Recent sightings

Mint-fresh Orange Sulphur. Horace's Duskywing was a fresh female.

Only had 20 minutes in the garden today. Wonder what I would have seen if I'd had more time. Delighted to find a large Monarch caterpillar on my still lush and leafy Swamp Milkweed.

Three Cloudless Sulphur caterpillars, all different instars, on small partridge pea plants. At least two adults were observed egg laying on these plants on Sept. 13. Possible predation of cats; what appeared to be young assassin bugs were present.

Smith's Woods butterfly garden only.
1:00 pm

9:30am-12:00. Only having visited this trail twice now, but after today, I have 21 species on my list for this spot. Lots of goldenrod, boneset, etc. Spicebush swallowtail was completely worn and ratty.

A fresh female Wild Indigo today.

Strong SE winds, sunny, 70 degrees. Lots of Blue Mistflower in bloom as the nectar of choice in the gardens.

Watched Monarch emerge from chrysalis this morning.
Both Spicebush swallowtails were very worn and ragged. One E.Tiger was fresh and the other ragged.

Wonderful Fall afternoon despite not seeing a single Monarch. Common Buckeye (7 rosa forms), Gray Hairstreak, and Eastern-tailed Blue were uncountable. 22 species…lots of fun.

Overcast and breezy kept things hunkered down in grass, but the nectar sources were drawing in many butterflies. Common Buckeyes and Pearl Crescents were dial counted. A large percentage of the Common Buckeyes were "rosa" form. Very numerous Peck's Skippers from earlier this month were down to a few very worn and faded individuals.

Brief early afternoon stop. Most likely the same wood nymph as one I saw yesterday. I am not sure this old thing can survive the approaching storm.

[If this butterfly does survive the storm – and can be re-found by JM or another observer – it will establish a new latest-date ever for the species for our log. Current record: 9-26-10 (tied with this report). jc]

Hundreds of butterflies in the garden today! Fantastic amount of skippers.

[This is only our second report of Ocola in CAM – following Chris Herz's report from her garden on Sept. 6. jc]

late afternoon only 1/2 in sun at this time.

Just home after 4 weeks away ~ at least 2 dozen Monarch cats, about the same in Black Swallowtail cats, Cloudless Sulphur laying eggs on Partridge Pea.

My first Orange Sulphur for the yard this year. Not a bad week although numbers have dipped.

We had the incredible experience of seeing and photographing ten different White M Hairstreaks!! All of them were identified as separated individuals through our photography and there was only one rag. Nine of them spent hours getting nectar from a Goldenrod species while the tenth (the rag) was utilizing Frost Aster for nourishment.

Chris discovered the 50th butterfly for this location (Common Checkered Skipper) and I took a series of images of it. Eighteen other butterfly species were recorded on this property in the Estell Manor area this day.

[This might be our log's all-time high count for one day/one site for white-m. Anyone remember a higher count? jc]

The school's "Schoolyard Habitat" Common Milkweed patch is producing Monarchs. Found 5 chrysalises on the brick school and under steps of wooden ladders carefully placed near the garden.

11 am - 1 pm: walked East and West paths, plus spur off East Path, plus trail behind dune between E & W paths. Common Buckeye caterpillar on Seaside Gerardia. Some of the Common Buckeyes were high and migrating. American Lady caterpillar hiding in webbed room on Sweet Everlasting. Little Yellows were nectaring on Buttonweed (Diodia).

Early morning run through the garden before leaving for Cape May Point.

Only the second and third Pearl Crescents in my yard this year. Spicebush female a rag, but female E. Tiger in decent shape.

Saw two tagged Monarchs but could not get clear enough pictures to read the tags.

[This and report below from Jack Miller give us only our 4th & 5th reports of mourning cloak this month (all in CMY) – and we had none in August. jc]

Pipevine swallowtail only a brief appearance on Mexican Sunflowers–no photo. Ocola photos by Marilyn Henry.

