July 2019 Sightings

Best day in the back yard this season! Nothing outstanding.

Smith's Woods side only
2:00-3:00pm
Also had a luna moth caterpillar and a catalpa sphinx moth caterpillar.

4:40-6:30 pm. Hot. Action picking up here. black ST cat in the garden on fennel. I think this was the most azures I've seen here – all fresh and puddling on the road. Tulip tree beauty moth in the woods.

Shocked to have a Fiery Skipper here while gardening.
Good looks but no photo's. Ran for the camera inside but didn't refind and went back to gardening. It's amazing how many Red Admirals are here. All look fresh and are all sizes. Variegated Fritillary laying eggs on pansies and 2 tiny cats found. Cloudless Sulphur laying eggs on Partridge Pea.

[Good find: our first fiery report of 2019. Also as Beth suggests, red admirals seem to be making another push north into southern NJ. jc]

Buttonbush, Liatris, Pickerelweed, and others all flowering.

I'm new here. Could this be a bush-footed red-spotted Purple?

[Welcome to the South Jersey Butterfly Project, Christine! jc]

Interesting to find 1 harvester on the mud and another on a log. No sign of wooly aphids anywhere yet. This species was not recorded at Amico Island before.

[Very cool find! That gives BUR its 5th site for this species – tying CAM for most in our South Jersey County records. GLO has 1 (Chestnut Branch) and CUM 1 (Menantico). Our four other counties have been Harvester-less during our log's history. Harvester seems restricted to our Inner Coastal Plain, perhaps because of beech distribution? jc]

[Update from Jen B:

"Some 'historical' sightings of harvesters in Burlington County Parks that pre-date my involvement with the butterfly sightings log. One individual seen in each instance.

Historic Smithville Park, Eastampton:
August 10, 2010, 10:30am
June 21, 2011, 11:00am
August 6, 2013, 1:30pm
July 25, 2014, 3:00pm
August 5 & 8, 2015, 10:30am
June 20, 2016, 1:00pm

Boundary Creek, Moorestown
May 21, 2013, 11:30am

Rancocas State Park, Hainesport
May 30, 2013, 9:30am"]

[Thank you, JB! These show that BUR looks the place to go in search of harvesters in South Jersey. The Rancocas report expands the County's sites to 6. And the many reports from Historic Smithville Park suggest that this is an especially good spot for the species. jc]

Red Admirals wandered into my garden today, all fresh.

Always a pleasure to visit this active garden. Echinacea, Helianthus, & Wild Bergamot the main sources of nectar. Obs. made between 11:20 & 12:20. Sunny and hot. I stopped here again on my way home at around 4: 30 and while it was still hot and very active no Rare Skippers to be found. They must retire early?

Obs. made around 5:20. Still mostly sunny and 88 degrees. Breeze kept biting insects tolerable.

a few additional species added in the afternoon.

[Our second fiery for two days, both in CMY. jc]

The whole trail loop covering both Smith's Woods and historic Smithville side, from 9:20-11:30.

Obs. made from 9:25 till almost 11. Sunny,hot,&humid. Most of the action here today was in the open fields with Thistles.

[Sleepy orange in CMY again – at JD's garden anyway. Probably now breeding in the county. jc]

Finally stopped here after passing it by many times on previous trips. They were closed but the owner graciously gave me a tour of the gardens, nursery, & large property. Great selection of Perennials, Trees, & shrubs. Also just alive with Butterflies!!. Did not count or take pictures, but did take note that there were at least 7 Variegated Fritillaries. I am just reporting one for most species observed with a couple of exceptions.

Stopped here just after 3:30. Salt Marsh Skippers & Snouts drawn in by Mountain Mint.

A nice variety of butterflies here this afternoon from 12:45 till 1:45. Waited a what seemed like a long time for one of two Pipevine Swallowtails to settle down and land. A female finally got down to business depositing eggs on Dutchman's Pipe.

[This is only our second report of pipevines in 2019 and our first photo. jc]

Very nice improvements made to the "colonial garden" in front of the Ann Whithall house. Tithonia, Agastache, eupatorium, as well as various herbs. Red Admirals were topping the Purple Coneflowers, with several seeking out the shade of a nearby Red Cedar

Red admiral, just emerged from chrysalis, expanded and dried wings for nearly an hour, hanging from stinging nettle leaf. Several cats mostly hidden in same plant.

Scouting for next weeks CMBO walk. The Rare Skippers were on Buttonbush and Pickerelweed.

Threatening skies and thunder kept me in the garden and nearby field. 4-5 pm. 3 red admirals in the parking lot and one in the garden

A brief half hour from 1:45. Very hot & oppressive. Only checked out the butterfly garden and adjacent fields. Pathway was being mowed leaving it pretty much void of clover. Fresh Viceroy was nice to see in the garden.

Fields have tons of bergamot and common milkweed.

Mostly cloudy and hot while here from 2:25 till 3:05. Great right now if you happen to like Cabbage Whites. E.Tigers were both imbibing mimosa nectar.

The best spot was the South end of the middle impoundment. Lots of knapweed blooming. Thought I was going to miss Rare Skipper until I saw two clumps of Swamp Milkweed at the far north end.

[Our third fiery in three days. Be on the lookout, everyone! jc]

It’s finally picking up here in Marlton! Although I haven’t witnessed one monarch sadly. By now I usually have several monarch caterpillars. I noticed that Claire Campbell in Marlton has few sightings as well. Maybe it’s our area and they’ll start showing up in higher numbers soon. I’m worried, because everyone has worked so hard to attract them with lots of milkweed and flower gardens across the country and now the numbers seem smaller at least in New Jersey. I’ll be positive and say there’s still lots of warm/hot days left for them to lay eggs.

Fresh male & female Horace's today. Monarch laying eggs on C.Milkweed.

7:10 am to 1 pm. Hot & humid.

Paint stripping a chair, so taking breaks and walking around the garden. 7 black ST cats, 5 monarch cats, one WI duskywing cat.