August 2019 Sightings

I had a wonderful visit in Jack's yard today. I am sure we saw more butterfly species and butterflies than I have recorded here. 3 species were lifers for me. I had great looks at the Tawny Emperor caterpillars, a Cloudless Sulphur ovipositing, an unknown pink colored egg on a hackberry leaf, an unknown moth caterpillar on the hackberry tree, plus a 5-lined skink.

Smith's Woods butterfly garden, during children's program, 10-11am.
9 black swallowtail cats, 1 of which attached itself to the underside of the host plant garden bed to transform, & 4 monarch cats.

Obs,. made from 10:20 till 11. Hayhurst's Scallopwings still coming to the Yellow leafcup.

While working in the garden. 2 spicebush cats, 5 black ST chrysalises, and 5 monarch chrysalises.

10:20-11:40am

Garden strip only, 10-11 am. Amazing numbers of zabulons with seemingly equal numbers of males & females

Obs. made from 9:35-10 & 1:40-2:15 Taking the high count between visits. Early visit yielded 15 sp.& later visit 21. Only filtered sun today, but temps made it to 83 or so, keeping butterflies active. Much of the activity here was on the other side of Rt47 on Sweet Pepperbush. A surprisingly fresh looking Rare Skipper was on the Pepperbush until a passing car flushed it into the vegetation. Nice 2nd flight of Aaron's Skippers. Cloudless Sulphur was observed just north of the property but still in Cape May County. IMAGE: ( Aaron's Skipper)

Obs. made here till noon. Abundant Sweet Peppergrass. Wasn't going to stop here today, but the Pepperbush drew me in like the butterflies. One of the Tigers was a dark form female.

Obs. made from 12:15 to 12:50. Not a very thorough search as App. Browns were coming out of the bog areas. Found several Dion Skippers still hanging on here, all females.

Back home again. Obs. made after 3:30. Likely under counting Zabs. They are zipping around everywhere.

Obs. from 1-1:25. 81 degrees & cloudy. Gardens very dry, with little nectar. Mountain Mint was the most productive. 6 of the Gray Hairstreaks were on Mtn mint & 3 on Boneset in the pond.

6:40 to 12:15 pm. Mainly birding. Gardens continue to host many b'flys. C. White, Red Admiral, SS Skipper, & Zabulon Skipper numbers are close estimates. Photo is the trunk of a Black Willow which has been leaking large amounts of sap & attracting insects. How many b'flys can you count?

[Tom, thanks for the delightful photo. - jm]

New yard species #53 Delaware Skipper. Fiery Skippers here in better numbers and also Painted Ladies. Also had 4 Cloudless Sulphurs chasing each other around in the AM with 2 laying eggs later on.

1:00-2:30pm during public dragonfly program.

Incidental sightings mid-afternoon while doing yard work.

Children's butterfly program at Smith's Woods butterfly garden, 10-11:30am.
At least 10 black swallowtail caterpillars, & another one that attached itself to the garden bed to transform into a chrysalis. 4 monarch cats and 1 parasitized.

Only a couple of hours in the garden today.

Still unable to travel much with ailing vehicle, so stuck around the backyard. The question mark landed in some sand just adjacent to my sugar maple tree and the red admiral was imaged as it was on the tree bark. Buckeye's are a plenty! The variegated fritillary has been hanging around, mainly sunning.

Obs. from 2:30 till 4:15. Garden & fields quite dry having missed any recent T-storms. Most Swarthy Skippers that I have seen in several years.

A brief stop here from 4:25 till 4:45. Always enjoy watching the emperors swirling around the trunk of the old & large Hackberry tree here.

A very active afternoon here in my garden. Spotted a Tawny Emperor high up in the shade of a Sassafras tree. Later completed an emperor sweep when one came to rotting fruit.

Incidental sightings while birding in the park during the morning.

We lead a tour of the Dix WMA Sleepy Orange colony today and welcomed participants from our butterfly blog and from Citizens United to Protect The Maurice River organization. An amazing day was enjoyed by everyone. Special thanks to Harvey, as well as Armas and Risa Hill, Wendy Walker, Cheryl Howell, Diane Irgang, Dan Morley and Susan Houde. The Sleepy Orange colony was very active and a second colony, replete with senna was also found adjacent to the main Dix WMA area, along Schoolhouse Road. The numbers of Cloudless Sulphurs, another species breeding and expanding with the strong senna and partridge pea growth present, were exceptional as well. Our count also includes numbers and species seen at the Green Swamp Preserve parking area and patches of nectar along Seabreeze Road leading into the main access to Dix WMA.

[Thanks to Steve and all those who participated in this trip. It is exciting to know that the Sleepy Orange colony is not only thriving but expanding. It appears this species is here to stay in NJ (also see the Sleepy Orange colony citing from 7/27 on the NABA North Jersey Butterfly Club). The same appears to be true for Cloudless Sulphurs. - jm]

First black swallowtail and monarch cats of 2019!

During guided kayak trip; 3.5 miles from Burlington County College to Hanover St.
Most of the butterflies were on sweet pepperbush flowers.