Recent sightings

from overwintered chrysalis–2 males and 2 females; cabbage white around cauliflower plant in our vegetable patch.

hot and sunny, 9:30-11:30am

Sachem made himself right at home, chasing an American Lady away from his perch.

[Good finds and shots, D.A.: our log's first sachem for 2018 and the first red-banded hairstreak in CMY County for 2018. jc]

Figured I'd check on the Sleepy Orange colony area and was delighted to find an overwintering adult Sleepy Orange flying.

[Another find in SG's documentation of this resident CUM population of sleepy orange – a species that ten years ago (or even fewer) most of us considered only a vagrant to NJ. jc]

from overwintered chrysalis (3rd)–a male

Late in the day, 4:30-5:45 pm. Some sun after cloudy day and 78 degrees. 2 ETB's in the garden. Surprisingly no commas.

Juvenal's or Horace's duskywing?

[Kudos to JB for our first zabulon of 2018.

The duskywing pair makes a tough ID. The two dots on underside of hind-wing of Juvenal's are not visible in the photos, but Juvenal's are more numerous now, and the wings look worn. Horace's have just emerged (only two reports so far) and probably wouldn't look so worn so early. Still, duskywing, sp. seems the correct call. jc]

Laying eggs on hackberry.

Both swallowtails were nectaring on azaleas. Monarch flew through yard without stopping.

Late-afternoon visit for butterflies and odes.

Falcate Orangetips were males (3) and females (2).

Started at 9am, but tough weather, with overcast until 12:30pm kept everything hidden. Once the sky cleared, the butterflies came out.

John stayed longer to continue his appreciation of lifer Hessel's and noted the full quantity given in our count.

[Good work, Steve and John – including our first Horace's of 2018. jc]

Incidental sightings while birding today. First butterfly seen at 11:25 and last at 3:45.

5 PM, Sunny 75 in meadows
1 Monarch on milkweed sprout (at least 1 wk early)
5 Eastern Tailed Blues on Mustard

[A female monarch here. Have all monarchs so far been female or undetermined sex? Interesting to watch for ratio of males to females in this first flight into NJ by monarchs, coming presumably from the Gulf Coast or elsewhere in southern US. jc]

For the past three years I have been hoping to find roadside skipper here after thinking that I saw one. Today I think I put that to rest when I saw a roadside-sized dusted sk. Note the size of the ant in the bottom left of the photo.

[Nice find, JM! This is our FOY dusted. jc]

Mid day observations made here 12:25 till 2 p.m. 70% cloud cover with 10-12 WNW wind. All Hessel's Hairstreaks observed today nectared on Sand Myrtle. Two Hessel's suspects lifted from a Highbush Blueberry bush.

Stopped counting Hoary Elfins after the first 25. Many more! Included is a Hoary Elfin egg image on Bearberry.

[Cool shot of sleepy from below! jc]

Observations made here between 9-10:15 a.m. Also 3:15-4:05 p.m. Found 3 Hessel's in the a.m. and 3 in the p.m. Added R.B.Hairstreak in the afternoon stop. Today's temp. range was 68-77 degrees. Mostly Sunny early and late with 60-70% cloud cover mid day.

[Nice to have three Hessel's in one spot! jc]

Common Buckeyes were flying today.
[Congrats to Harvey for reporting our first Common Buckeyes of the year. Although Buckeyes have been reported in January (ones that might be considered LOYs), this is our new late first date for a spring Buckeye. -jm]

2:30pm & sunny

AM bird survey, mostly cloudy, great for birds but not so much for butterflies. I got my FOY red-banded hairstreak.
[Congrats to Jen whose red-banded hs is not only her FOY, but also the first for our log. It misses our record lastest FOY from 5/11/09 by one day. -jm]

I was on my bike, so I did not pay much attention to the abundant duskywings. The monarch was worn and feeble. Of all of the orangetips I have seen this spring, I have yet to see one land.

Smith's Woods butterfly garden, noon
Black swallowtail was laying eggs on fennel

70° Sunny

Lots of Butterflies today with more Hoary's than I cared to count.
At least 3 Cobweb skippers…nice day
[Wonderful to get our FOY report and a terrific photo of a fresh cobweb sk. from Harvey. This butterfly has become difficult to find and now is rarely seen anywhere but Warren Grove. Can someone find one in a previously unreported area this year? - jm]

First two male black ST that emerged from overwintered chrysalis. I have about 20 more!

One elfin appeared to be laying eggs baptisia, but upon inspection I did not find any.

I stopped counting pearl crescents after 15. One of the swallowtails was on Goshen road. One of the azures was large and flew and acted differently; it might have been a summer azure.

There was a female Eastern Tailed-Blue searching for egg laying sites.

Found three Eastern Tailed-Blues - 2 females and a male. Counted 3 Cabbage Whites.
[Welcome back Will! - jm]

Unsure of Duskywing ID ~ One opinion said Juvenal and another said Horace's. First Hummingbird Moth I have seen this year.

[Beth: I'd lean to Juvenal's simply because of wear on wings – Horace's only just emerging, so should have fresher look. Duskywing, sp., is the correct call, in my opinion, however – because these two are tough to separate by uppersides only. jc]

Terrible light, lots of distance, way too many bramble scratches, and way way too many ticks… Still, a very cool bug.
[This FOY is 1 day off of our log's record for latest first date which occurred on 5/8/15. - jm]

Was flying inside one of the many greenhouses. I tried to coax it out but failed.

Laying eggs on both parsley and Zizia (golden alexander).