December 2018 Sightings

laying eggs on stinging nettles.

Mostly sunny, 60ºF, winds W 10-15mph. Brief look at Comma/Question Mark flying west along outer beach during late AM.

I saw the Buckeye while driving. I stopped and saw it fly into the yard of a private residence.

A fly through with a short stop.

Late morning with full sun and mid 50's.

Seen while walking to the garage to go out. Going south but stopped briefly at my lone blooming Rudibeckia plant.

45 degrees F at 11:45 a.m. Sunning on a stretch of boardwalk on the Yellow Trail. Flushed and photo'd on an American Holly tree trunk. How the heck did it survive the cold weather we've had to date? [Could this possibly be an escapee from Santa's sleigh? This is our first report since December 4th. Since then, the Cape has seen 3" of snow, 4" of rain, and lots of wind and clouds. Congrats to Pat, Clay and the bug! - jm]

43 degrees and sunny, walking the blue trail. [The southern most point in NJ does again. Congrats to Chris on not just one but two butterflies today. Will we get another 2018 report? -jm]

I had not seen any bflies here recently and thought this attempt might be futile. For the past few winters, I have wondered about the sulphur colonies that exist in the Cape in December. When I see some of these sulphurs fly and show lemon yellow, I think "clouded." However, they often show orange dots when see dorsally. I still wonder if hybrids of these two species might have an cold weather edge. See the blog on this topic from 12/22/15.

Sunny. Mid 50s.

50 and sunny. I studied the photos of the recently reported RA's at the Point, and I am convinced this is a different bug. Unrelated to that, this RA was happy to stay put: notice the proboscis in the sap. I missed a bfly that flew away from the path that I believe was a buckeye. A young observer who saw it just after I gave up on it called it a "painted lady." I was surprised to hear peepers, see a green frog, and see a ribbon snake (my new LOY for snakes in SJ).

[Startling collection of sightings just before the New Year begins – especially the two vertebrates. jc]