January 2016 Sightings

May be the first butterfly of the year. Saw a basking Orange Sulphur at 10:02 am then one minute later, another Orange Sulphur flew around in the field for a couple of minutes before landing - temperature 39 degrees.

An Orange Sulphur flying in a grassy area.

Found during the Barnegat Xmas Bird Count. Photos taken by Jeff Ellerbusch. Thanks, Jeff.

Moderator Note: Congratulations to both observers on this discovery. Believe it or not, Tom and Jeff's find gives the Barnegat CBC its second January monarch in our log's eight years! Rick Radis and others found one on that count on 1-1-12. (Our latest-ever date for monarch was also established in 2012: Michael O'Brien found one on Wildlin Lane in Cape May on 1-12-12).

Found my 1st ever January butterfly in Gloucester County.Most years here butterflies are only a memory at this point in time, but after December's surprises it was worth the chase for a couple more days.This Buckeye flew briefly along the pipeline cut.

Midday on the Cumberland CBC.

An albino, so can't be sure if it was an Orange or a Clouded Sulphur.

Lunch time break from CBC and looked over this field from 12:15 to 12:40pm. Sunny, 52 degrees.

Upper 40's and sunny (finally!).

Orange Sulphur sunning itself and taking small flights during the warmth of the day.

Following Steve Glynn's lead I stopped at Langley Rd and found an additional 6 Sulphur's. We had 11 at a field Steve has visited in the past. I have 2 Orange and 1 Clouded I can call the others sp.

Partly sunny, 57 degrees. Former double-digit count of individuals in this field has now been reduced to only a pair, male and female, of hardy stock.

1 azure at the north shore campground at 10.00 am cloudy and 60. 2 azures at the sand roads around the Tarkiln bogs at 1.00 pm Sunny and 65. It was very odd walking around Belleplain in a tee-shirt looking for them at this time of year.

Watched 7 individual Orange Sulphurs flying, at once, from the car!

Moderator Note: Whew! These Dec/Jan blueberry azures – now recorded in three different areas (Beaver Dam, Lizard Tail, and Belle Plain) by three different observers (Jim D, Will K, and Brian J) – have to send your mind spinning. Jim's dorsal shot here stirs the mix some more. That's a female's pattern. In the usual emergence in March, we generally (always?) see males flying first.

After the Orange Sulphur experience, I decided to go and check for Blueberry Azures on Beaver Dam Road due to the December sighting by Jim Dowdell. Sure enough, I saw Celastrina lucia there!!! Now have flight records for this species in 6 different months - December through May - thanks to one bizarre winter.

This Red Admiral was sunning on my roof before flying into the woods. My first-ever January butterfly in the yard!

Just after 11 am, I witnessed an Orange Sulphur actively flying on its own in this field.

Moderator's Note: Hey, SJBFers. Just so there's no confusion. Our "Recent Sightings" page has not gone blank below this Jan 15th report by Will K. It's just that this is the only sighting in the past two weeks (the most recent earlier reports are from Jan 10). If you want to see other January reports, just click on January to the right….It's 23 degrees outside and our SJ landscape is covered with snow, so this orange sulphur might be our last butterflyer for a while yet….but we will see!

Lawn Crocuses have been blooming on West Hand Avenue since January 8th. Images here from 1-26-16.

Orange Sulphur photo'd 1-28-16 in a field with the temperature at 40 degrees in this area of CMCH. It is a strange winter!

The Orange Sulphur was flying freely, although I was surprised to see only one.

Sunny, 56 degrees, with snow cover. Grandson and I were out looking for birds and the sulphur flushed along the road and flew some distance as we watched it from the car. No camera available to photograph it. Got out of car and followed it into grassy patch and confirmed species.