October 2017 Sightings

Will Kerling

Highs Beach Area - CMCH, NJ
Cape May County, NJ

Found my first Aaron's Skipper in the month of October. We saw a Lady species come across the bay from Delaware into the dunes after the sun went down.
There were lots of Monarchs, Painted Ladies and Common Buckeyes on the Seaside Goldenrod in the dune system.

  • Cabbage White 8
  • Orange Sulphur 2
  • Red-banded Hairstreak 1
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 1
  • Variegated Fritillary 1
  • Lady sp. 1
  • Pearl Crescent 1
  • American Lady 1
  • Painted Lady 14
  • Common Buckeye 29
  • Monarch 54
  • Common Checkered-Skipper 1
  • Aaron's Skipper 1
  • Fiery Skipper 2
  • Sachem 1

Variegated Fritillary

Aaron's Skipper

Common Buckeye

David L. Amadio

Riverwinds River Trail & community center
Gloucester County, NJ

A surprising 19 species here this afternoon. One has to get off into the drifts of White Snakeroot & Stinging nettles to find them. This area is often the best Glouco spot for Fiery Skippers. Found 7 males today. Also a fresh brood of R.B.Hairstreaks.

  • Cabbage White 11
  • Orange Sulphur 5
  • Red-banded Hairstreak 8
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 6
  • Pearl Crescent 1
  • Eastern Comma 1
  • American Lady 2
  • Painted Lady 5
  • Red Admiral 2
  • Common Buckeye 4
  • Red-spotted Purple 1
  • Viceroy 1
  • Monarch 3
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 2
  • Wild Indigo Duskywing 2
  • Least Skipper 2
  • Fiery Skipper 7
  • Peck's Skipper 1
  • Sachem 18

Fiery Skipper

Fiery Skipper

American Lady

Jesse and Jack Connor

Our yard in Port Republic
Atlantic County, NJ

Two species not seen here yesterday – black s'tail and fiery skipper. (Missed two also – orange sulphur and pearl crescent.) More sachems today probably bcs sunnier and less breezy during short afternoon search (3:30-4:15). Temp ~70.

  • Black Swallowtail 2
  • Cabbage White 7
  • Painted Lady 6
  • Monarch 1
  • Ocola Skipper 1
  • Fiery Skipper 1
  • Sachem 20

Ocola Skipper

Fiery Skipper

David L. Amadio

Backyard butterfly garden, West Deptford
Gloucester County, NJ

Fresh Red Banded Hairstreak & Zab in the garden.

  • Cabbage White 1
  • Red-banded Hairstreak 1
  • Zabulon Skipper 1
  • Sachem 2

Red-banded Hairstreak

Zabulon Skipper

David L. Amadio

Wheelabrator Refuge, Westville
Gloucester County, NJ

Just checked the garden and adjacent field. found a female Fiery Skipper on the Montauk daisy.

  • Cabbage White 1
  • Orange Sulphur 2
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 1
  • Viceroy 1
  • Fiery Skipper 1
  • Sachem 3

Fiery Skipper

Will Kerling

Knapweed Patch along West Hand Avenue - CMCH, NJ
Cape May County, NJ

Pleased to see a female and a male Zabulon Skipper. Also, saw a Monarch riding the thermals with 4 Turkey Vultures through the binoculars!
Photos of a Pearl Crescent resting through a cloudy period and closeups of the eyes and palpi of a Pearl Crescent and an Orange Sulphur.

  • Orange Sulphur 1
  • Red-banded Hairstreak 1
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 11
  • Pearl Crescent 1
  • Painted Lady 2
  • Common Buckeye 2
  • Monarch 1
  • Zabulon Skipper 2
  • Sachem 1

Tom Bailey

Palmyra Cove Nature Park & adjoining private property
Burlington County, NJ

8 to 11 am.

  • Cabbage White 11
  • Sulphur sp. 2
  • Orange Sulphur 27
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 3
  • Variegated Fritillary 1
  • Pearl Crescent 8
  • Painted Lady 6
  • Common Buckeye 15
  • Monarch 5
  • Wild Indigo Duskywing 1
  • Least Skipper 1
  • Sachem 3

David L. Amadio

Chestnut Branch Park, Mantua
Gloucester County, NJ

The garden is in decline now with mostly Frost Aster and some New England Aster still blooming.

