January 2021 Sightings

This mourning cloak was found and photographed by the Browns. They disturbed it while getting wood from their wood pile. The photo they sent me was in a .heic file which isn't supported by this log's software.
First Butterfly of the Year!

[Congratulations to them! Yes, first butterfly of 2021. Lep Log (MD, VA, DC) has a contest for first m cloak of year. Ours might have come earlier than theirs – although they have had a cloudless sulphur. jc]

Sunny, ca. 40ºF, winds NW 5 mph. Monarch seen briefly over dunes at St. Peter's, headed toward town. Not in view long enough to say much about its condition; left wondering how long this one's been around / if it arrived from elsewhere / was recently released?

[Intriguing find! This is our 5th January record for monarch in our log's history, 2008-2021. We have two finds from the Barnegat Christmas Bird Count – one by Rick Radis and others on 1-1-12 and another (photo'd) by Tom Bailey and Jeff Ellerbusch on 1-3-16 (a record-breaking warm month with many butterfly reports). We also had two records of the species in CMY in 2012 (another very warm month with many butterfly reports): Bill Schuhl found one nectaring in a garden at Coral & Cambridge Ave on Jan 8 that year and Michael O'Brien found one on Whildlin Ave on Jan 12.

So far this colder – but not very cold – January we have had only one other butterfly report: Harvey T's report below. However, we had Mark Garland's report of a monarch at the Point two weeks ago: 12-26-20. Could Tom's sighting possibly be that same individual? jc]

Found this roosting Mourning Cloak in the barn when organizing some scrap lumber. I saw one in December flying around a tree that had moth bait on it. Same bug?

[Good to see! jc]

My dog had a cabbage white butterfly hanging on his leg in our garage! We grew cabbage this fall so I can only assume a caterpillar got in our garage from the garden rubbish in our trash cans and when my husband started heating the garage to paint it, the butterfly emerged from its chrysalis.

[An intriguing find! jc]