October 2017 Sightings

Light breeze, partly cloudy, 80 degrees. Lots of ladies and Monarchs here today. Double-crested Cormorants heading south over the marsh in large flocks.

80 Sunny

Only checked along the first plover pond. Late afternoon.

Action light here this afternoon.

There were 3 Ocola Skippers and 4 Fiery Skippers visiting Montauk Daisy in a front yard.

There are fresh male and female Sachems appearing now while one can see incredible rags from the previous brood. This field experience is common to all places visited in CM County at present.
Photos of a rag male and a female Sachem along Rte. 9 and a fresh male along the Railroad Tracks in CMCH.

Made a final search on this private property and found a good number of fresh looking Bronze Coppers. This final brood is the highest concentration on the site since spring.

Common Checkered-Skipper (last seen here in 2015) is my 39th species for my butterfly garden in 2017. That gives me my highest garden total yet in a single year.

Ocola Skippers continue. Numbers of butterflies decreasing. Monarch tagging being done in the yard. More Painted Ladies than American Ladies with good numbers still.

9:40-12:30
Summer azure was totally worn and missing part of a hindwing.

warm and sunny, 85 degrees. 6 black swallowtail cats on parsley. 2 monarch chrysalids.

Painted Ladies are, once again, easy to find.

Slight drop in diversity from a week ago, but still fairly active. A Polyphemus moth cat was feeding on River Birch.

The Painted Ladies were active in a yard before the sun came over the nearby forest.

On and off observations, 1 pm - 4 pm. Sunny, still, humid, 80+ degrees. Pipevine s'tail around most of the afternoon, nectaring on Verbena and both blue and red Salvias.

While birding today I recorded all butterflies seen as well. 7-12 noon. All the Monarchs seen were migrating.

Found a fresh Question Mark & Wild Indigo Duskywing in the garden today.

Discovered a floating Red-spotted Purple among trees and a Cloudless Sulphur went into a tree and blended into the leaves.
Photos of a male Sachem and a blended Cloudless Sulphur.

The wind and clouds keep the butterfly activity at a low level.

Just a brief look on this rainy day. Q-Mark was the same individual seen yesterday.

Saw a fresh Red-spotted Purple near the bike trail this day.

There were 4 Painted Ladies that nectared on Butterfly Bush flowers for hours. This activity was continued through the pouring rain periods!

Cabbage whites actively nectaring in the rain.

Monarch chrysalis getting dark. 1 large Monarch caterpillar.

I was out birding. The sun started coming out and the Bronze Copper landed right in front of me! All I had was my iPhone. I have a very bad pic if anyone wants. 80 degrees or so. SW winds, some sun. The Bronze Copper was a female.

Found 5 butterfly species around 8:30 am.
Photo of a Cabbage White.

Sought and found one Little Yellow. It was a fresh male.

Saw a Wild Indigo Duskywing searching for nectar from flowers.

A very fresh Monarch was present all day today in my garden. Had another Monarch present daily for several days before the rain.