  • Cabbage White 1
  • Pearl Crescent 6
  • Common Buckeye 2
  • Peck's Skipper 5
  • Sachem 21

Pat Sutton

Sutton GDN in Goshen
Cape May County, NJ

end of day stroll through the garden

  • Monarch 1
  • Ocola Skipper 1

Chris Tonkinson

Highs Beach
Cape May County, NJ

Calm, partly cloudy with clear skies in the evening. Monarchs moving south all day and roosting in Black Cherry Trees toward dark.

  • Cabbage White 8
  • Orange Sulphur 2
  • Painted Lady 8
  • Common Buckeye 26
  • Monarch 48

Monarch

Monarch

Monarch

Mike Lee & C Wyluda

Along Beach Ave (downtown Cape May)
Cape May County, NJ

from Madison Ave to Gurney Street

  • American Lady 1
  • Painted Lady a
  • Common Buckeye 3
  • Monarch a
  • Sachem 2

American Lady

Common Buckeye

Mike Lee & C Wyluda

Triangle Park - West Cape May
Cape May County, NJ

  • Painted Lady 2
  • Common Buckeye 2
  • Monarch 6
  • Ocola Skipper 2
  • Fiery Skipper 2

Ocola Skipper

Ocola Skipper

Will Kerling

Railroad Tracks along Magnolia Drive - CMCH, NJ
Cape May County, NJ

Counted 13 American Coppers and there was , most likely , more.

  • American Copper 13
  • Painted Lady 1

American Copper

Mike Lee & C Wyluda

Higbee Beach
Cape May County, NJ

Sunny and pleasant 68F

  • Spicebush Swallowtail 2
  • Cabbage White 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur 2
  • Red-banded Hairstreak 1
  • American Snout 8
  • Painted Lady 15
  • Common Buckeye 10
  • Monarch 20
  • Common Checkered-Skipper 1

American Snout

Red-banded Hairstreak

Will Kerling

MTBP - CMCH, NJ
Cape May County, NJ

Discovered a Red-spotted Purple egg laying on the tips of Black Cherry leaves. Also, one Black Cherry leaf had a first instar cat on it.
Photo of a Red-spotted Purple, a fresh R-s P egg and a first instar R-s P cat.

  • Cabbage White 1
  • Orange Sulphur 2
  • Pearl Crescent 4
  • Painted Lady 6
  • Common Buckeye 13
  • Red-spotted Purple 2
  • Monarch 3
  • Sachem 2

Red-spotted Purple caterpillar

Red-spotted Purple egg

Red-spotted Purple

Mike Lee & C Wyluda

Cape May Point State Park- Lighthouse Trails
Cape May County, NJ

Boardwalk only- Red Overlook Trails closed for repairs

  • Question Mark 2
  • Painted Lady 10
  • Red Admiral 2
  • Monarch 35

Red Admiral

Question Mark

Jack Miller & Jack Connor

Forsythe NWR, Oceanville
Atlantic County, NJ

9:15-1:30, primarily along auto-tour dikes. Temp ~60-70, sunny, breezy, beautiful day. A couple of probable clouded sulphurs (or hybrids). One white form clouded/orange. One white form cloudless. Only Am lady seen was so recently emerged it was reluctant to fly. Q'mark and red admiral also seemed very fresh. Monarchs apparently not on-the-move, instead mostly making short flights among seaside goldenrod.

  • Cabbage White 32
  • Sulphur sp. 18
  • Orange Sulphur 123
  • Cloudless Sulphur 11
  • Gray Hairstreak 1
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 2
  • Pearl Crescent 2
  • Question Mark 1
  • American Lady 1
  • Painted Lady 86
  • Red Admiral 1
  • Common Buckeye 59
  • Monarch 67
  • Fiery Skipper 2
  • Sachem 5

American Lady

Will Kerling

Wetlands Institute - Stone Harbor, NJ
Cape May County, NJ

Found two butterfly species in the Panoquina genus. These skippers have longer forewings than hind wings. One is local (Salt Marsh Skipper) and the other comes from the deep south (Ocola Skipper).
Photos - dorsal view of Salt Marsh Skipper and a dorsal view of Ocola Skipper with a male Sachem above it

  • Cabbage White 4
  • Cloudless Sulphur 1
  • American Lady 2
  • Painted Lady 16
  • Common Buckeye 3
  • Monarch 16
  • Salt Marsh Skipper 16
  • Ocola Skipper 1
  • Sachem 1

Will Kerling and Bridget O'Connor

Downtown, CMCH, NJ
Cape May County, NJ

It is the third day in a row that the Monarchs and the Common Buckeyes are on the move toward the south. There is a noticeable movement of Cloudless Sulphurs going northward.