[This report gives us our 7th county for Ocola skipper in 2016. Only county not yet recorded this year is Ocean. jc]

late in the afternoon observations.

5 Monarch cats on tropical milkweed.

Explored the butterfly garden and small field next to the parking lot. Up till this day, I have seen only two White M Hairstreaks in 2016. Today there was three here, two in the field and one in the garden all on late-flowering thoroughwort. Also the second Ocola here this season. Found a RSP again with faint White Admiral field marks.

The field here that was productive last weekend was mowed to the ground for yesterday's "Family fun day." I don't think the butterflies were amused, nor was I. Had to work harder and pursue butterflies into the woods under the Cottonwood trees.

Still fairly dry here but last week's rain did rejuvenate some of the white snakeroot. If a Common Checkered-Skipper sees its shadow do we get 6 more weeks of summer?

Activity has decreased significantly as the nectar has worn out, but still a good mix.

Strong activity in the field on the blooming Daisy Fleabane.

Sightings from the park and adjoining private property - 11 am to 2 pm. One of the Monarchs was seen at 7:20 am migrating south over the Delaware River while I was doing a bird census.

[Neat shot of 9 orange sulphurs puddling – have other observers ever photo'd more in one small spot in NJ? jc]

1:30-3:30. Calm, clear, upper 60's. Spent much time searching for wood nymphs and found two. Interestingly, both landed on my hat. The mourning cloak was flying across the marshes and dike heading south. I drove the dike where I counted 19 buckeyes and also saw one of the white-m's. Some very fresh red-banded hs.

1:30-4:30 survey on a beautiful September day led to our best count of the year (22 sp). Common checkered skipper a FOY in garden in 2016. Three Ocolas visible simultaneously. White-m's distinguishable by tail wear and hindwing breaks. Moved a spicebush cat from a leafless sassafras sapling to a more promising one.

Nectaring on mature Hedera helix.

Sadly, so overcast and chilly that few pollinators could be found despite tons of nectar (Groundsel-tree, Seaside Goldenrod, etc.)

Flushed 27 Common Buckeyes despite the cloudy and chilly weather!

Did get an image of one of the two active Ocola Skippers.

It was difficult to find butterflies in the garden due to the weather. Did find an Ocola Skipper on a Butterfly Bush.

Flushed 4 Common Buckeyes and saw an American Copper on a Goldenrod species and a resting Sachem in the grasses.

A Monarch was the only active butterfly in this garden.

Sachems were the most active butterfly in the chilly and cloudy weather.

Heavy overcast, breezy, temperatures in upper 60's.

10:00 am-11:30 am.

[Moderator's Note: this is the first Delaware skipper report since Sept 6 and ties our log's previous latest-date: 9-23-11. jc]

Not sure to feel good or bad about this find. We had a female pipevine s'tail apparently ovipositing high on our pipevine 7/20/16 – for the first time in five years (last time: 6-15-11). Climbed a ladder trying to find eggs with no luck. Also both of us searched for cats over next few weeks w/o success. But today Jesse found the empty chrysalis on the corner of our wooden fence 20 feet from the tree that holds the vine. Good to see at least one adult flew off to find a mate, but we missed the eggs, cats, and emergence.

A quick scan for anything new. Sunny, 80 degrees or so. Only nectar left is Sedum.

18 Cloudless Sulphur includes 6 on the trip from Woodbine. They were everywhere!

[Yes, and Ocola skippers were also numerous, at least in and near Cape May. See this report and below: assuming no duplicates, ~60 Ocola skippers were totaled by our observers in CMY on 9-23-16. jc]

Ocola Skipper was fairly fresh.

Observations made after 6 p.m. The Red-Spotted Purple was observed by Pat earlier in the day.

Last butterfly seen here was a very faded Common Wood-Nymph.

