silver-spotted Skipper. Also a fast moving Swallowtail, Black or Spicebush.

During official bird survey for Burlington County Parks.

[These are the first least skippers of 2019. Good find, JB! jc]

Community gardens are started. Several of the gardeners are planting sunflowers and zinnias.

3:15-5:30 pm. Weeding in the garden and walk out to the river. 73 degrees and mostly sunny. Copies of Jesse Connor's butterfly host plant and nectar plant lists all taken from the 'garden brochure' box.

12:00 - 2:00. Primarily interested in searching for cloudywings in this place which was once a stronghold for them. Found them in good numbers along the uncut, unplowed powerlines. Great flight of Question Marks, most of which were summer form. The two qm photos, patterned and plain, were summer form. I don't believe I saw a comma and I know I did not see a duskywing.

Morning rain was followed by full sun and 70. While working in the gardens I noticed a small female monarch; sure enough, she decided my milkweed patch was worthy of attention. Photo of yard's first monarch egg.

[This is our first photo of the next generation of monarchs and we also have an informal report of a caterpillar in BUR. jc]

Red-spotted Purple was on bananas

Only had about 10 min. to check outside, but found a very active Peck's Skipper.

[This long list includes our log's first glassywing of 2019. Good work, Steve! jc]

Past time for Cobweb Skippers, but focused on finding Dusted Skipper today was successful.

Sunny

I was doing surveys for listed plants in the big hardwood swamp today. The only butterflies that I saw all day were in a dry grassy opening on the walk out. Lots of Ghost Crane flies in the swamp. One of my favorite bugs.

[This report and photo document our log's first little wood satyr for 2019, the first since last July. Nice! jc]

1:00-2:15pm

Had only ten individuals today, but added four species to our 2019 yard list: snout, red admiral, Peck's, and sachem. Snout was ovipositing on hackberry tree.

Smith's Woods, 5-7pm
During a girl scout program in bad weather: 50 degrees and raining. Sharp-eyed girls found these two caterpillars, including the first monarch caterpillar of the year.

[Congratulations to these Girl Scouts – very early monarch cat and a red-spotted purple in the rain. Excellent finds! jc]

Observed along wildlife drive while birding in the morning (overcast conditions).

A mix of sun and clouds and nearly 70 degrees from 12:45 till 2:30. Powerline has been cut since last year, but very productive today. The favorite nectar source was annual toadflax which was abundant. Unable to get a suitable image of the sootywing, but had more than adequate looks. Among the Dusted Skippers was a mated pair.

[This is our first common sootywing of 2019. Good find, Dave! jc]

Seen while birdwatching for the day.

Seen while birding in the park today.

[This good list includes our first viceroy of 2019, the first report since 10/8/18 when Tom B had two at this same spot. jc]

One last try for Cobwebs this year. That was at least twice as many Dusted Skippers as I have ever seen there before. I walked a lot further than I usually do though. It ended up being about 7 miles total. The cut looks so much better than when I first started walking it years ago. They are even putting flags where the Baptista is. I included a picture of a Cloudywing that I don't know what it is. It doesn't look right to me for a northern or southern and we don't get Confused Cloudywings in Jersey.

[Anyone want to try to ID the photo'd butterfly? jc]

Cloudy, 60, 4:30. Was taking a break from indoor work and saw this bug briefly moving among a few dandelions.

[This is our first sachem for 2019. Here they come, everyone! jc]

Observations during guided walk on an overcast Friday morning, 9-11am.

-The Monarch was chasing a Common Buckeye.

[Welcome to the South Jersey Butterfly Project, GH. jc]

I don't ever remember having a Snout here this early. A nice surprise while working in the garden.

I haven't tried this spot in the spring for quite a few years. The Baptista colony looks really good. I will probably go back tomorrow if we get any sun. I left the big camera home since I was also doing the long walk in Cumberland. I tried to get close enough to the second Cobweb for a picture with my phone. It almost worked.

[Very good news to have cobweb skippers found somewhere else than Warren Grove. The last report of the species from outside WG was in May of 2017 – when Steve Glynn photo'd one at Muddy Run, SAL. The most recent CMY reports of cobweb were in May of 2016 – when we had reports from three spots: Middle Township Bike Path, Lizard Tail Preserve, and Belle Plain SF. Since then, none. jc]

First time that I have walked the preserve in the spring. It's just as long a walk as I remember.