Recent sightings

9 am- 1:30. Clouds, sun and some rain. Two different locations had all three hairstreaks. For the past few years almost all of the northern broken-dashes in this area are of the reddish variety.

Not much blooming. All Butterflies were seen flying in the sedges and grasses.

Finally a Monarch. Last year they were here late May. For ID of Appalachian Brown I used recent sightings photos on this site as guide to name this small, eyed, brown butterfly which perched most often with wings open. It flew very low near nut grass and sedge grasses that get into my grassy paths.

Incidental sightings while out in the yard.

A quick late day (5 pm) foray surveying the roadside flowers on top of the dam by the road after a paddleboard ride. The spotted knap weed was pretty productive but I am going to go back there in the next week or so because the button bush was not yet blooming.

Mostly sunny, 82 degrees or so. The Common Milkweed was full out in bloom.

Always nice to see a Monarch!

Monarch a male

A quick walk around the preserve before starting my project for the day. I think that was the first time seeing a Broadwing on the preserve. Suprising to not see a GS Fritillary.

Checked this place out in the late morning having come north for a road-cleanup. I had binoculars but no camera.

So many ticks… There were a handful of satyrs I saw while bushwhacking that I did not identify.

This location was formerly known as the "abandoned sea food market." It has been fixed it up and the parking lot has been paved, but there is still a nice patch of dogbane. Salt marsh and Aarons are estimates as they were in near constant motion.

The R-S Purple was ovipositing on Cherry tree.

While working at Smith's Woods butterfly garden, 9:45-12:30. Our first adult monarch seen in the garden this summer, a male, showed up around 11:00, and fed on butterflyweed and coneflowers. Two black swallowtail caterpillars and 1 chrysalis.

Butterflies are still scarce here and I am often seeing only one representative of a species. On Saturday, I had 7 species, almost all singles, that I did not have today. I saw my first black swallowtail here today, a ragged female; however, she must have been around for a while as I found cats on my parsley.

[This is our FOY rare skipper. - jm]

A bit of an uptick in numbers. Hoping it continues…

Lep Log reports: The satyrium hairstreak drought continues, with only a handful of Banded Hairstreak reports trickling in, and those in small numbers.

Not a lot of activity even with common milkweed in full bloom. Usually just one of an interesting bug. Today a Black ST laying eggs on fennel. A snout the other day laying eggs on he tips of leaves of hackberry.

Mulberry wings are flying but the Pickerelweed is way behind where it should be this time of year. I only saw 6 blooming stalks where there should have been hundreds.

Action still quite slow here. BW Skipper has been around for several days. Q-Mark was a fresh summer form bug.

8 am to 10:45 am. Mostly cloudy, warm & humid with a brief period of sprinkles. Almost all the Bog Coppers were observed sitting in vegetation motionless. Very few were active.

12:00 to 3:30 pm. Partly sunny, windy, hot & humid. 89 degrees when finished.

[Nice to see our first of 2020 Edward's hairstreak – found later in the year than our last one of 2019 (6-22-19 at this powerline). Let's hope this one is the first of many! jc]

[Welcome to Sally Phelan, our newest observer/contributor. jc]

High count of Appalachian Browns was around 7 pm at our fruit dishes. Male Monarch toured the garden all day, frequenting the Milkweed stands (hopeful for a female). Nessus Sphinx came at dusk too to the fruit dish.

It's what we didn't see that was puzzling: No Zabs, No Tiger Swallowtails, No Hairstreaks…and most others were only one each

[Congrats to Matt for reporting our FOY common wood-nymph. -jm]

While working in the butterfly garden today, am and pm.
6 black swallowtail cats on the parsley and dill: 5 first instar and 1 last instar.

1:30–4 pm. Sun and some clouds. Spicebush cat in the garden and little Glassywing. Several large stands of common milkweed but few butterflies. 2 adult Monarch and one cat.

[Nice list, and the WIDW may be the first sign of a second brood now flying. jc]

My favorite patch is rocking with wonderful milkweed just bursting now.

The Coral Hairstreak colony is doing well and this was the most Monarchs I've seen yet thus far this year.

