October 2017 Sightings

80 Sunny

The American Coppers are still active at the cemetery.

80 Sunny

80 Sunny

8 small Black Swallowtail Cats.

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.

7 Monarchs in garden but dozens more were flying southbound between 3:00-4:30 just above tree line and higher, many only visible through binoculars while hawkwatching.

2 large Monarch caterpillars. Nectar dwindling. Down to Mexican Sunflowers, Tropical Milkweed, Zinnias.

74 little sun, 11 Black Swallowtail Cats.

Late in the day and heavy cloud cover.

Monarchs were predominantly flying S/SW fairly high overhead. Recorded mostly from 10am-12pm. Painted Lady, Sachem, Buckeye were on Zinnias most of day.

Later in the afternoon I had some time to kill and decided to place a chair next to my Butterfly Bush and just enjoy the activity of the butterflies coming and going. In a short time a Long-tailed Skipper came in and it was in my yard for only a matter of seconds. Good thing my camera was around my neck at the time. This is a yard first!

There was a fresh Ocola Skipper getting nectar from Lantana at the village shopping center.

The three butterflies on the move in Cape May County were all on this walk. They are the Common Buckeyes, Painted Ladies and Monarchs.

A Red-banded Hairstreak landed on my jeans while walking across a road.

Saw a female and two male Fiery Skippers here.

First one in our yard.

The flowered entrance of this campground was really being attended by various butterflies.

It was really windy and the butterflies were hunkered down.

The butterflies were not too active due to the weather.

The Red-banded Hairstreak was a great find.

Discovered butterflies in a weedy patch by Home Depot.

cloudy conditions. Painted lady nectaring on marguerite daisy.

while birding primarily–cloudy and light misting rain. Monarch migrating–was high in sky.

The Monarchs were moving through toward the south.

Saw brighter skies and headed to the dredge spoil site . Spent about an hour from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. All nectaring observed on Frost Asters.

The Painted Ladies are so common this year regardless of the time or weather.