September 2017 Sightings

Found only four butterfly species during a chilly and windy morning.
Photos of a Least Skipper, a Question Mark and a Common Buckeye.

Cool temps here reduced butterfly activity. Most of the action was provided by several migrating Hummingbirds. Observed a Red-Banded Hairstreak imbibing sugars from ripe bananas.

Saw a patch of Thistle plants, in one short stretch, that had 21 Spicebush Swallowtails gathering nectar from its flowers!!

Despite the switched in seasons, the area yielded some butterfly activity.

Cloudy,70 degrees with minimal filtered sun from 3:15 to 4:25 p.m. Late flowering thoroughwort the main nectar source here now. Also observed one American Copper nectaring on Pearly everlasting. Fiery Skipper was a fresh male. All but one Spicebush were well worn.

Yes, Sachems can be found in Woodbine.

Always brings a smile watching a Sachem chasing a Ruby-throated Hummingbird out of my yard.

Found six species of skippers getting nectar from Joe Pye Weed.
Photos of a male Sachem and a worn Aaron's Skipper on a Joe Pye Weed plant and a Broad-winged Skipper on a different Joe Pye Weed plant.

Found an Eastern Tailed-Blue which flushed in the wet lawn grasses.

Once again, I discovered active Least Skippers in the rain. Had 3 butterfly species and a total of 28 individual butterflies for the day.

It rained all day and that did not slow down the Least Skippers! Found 20 Least Skippers , actively, weaving through a garden full of weeds which was getting soaked by the rain coming down. The only other butterfly , at this spot , was a rag Sachem clinging to the top blossoms of a Butterfly Bush.

11:30 to 2:15.

Did not venture into the woods today. Late afternoon 4-4:50 p.m. Cloudy and 71 degrees. Mostly A Sachem show, but found one faded male Fiery.

Mostly cloudy but some action including a fresh female Black Swallowtail.

Found the Tawny Emperors and they are fewer now and more worn. Briefly, I saw two snouts in the hackberries, also.
Photos of Tawny Emperor (each side), a Cloudless Sulphur blending and a Red-banded Hairstreak.

Discovered 16 butterfly species and finally the Spicebush Swallowtails are becoming less evident.

Stopped here for about 15 min. As usual a wonderful garden.

NY Ironweed & Late Flowering thoroughwort the main nectar source here. Got to observe repeatedly the brilliant blue dorsal side of a very active White M Hairstreak. Peck's Skippers included a mated pair.

Observations at 11:30 and again around 1 p.m. My second go around here turned up a fresh Pipevine Swallowtail, my first adult Pipevine this year. Always an increase in heart rate when this beauty catches some sun! Fiery Skippers showing strong preference for mistflower over the zinnias.

The Sedums were just starting to bloom today and six Sachems were getting nectar from a cluster around the base of a tree.

Three, maybe four monarchs active today along with riot of sachems and what I can't ID without binos. Saw Monarchs mating one day last week. Here Monarch Caterpillar on Milkweed.

The Tawny Emperors are still around in big numbers amongst the many Hackberry trees that are to be found at this location. In the dune, beyond the Hackberry groves, were Cloudless Sulphurs in rapid movement from the south heading north.
Saw buckeyes, Painted Ladies and Monarchs heading out over the bay toward Delaware. There was a Monarch we followed feeding on the beach before its flight across the bay.
Photos of a Monarch feeding and flying from spot to spot before a bay crossing and a male Tawny Emperor on perch defending its territory.

Gone most of the day but found a few early. Found a fresh Monarch waiting for the day's sun. This was from the chrysalis found 8/24 attached to Basil.

Arrived here at around 10:20 a.m. I think this is my first encounter with White M at this location.

The only Cloudless Sulphur that I observed in Salem County came here.

Two spicebush cats, and 9 black ST cats. 1 monarch released plus a mated pair.

Plenty of butterflies and birds moving in and out this day. We tallied 20 butterfly species with all the major families represented.

I was running out of avaialable time to explore today. The Late Flowering thoroughwort was incredible along the RR tracks. My hurried observations did not do this area justice today.

Still fairly wet here. Winds picked up while I explored the fields for about 40 min.