No European Skippers found today, so that colony's flight season has apparently ended.

Ended our butterfly day with 8 Appalachian Browns on 2 of our fruit dishes at 6 pm. Polyphemus Moth (female) emerged from overwintering cocoon late in afternoon.

11:30-12:30

10:00-11:25am
Nice to see that the little wood satyrs were on schedule in the same exact location within the park as previous years.

Our Common Milkweed patch is robust and in full bloom. Hit it one more time hoping for something and there was the Banded Hairstreak, looking quite fresh.

Mid day, 80's, winds 18-22. I came here to look for duskywings, but the deerflies were unbearable in the places I was checking. I drove to the dike and I realized that there were lots of skippers. I could not get out of the car because the deerflies had made a defensive pact with the greenheads. However, it was easy to cruise the carless road looking at the yarrow along the side of the road. I spent an hour and only surveyed one of the three impoundments. Photo is of roadside yarrow (note car door open for emergency escape). Previous outbursts of salt marsh skippers have been reported in this area on the SJBP blog on 7/1/14, 7/7/18, and 6/22/19.

[Good job battling the demons to make that count. I am swatting in sympathy from inside my house. jc]

FOY for both Salt Marsh and Broad-winged Skippers

One Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and 6 black butterflies which I believe were Spicebush Swallowtails but I am a newbie at this!

[Welcome to the South Jersey Butterfly Project, Tim! Thanks for contributing. The swallowtail in the photo is indeed a spicebush. Keep exploring! jc]

Common milkweed blooming abundantly, so we're hoping it will bring more butterflies to our yard. So far, like other gardens apparently, our garden has been looking great but not drawing as well as it should.

At least the non-lep milkweed specialists have been coming on schedule, including the oddly-patterned red milkweed beetle in photo.

10 Black Swallowtail cats are currently on a Rue plant. First of the season here

Incidental sighting around 6pm, in our massive common milkweed patch, more like a forest now.

While working in the butterfly garden, am and pm.
2 black swallowtail cats feeding on parsley, late instar.
With such a profusion of milkweed, I would have expected more butterflies.

I was starting to lose hope that I would see the little colony of Banded Hairstreaks that appears annually in certain sunny spots up in the oak leaves in my yard. I was especially concerned when I read this in the Lep Log which covers the DC/VA/MD area to our south:
"It's a different story for hairstreaks, currently showing the most lackluster season I can recall here in the mid-Atlantic. The single Banded Hairstreak noted last week remains the only report I've seen, and there is exactly one record of Striped Hairstreak this week, near Dulles Airport."

So I was very happy to see my FOY Banded Hairstreak in the "usual" spot.

[Excellent news, Cynthia. Your colony came through. And thank you for passing along the info from the Lep Log. jc]

Obs. from 2-3:20, clouds & sun 87-90. Very little action here. Dotted Skipper showed up long enough for one quick binocular look & one click of the shutter. Never saw it again.

Obs. made from 10:12 to 1:30, mostly sunny 84-87. The fewest butterflies that I have ever seen here. Also I have never come here this time of year and came away without a single Satyrium Hairstreak. Not sure what to make of it. Just one of those days. Mulberry Wings just tired me out. No photos of them today. Tried twice to chase them down and was flirting with heat exhaustion so gave up. Only one lone Bog Copper in this overgrown bog.

[Be careful out there, Dave! We need you! And congratulations on our log's first mulberry wings of 2020. jc]

The Salt Marsh Skipper was shot by Ernie…stellar shot and was a lifer for him!!!!!! And a which-is-it? skipper…no surprise there…Right?

[Who wants to chip in an ID of Harvey's mystery skipper? Email either of our two moderators: jm or jc. We will incorporate into this comment box. Thanks to anyone who can contribute. jc]

Hackberry was fresh and was spotted around 5 pm in a sunny spot

Our yard Raccoon is playing havoc with the fruit dishes (having to put them in our shed over night). 4 Appalachian Browns were on one of our fruit dishes at 8:30 pm. Amazing! Nessus Sphinx on fruit dish was a bonus. 3+ Black Swallowtail caterpillars on Fennel, plus a number of eggs.

