November 2020 Sightings

[Good work Karen. Nice to log two species on the first day of November – despite recent wet and cold. jc]

Sunny but windy and cold….

Sunny, cool, blustery, Temps says 56, feels cooler with the winds. No frost yet though over 24 hrs of gale force winds. Karen Thompson visit, able to see 6 species. Fair numbers of grass skippers. Total of 8 species flying. Surprised not to see a Common Buckeye. Taking down the Canna's stalks found another chrysalis. There are several over wintering Spicebush Swallowtail chrysalises. Have Black Swallowtail caterpillars on rue.

lunch time walk, 55 degrees and winds

Sunny, mid 50s. Red Admiral was enjoying rotting pears in fruit dish.

This fairly fresh White-M was perched on a well-past-prime Butterfly Bush blossom. I went in to get the camera and it had disappeared by the time I returned.

[Good find! This gives us only our fifth year – of our log's thirteen – when we have found a white-M in November. jc]

Nice to see butterflies after a few days with none.

Sunny, 67, with slight winds and a nice selection of butterflies. First Ocola Skipper in the yard since 10/22. 4 mint fresh Cloudless Sulphurs which I believe must have eclosed here. Est counts of both Fiery and Sachem Skippers. Numbers were higher but as working in the garden didn't take the time for a more accurate count. I always find it surprising that we can have several days of quite bad weather and they still bounce back.

2:00 - 3:00. Always nice to come home. The yard provided some lovely bugs that were not present at my other two stops. By the end of the day, 15 species and over 100 bflys; ironically, these numbers were better than a typical July day this year.

Fine start to an interesting day. Sunny and 60's. 10:30 12:30.

For some reason we find few painted ladies in our yard. This fresh individual is our first for 2020.

Can't help but wonder if Cloudless Sulphurs (and Monarchs) in our garden this late in the season (when so little else finds our garden) are new emergents from cats we saw earlier.

2nd stop. 12:50 - 1:40. A 10' x 10' patch of frost aster had 7 species. This location was the "fun with colias" spot. I am posting three photos of the same f. sulphur. To my eye, the bfly is "mostly" a clouded sulphur and I am recording it as such. However, I believe it may in fact be a hybrid. The bug has no orange except for the minute hw dot and presented lemon yellow. However, the fw pattern presents qualities of both clouded and orange (note the size of the yellow dots in the black zone at the apex, but also the narrowness of the black margin lower part of the fw). I hope you are laughing by this point as it is not healthy to take a Colias too seriously. The gray hs was a pleasant surprise.

68 degrees, lunch time walk. Buckeye with most of one wing missing. Saw cabbage whites yesterday but none today.

Same painted lady as yesterday.

The Cloudless Sulphur pictured below has not been altered in anyway but cropped. Thoughts about its coloring would be welcomed. Red-banded Hairstreak was a treat.

[That is certainly a weird-looking beast! Anyone out there who has seen a similar individual please let us hear from you. jc]

On Conoclinium coestinum, a perennial Blue Mist plant, 12 noon 70 degrees, warmed by stone walk.

Jack and I both believe the Sulphur below is Clouded. A rare find South of the Canal. The other a white form sp.