  • Cabbage White 5
  • Orange Sulphur 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur 10
  • Variegated Fritillary 1
  • Pearl Crescent 3
  • Painted Lady 7
  • Red Admiral 1
  • Common Buckeye 7
  • Monarch 6

pain

Eastern Tailed-Blue

Will Kerling

West End of West Hand Avenue - CMCH, NJ
Cape May County, NJ

Found 2 Zabulon Skippers (female and male) and a female Fiery Skipper near Knapweed.
Photos of a worn Zabulon Skipper, a fresh Painted Lady and an Orange Sulphur getting nectar from Frost Aster.

  • Orange Sulphur 1
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 8
  • Pearl Crescent 3
  • Painted Lady 5
  • Monarch 1
  • Zabulon Skipper 2
  • Fiery Skipper 1

Pat Sutton

Sutton GDN in Goshen
Cape May County, NJ

  • Cabbage White 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur 1
  • Pearl Crescent 1
  • Painted Lady 1
  • Common Buckeye 1
  • Monarch 4
  • Ocola Skipper 1
  • Sachem 10

Will Kerling and Chris Tonkinson

High's Beach Area
Cape May County, NJ

Common Buckeyes, Painted Ladies and Monarchs were easy to find on the Seaside Goldenrod. This was a very brief survey.
Photos of a Common Buckeye and a Monarch on Seaside Goldenrod.

  • Orange Sulphur 1
  • American Lady 1
  • Painted Lady 12
  • Common Buckeye 11
  • Monarch 8
  • Sachem 1

Monarch

Will Kerling and Chris Tonkinson

Cape May Point, NJ
Cape May County, NJ

Once again, there Painted Ladies and Monarchs everywhere one would stop.

  • Cabbage White 4
  • Orange Sulphur 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur 1
  • American Lady 1
  • Painted Lady 6
  • Monarch 8
  • Fiery Skipper 1

Painted Lady

Will Kerling and Chris Tonkinson

Aleathea's Restaurant from Front Porch - Cape May, NJ
Cape May County, NJ

The butterflies were drifting south along the ocean.

  • Cabbage White 3
  • Painted Lady 4
  • Common Buckeye 2
  • Monarch 7
  • Sachem 1

Will Kerling

West Cape May, NJ
Cape May County, NJ

Common Buckeyes, Painted Ladies and Monarchs were moving everywhere we went this day.

  • Painted Lady 1
  • Common Buckeye 1
  • Monarch 2

Will Kerling

Schuhl's Garden - Cape May Point, NJ
Cape May County, NJ

There were 12 Ocola Skippers in this garden and a tattered White M Hairstreak. This was my first White M Hairstreak in this yard over the years.

  • Cabbage White 3
  • Orange Sulphur 1
  • White M Hairstreak 1
  • American Lady 3
  • Painted Lady 33
  • Common Buckeye 4
  • Monarch 21
  • Horace's Duskywing 1
  • Ocola Skipper 12
  • Fiery Skipper 3
  • Sachem 4

Ocola Skipper

Ocola Skipper

White M Hairstreak

Will Kerling

Behind MacDonalds in CMCH, NJ
Cape May County, NJ

There was a fresh Ocola Skipper on Black-eyed Susan flower.

  • Cabbage White 2
  • Orange Sulphur 1
  • Painted Lady 4
  • Common Buckeye 3
  • Ocola Skipper 1
  • Sachem 1

Ocola Skipper

Will Kerling

Rio Grande, NJ
Cape May County, NJ

Monarchs were moving to the south before 9 am.

  • Cabbage White 4
  • Painted Lady 2
  • Common Buckeye 1
  • Monarch 6

Brian Johnson

Natural Lands preserve on North Burden hill road
Salem County, NJ

At work today.

  • Orange Sulphur 2
  • Pearl Crescent 3
  • Question Mark 1
  • Mourning Cloak 1
  • Painted Lady 1
  • Common Buckeye 2
  • Monarch 2
  • Ocola Skipper 1
  • Least Skipper 5
  • Peck's Skipper 1

Will Kerling and Chris Tonkinson

Cape May, NJ near the NJ Audubon Nature Center
Cape May County, NJ

There was a fresh male, White M Hairstreak on Seaside Goldenrod.

  • Cabbage White 10
  • Orange Sulphur 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur 1
  • White M Hairstreak 1
  • Gray Hairstreak 1
  • Painted Lady 7
  • Common Buckeye 13
  • Monarch 16

White M Hairstreak

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