[Our first tawny emperor of 2020. Nice! jc]

Brief stop from 2:45 to 3 pm. Many sulfur sp. out in the fields.

1:35 to 2:30. Sunny, hot & humid.

8:40 to 1 pm. Mostly sunny, hot & humid. 86 degrees when finished. Excellent site that deserves more attention. Gave up on counting E. Tailed Blues at 50. Probably 150 to 200 at least. Walked all four fields but did not walk all the sedge areas for Appalachian Browns. Many areas of milkweed in full bloom. Am. Lady very worn.

[Yes, and apparently our best spot for great spangled which generally occurs as only solo individuals elsewhere in South Jersey. jc]

I was working in the yard most of the afternoon. My yard has lots of bloom but few butterflies.

Two first instar Black ST cats on parsley.

Hackberry Emperor looked fresh as can be! Red-banded Hairstreak was very worn. Red-spotted Purple was investigating Black Cherry for egg laying.

Our same 4 spicebush swallowtails from yesterday were continuing to feed on the common milkweed flowers, but were joined by a brand new tiger swallowtail today.

A dark Swallowtail unidentified. Early black ST cats on parsley, rue, and fennel.

86 degrees, sun mainly but spots of clouds, very humid. Deer flies unrelenting. 2:10-4:15.

[Thanks for hanging in there despite the flies, Chris. Impressive list and numbers! jc]

On this Father's Day I decided to treat myself to a long, hot walk to a Pine Barrens savannah / bog that I have never been to before. 2 to 4:30 pm and 82 degrees when finished with thunderstorms nearby. The count of Two-spotted Skippers is accurate. Counts of 3, 2, 2 and the rest solos. The three interacting appeared to be two males & a female. Two males which were continually in aerial duels were chasing each other around me and landing on my head, hands, and binoculars. This species reminded me of Zabulon Skippers. As I approached an area they would fly out and "inspect" me. I also watched them fly out and challenge Bog Coppers, Georgia Satyrs, and even a dragonfly. The satyrs & coppers (especially) were probably under-counted as I was concentrating on observing the skippers.

[A NJ Pine Barrens festival! jc]

8:30 to 12:15 pm. Humid and cloudy at start. Mostly sunny and 80 degrees when finished.

Walked one of the few bogs that I know for Two-spotted Skippers at midday. This one is very difficult to get to! It was a relief to see them after the flooding rain we had in mid June last year. I missed the picture of the Striped Hairstreak on Inkberry.

[Congrats on our FOY striped hairstreak of 2020, Brian. jc]

Observations made between 2:00 - 3:30.

I believe that the pictured skipper is a Northern Broken-dash, but not 100% sure.

[Thank you Tom for including an excellent photo of one of our most difficult butterflies to identify. I believe the photo is of a female tawny-edged. Note how the fw leading edge orange area runs parallel to the edge and the dark inner area. Also, although more debatable, the ends of the two largest white marks lack the pair of points leading to to wing's back edge which the dots look more like squares than rectangle and there is the conspicuous lone white dot that is not usually seen in N. broken-dash. As always, comments, reactions and corrections to this posting are welcome. -jm]

Hoping for some Hairstreaks or a Mulberry wing this morning. The Inkberry was in full bloom but was not attracting any Butterflies. I did see a few Swarthy Skippers on the Colicroot. Probably the first time that I have seen a Butterfly feeding on it.

5-7, boardwalk… "polinator garden" looked great but no butterflies… only bees. did find a northern water snake and a skink.

9-1:30… warm and sunny… (where are the coppers?) walked a lot of trails but everything was a spice bush.
some mountain larerl still blooming; blue berries all in green fruit.

Obs. made from 2:30 till 4:40, mostly cloudy 82-85 with some sunny breaks. No sign of Banded Hairstreaks yet here, but Coral Hairstreaks remain strong. All Eastern Commas were fresh summer form individuals. American Lady was mint fresh.

[Congrats to Dave for our FOY hackberry emperor. Our log's last report of hackberry emperor was on 9/15/19 by Dave. - jm]

Incidental sightings in the yard from 3 to 7:30 pm.