[We are getting close to our latest date for that species: 9-26-10. Our late date last year was 9-23. jc]

Quick tour through Joan's sedum patch.

The Little Yellow show continues! Many Buckeyes nectaring on Groundsel bush. Most of the Ocola and Sachem skippers were on mist flower in the woods. At least one rosa form Buckeye here.

The Groundsel-tree (male and female) bushes are beginning to bloom and were loudly buzzing with bees, wasps, flies, and butterflies. Other excellent nectar along this stretch included Seaside Goldenrod and Lespedeza. Common Buckeyes were chasing each other about amorously.

I found my 5th Long Tailed Skipper here on yellow lantana. Blurry image of Long Tail with both tails intact not submitted.

Ocola skippers very active on Buddleia.

Observed 3 different Long Tailed Skippers in this garden. One with both tails intact, one missing right tail and one missing left tail. The individual with tails intact is not the same intact individual observed in Bill Schule's garden.

Cloudy and 70 degrees between 9 & 10 a.m. Abundant nectar but too cool and cloudy at this point.

There were 3 Cloudless Sulphurs, an Orange Sulphur and a Cabbage White on this trip.

There was a dispersing Red Admiral in the Shop Rite parking lot. Also, the Rio Grande streets were graced with , at least, 3 Cloudless Sulphurs and 2 Orange Sulphurs.

There was a mint Red-spotted Purple floating through the yard. This year, I learned that the female Red-spotted Purple will sometimes egg lay on the leaves of a Beech tree at this location.

There were Sachems, Cabbage Whites, Cloudless Sulphurs and an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail in the downtown section of town.

Returned home by about 4:00. First thing I saw was the checkered-skipper which usually show up about once each fall. Once again, my yard was a lovely mass of bflys. As happens each fall, a fine run of tawny-edged skippers. The long-tail was from this morning (2nd here this fall). Two fresh male black swallowtails and one old female. 30 species in the Cape today.

A quick look on the trail near Dias Creek Road.

Near 6 pm, there was a Cabbage White and a mint Red-banded Hairstreak gathering nectar from the flowers of a Goldenrod species.

Stopped to buy peaches on the way to Lizard Tail and saw a red-spotted purple here that was in very good shape.

2nd stop, 2:15-3:30. Especially hoping for viceroys (yes) and wood nymphs (no), but nicely surprised by least skippers. I stopped counting tailed-blues, pearl crescents, and buckeyes, but put the glasses on every gray hairstreak searching for a white m. The hairstreaks love the Chinese clover.

11:45-1:45. Sunny, calm, 85. This is a big territory that I have divided into about 20 sections. The counts that end in "0" are species that I would count in groups of 10 as I entered a new area. After awhile, I stopped counting cabbage whites, orange sulphurs, cloudless sulfurs ( I saw 8 up at once), E. tailed-blues, pearl crescents, buckeyes, and sachems so that I could concentrate on less common species. Odd that in 4 visits to this spot in 15 days I have seen 34 species but not a single red admiral.

Prompted by the sighting of a female Checkered White at the nearby 4-H garden in Rosenhayn, I checked this area for new activity. All Checkered Whites were males today.

Checkered White is new butterfly in this garden. This garden is about 1 mile from the Nabb Road fields that have held the Checkered Whites for the past few years. Overall activity down as the nectar sources are drying out and going to seed.

New England aster was an amazing attractant for the butterfly activity today in these wonderful native plant gardens. Common Sootywing was a new late date for me.

[9-23 is a new latest-ever date for sootywing on our log. Previous record set just last year 9-21-15 (C. Herz at Rowan College Community Garden, GLO.) jc]

1 Black Swallowtail caterpillar.

86 degrees, 4:30-5:15–more diversity today; Monarch a migrant flying south and high

A large Northern Walking Stick was resting on the front wall of the house in the early morning hours. This is my first walking stick since my teenage years in my hometown of Pennsylvania. They were quite common there.

