June 2018 Sightings

With Marilyn and Bonnie. Kind of slow for butterflies.

Found myself in the area and checked on the Dotteds.

During homeschool program in the Smith's Woods butterfly garden, sunny and very hot (90's).
1 black swallowtail caterpillar eating the last of the parsley. The hairstreak landed on a girl's sneaker.

[Good to hear kids are learning butterflies. Keep at it, JB! jc]

10-11:30am, cloudy and muggy, no sun until the last 10 minutes. Only 1 black swallowtail caterpillar on parsley.
The great spangled fritillary was last seen here on June 2014, so certainly a great treat after four years! There were two - one perfect and one ragged. We also had a new dragonfly species that was never recorded here - a dragonhunter.

[This is also only our second report of spangled frit of the year. Most of our reports of the species over the years have come from SAL. Gochfeld and Burger note that there seems to have been a change in this species' status in NJ (through the 20th century) – as it became much less common on the Coastal Plain than it once was. jc]

92 degrees & sunny, 5 pm - 6 pm. Hoping for more activity as all the common milkweed is in full bloom, but was getting late. Possible buckeye, but not a good enough look.

82 degrees but heavy cloud cover–very humid and biting flies annoying. 5-6 pm. Power line cut has mowed path but ticks anyway. 2 Black ST cats in the garden on fennel.

Finding the well-fed American Lady caterpillar on my Globe thistle made up for a dreary day with no butterflies!

Butterfly garden vicinity, 10-11:30am
Overcast and cool, in between periods of light misty rain.

73 degrees, cloudy, windy, and even drizzle. 10-2pm.
Tough butterflying in these conditions but we had numerous little wood satyrs. 3 monarch cats all on one milkweed. Extensive c. Milkweed here, lots of dogbane, and orange milkweed nearly in full bloom. Butterflies hunkered down and not on any blooms. Possible swarthy skipper, but not a good look. Interesting insect.

[Thanks to Jen Bulava for the ID of the mystery insect. jc]

6 or 7 monarch eggs all on common milkweed. Some eggs on C. Milkweed unopened flowers. 2 black swallowtail cats on dill.

While working in the garden–14 black swallowtail cats on fennel–all late instars. Other sightings just putside the garden in the field. Cloudy and cool with occasional drizzle.

My first Broad-winged.

A very thorough tour of this property today from 1:15 to 4:10 p.m.
More clouds than sun but very warm mid to high 80's and lots of action.A record setting day here for Coral Hairstreaks. Found at least 40 individuals including a mated pair. On 6-23-17 found 32 at this same location. The male in the image is the larger one with red spots. Five were found alone on the only Asclepias tuberosa plant. Abundant common milkweed and sand blackberry. Also a nice showing here for Bandeds with an unusual individual looking similar to Hickory but extremely unlikely.

Spent the day exploring bogs that I've never been in. The Two-spot was in a different bog than the Satyrs. I didn't see any butterflies in the other three bogs that I walked. It was very hard to get to the two that had the bugs. Long walk through lots of green brier.

Today broke a streak of six days without seeing a bfly on my property.

9:30 to 2 pm. Hot & humid. Photos of female Northern Broken-Dash, one of only five skippers in total seen. Cabbage Whites numerous.

12:30 - 3:00 pm
humid and a brief shower mostly sunny and hot.
parked at office and hiked to garden. Possible hackberry emperor near the floating bridge detour. Did not get a still look.

The Buckeye spent the afternoon in the garden.

[DA's and Ben B's reports today give us only our 5th and 6th reports of the so-called common buckeye for all 2018. Could this usually-numerous species be flying in numbers soon? jc]

Our yard's first Horace's this year – a fresh male and fresh female – but only bad photos, unfortunately.

Sun and 82 degrees, 4:40-6 pm. Strawberry flies annoying so bring a swatting rag!

Very poor photos of the Dotted. Found a pair after searching for about 45 minutes. I had about a 20 second observation window of a pair and then spent another half hour trying to refind, unsuccessfully.

The largest clump of Butterfly weed near the post office fence has fallen victim to apparent herbicide spraying. Fortunately the spraying along the RR is limited. Obs.made today between 10a.m. and 1 p.m. Part sun and high 70's.Abbundant cranberry blossoms this year. Again Georgia Satyr & Two-spotted Skippers a no show. I fear they have been extirpated from this habitat. Mulberry wings fresh out.

[Among the many good finds here toward the northern end of our area, it's especially nice to have our FOY mulberry wings for 2018. jc]

Needless to say I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the Zebra ST come flying into my yard at 10:30 this morning! I was thrilled to watch it spend about 15 minutes nectaring on lantana, zinnias and coneflowers before it finally flew off in a NE direction. I wonder if this could be the same individual seen by Cynthia A. on June 15th. My yard is roughly 3 mi. NW of her sighting.
A day I won’t soon forget!!

[Wow!!! jc]

Almost total cloud cover and windy at 1:30 p.m. but clouds broke for some limited sun. Observed 4 female & 2 male Dotted Skippers. A Polites sp skipper got away. Here for almost two hours and only found 8 butterflies.

Filtered sun, windy and 80 degrees. Abundant Milkweed, and Dogbane. Obs. made between 4:15 p.m. and 6 p.m. Chased a Common Wood Nymph into the woods.It took cover about 10 feet high in a Sassafras tree.

[Dave's hiding wood-nymph is our first of 2018. jc]

One passing Monarch touched down on a few nectar plants. Briefly stopped by milkweed, but quickly left. I checked all the milkweed . I did not see any eggs. It was between 9-10 am.

1 cabbage white that stayed about 20 minutes