Sachems are still common and most are well worn.

Nice movement of Cloudless Sulphurs through the yard today.

Especially pleasant today were the return of swallowtails and some fresh American coppers.

There were Cabbage Whites, an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and a Red Admiral on this journey - Rte. 9 (a Cabbage White) and downtown CMCH (an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, a Cabbage White and a dispersing Red Admiral).

A Cloudless Sulphur zipped through the back yard,

A quick early visit to this beautiful garden yielded 6 butterfly species.

American Coppers were getting nectar from a Goldenrod species.

I did not have Ocola Skipper for myself over the years at Lizard Tail until today. It was the 73rd butterfly species for Lizard Tail!!

[Congrats to Will on this find – and his continuing many years study of the butterfly life at Lizard Tail.
jc]

Nothing out of the ordinary here. Species diversity for the year is only running about 75% of long term avg. for this garden.

Found a Monarch here that was tagged! The ID is WPA 721.
How/to whom do I report the sighting?

[CC: Exciting! Call the number on the tag: 1-888-TAGGING and please report back to us what you learn! From the WPA 721, you should be able to learn when and where it was tagged. jc]

Hoping to still find Pipevine Swallowtail, but still a nice selection of butterflies flying near the property.

[This is only our 5th report of painted lady this year. jc]

Hairstreaks favored Thoroughworts.

[Hayhurst's scallopwings are usually scarce in September, and this month, so far, we have only two reports – both from CMCH: Cynthia Allen's yard on 9-20 and this one from Dolores A's yard on 9-22. Our all-time latest log record is 9-23-12 (from David Amadio's yard in West Deptford, GLO). jc]

Our FOY Ocola for the yard. Again three white-m's – two together on mountain mint and other a runt 15 yards away. Cloudless sulphurs hard to count because circling through yard and possibly returning all day long: are they the same three or four individuals or fifteen or twenty passing migrants? Have decided to follow the Great Backyard Birdwatch Count rule for those (and monarchs): listing only the highest count present at one time.

Went back to look for the Little Yellows again and could not find any but my first Camden County Long-tailed Skipper made the trip.

[Chip's find adds a third county for our log for long-tail in 2016. At the moment we have a sighting each from BUR and now CAM and all other records (7) have been from CMY. Can we add another county over the next week or two? jc]

4:30-5:20 pm

No swallowtails for past three days. Nice to come home to second red-spotted purple of the day.

2nd stop and clouds had increased. Little yellows are all over this area. I only counted them on my return walk and saw one albinistic form The cloudless sulphurs were flying in all directions today, but there were a couple of times when 5 or 6 could be seen at once (it is hard to travel 3 miles without seeing a cloudless sulphur in the Cape these days). Wild indigo numbers way down from last week.

mid 70's; partly cloudy. First stop around 12:30. Amazing how nicely a mated pair of cabbage whites can fly.

Cloudless Sulphurs and Ocola Skippers came through the property and both stopped for nectar from Field Thistle and a Goldenrod species. There was an Ocola Skipper still nectaring on the Goldenrod species at 6:12 pm!

My second Cloudless Sulphur chrysalis this summer (and ever)! This one not yet emerged. I also found a Monarch chrysalis (first I've found this season). :-)

Gray & Red-Banded Hairstreaks on goldenrod.

Afternoon visit, 2:00pm to 3:00pm, with full overcast conditions.

Too early for much activity, as field with still wet and very overcast. Still surprising finds along the access road. Common Buckeye caterpillars in many spots (at least six found).

[Chip's find of little yellow gives us our 4th county for the species in 2016: CMY (all but 4 reports, at the moment), CUM (one report), ATL (two reports), and CAM (this report). jc]

Leps I noticed while looking for Odes.

4:30-5:15 walk.

Overcast with some dim sun. Surprised to get 9 sp. in these conditions. Best sighting: Hayhurst's Scallopwing which Will Kerling says is the group's 60th species for September. My previous late date for this species was Sept. 11.

Found 7 butterfly species in the heart of downtown CMCH. My favorite finds were a Fiery Skipper and a Red-spotted Purple.

It was very wet in the morning from yesterday's rains. A fresh, blooming flower of a Primrose species reveals this well. Pearl Crescents were basking in the early morning wet grasses.

A female Eastern Tailed-Blue had a wing that did not properly dry and a predator took bites out of its false head areas. Also, this bug was exceptionally small.

I was here starting mid morning for birding. I wasn't expecting much with butterflies with the weather. Stuff started emerging after a couple hours or so. Cloudy, 72 to maybe 75 degrees. Loads of nectar in the refuge. Eupatorium species were the best. I like being wrong at times! The Eastern Tailed Blues were all over the dirt road as I walked back from the pump house.

Newton's Landing Trail joins to the trails of Pennington Park and follows along the Rancocas Creek.

Walking with a dog in soaked grasses at 4:30 pm, I suddenly saw an Eastern Tailed-Blue lift off the ground by an accidental flush from the Golden Retriever.

There was a male Eastern Tailed-Blue flying in the wet grasses at the base of the Butterfly Bush. Some Sachems were getting nectar from the flower clusters on the Butterfly Bush.

In the pouring rain, I flushed my first butterfly of the day - a Common Buckeye.

It rained from daylight until 3 pm and there was still some sprinkles when I entered this vacant lot. Pleased to flush so many butterflies and an Eastern Tailed-Blue landed on my sock and was probing through it for nourishment. This was a hard photo to take with the SLR.
A Common Buckeye, after this experience, landed in the wet grasses and I noticed interesting natural history on its wings. Each hindwing had a missing slot through an eyespot from a predator or predators!

Mint-fresh female Black Swallowtail. Female Horace's Duskywing.

I counted 4, three together, certainly there were many more, hot sun, light south wind. This one a male? I try to see dorsal markings through transparent wing.

[I'd call the photo'd sulphur a male orange sulphur, but I like "sulphur, sp" as a designation when unsure. jc]

One would look at this field and pass it by. Very dry, very little nectar, but a surprising amount of life exists here. The nectar is restricted to small amounts of Late-flowering thoroughwort and a very small patch of flat-topped godenrod. Fiery skippers were 2 males and a female. White M was nectaring on thoroughwort when I flushed it. A flash of iridescence and off into the sky and out of sight. A trio of mantids, apparently two males competing for a female made for an interesting image.

My second sighting of Variegated Fritillary. Last several days there have been Pearl Crescents in the garden. It is very dry. Sweet Pea no longer filled with skippers.

First Viceroy sighting in the garden this year.

Found great butterfly diversity here today including three species of hairstreaks!!

[Will's Ocola report gives us our 6th county for the species: GLO, CAM, CUM, CMY, BUR, and ATL. Only SAL and OCN remain for a clean sweep of our eight counties. jc]

Toured around seeking Liatris and the butterflies coming to it and blooming thistle.

per sister, Jenny McCann, new year yard butterfly Mourning Cloak – on rotten fruit.

With help of Teresa Knipper.
Weather was glorious.
Also seen 2 White Female Sulphurs

after 6 pm, sedums still the attractive flower

also saw a cooperative sora

visited around noon; returned at around 3:30 because we had seen the long tailed skipper but did not get a photo. It was at the beginning of the red trail on yellow flowers.

around 9-10 am

The bush was loaded with Sachems and a lone Cabbage White!

A Cloudless Sulphur bounded across the road near the main intersection of town.

Cloudless Sulphurs are everywhere you go in September.

Was surprised to see only one species in this vacant lot! There is always more variety than this.

Only one butterfly was active in the yard and it was an egg laying Common Buckeye.

There were skippers and Monarchs in this garden.

There was good butterfly variety walking the streets of CMP.

Common Buckeyes, Cloudless Sulphurs and Little Yellows were common along the ponds and dune.

A Long-tailed Skipper made a quick appearance in the boat and left just as quickly.

Did not venture into the woods today.

Mostly cloudy at this point in the afternoon. Still found Viceroys at their expected post. Question Mark was a fall form individual.

Wind picked up a bit here making photography a challenge. Again very dry but still productive. Found a very handsome Buckeye here showing strong blue scaling on its FW costa.

Very dry here in Glouco. I was surprised to find a total of 27 species at this facility including the Crossline & Swarthy Skippers only seen in the butterfly garden. Observed 20 Monarch cats that have almost eaten all of their Common Milkweed host plants. Fortunately they were mostly 4th instar cats. They are receiving stiff competition from Milkweed Tussock moth cats as well.

The only Eastern Tiger today here was a very worn out dark female.

Continues to be very active. Little Yellows a new county butterfly for me.

Sightings are from Palmyra Cove Nature Park & adjoining private property - 11 am to 3 pm.

[Moderator's Note: Tom's Ocola adds a new county to our list of sightings for this species this year. In order they have come from: GLO, CUM, CAM, CMY, and BUR. We need ATL, OCN, and SAL to complete the sweep!]

Beautiful native plant garden. Good diversity, though many showing their age now. Strong numbers of some species greatly down from last month.

A Cloudless Sulphur flew up and over our car.

There were two Silver-spotted Skipper Cats hanging out in leaf shelters on a Locust tree. Photos of Confused Eusarca (Euscara confusaria) and a Peck's Skipper captured by Ambush Bugs. David Wright has 264 records of Ambush Bug captures of butterflies through the years. For 2016, I have sent him captures of Broad-winged Skipper, Sachems, Peck's Skippers, Gray Hairstreak and Silver-spotted Skipper.

Mint fresh Red-banded Hairstreak. Two female E. Tigers were fairly fresh so it looks like a late season ahead for this species.

Quick look at garden. Didn't stay long.

Female Horace's here today. Only the 3rd Horace's in this garden for 2016.

Found a Pearl Crescent and an American Lady in lawn grass catching the first morning sun.

Looked for Ocola Skipper on Sedum plants and found only Sachems and a Gray Hairstreak.

There are Sachems anywhere one checks in Cape May County!

A Common Buckeye was laying green eggs on Narrow-leafed Plantain leaves.

Watched a female Sachem lay eggs under grass leaves which I think belong to Crab Grass.
Photo of two Sachem eggs under grass leaves.

Nice areas of ironweed along the drive. Area borders the Peek Preserve and Manumuskin River Preserve areas.

Many thanks to Harvey for the alerts and for getting me to hustle faster to Cape May today. Walked between the two areas from 11:20 am to 12:40pm.

[The photos document three highlights: another Ocola to add to our growing count for the month (about 10 reports so far); our third long-tailed skipper of 2016 (2nd in CMY); and our first painted lady since June 27 (and only 3rd of year). Nice set of shots! jc]

Our personal backyard record for white-m (old one-day record = 1), all visible at the same time on sedum 10 yards apart.

Moving our 20+ remaining monarch cats from leafless milkweeds to others. Uneaten leaves very dry, however.

[Congratulations to Chip on a new late date for Appalachian brown – breaking old record of 9/13, set in 2013 and matched last year. jc]

Observations 5-5:20–garden only

Beautiful day after a very long hot summer. The butterflies were really out in force.

All three R.B.Hairstreaks were on Sedum.

[Moderator Note: Congratulations to Jack on our second long-tailed of 2016 and the first in CMY.]

There was a surprise Little Yellow passing through the property just above the ground level and it was travelling SE!

Little yellow numbers building. I stopped counting at 60.

Me Too!…FOY Ocola Skipper in the garden.

Return visit this week to a favorite patch.