March 2021 Sightings

Near beginning of dirt road.

Dirt road on southeast side of the lake.

Our first butterfly of the year on 3-26-21 and our first box turtle to emerge from hibernation on 3-27-21.

Incidental sightings while birding in the park today.

The M. Cloak flew through the yard around 4:20 PM when high clouds had moved in and the temperature had dropped to 61.

A small patch of roadside weeds was the attraction.

Mourning Cloaks nectaring on Red Maple flowers. Henry’s Elfin earliest record for our yard.

South of RR tracks and east of CR 555.

I find every spring azure sighting here in northern Glouco to be special. In my experience they are quite uncommon. I was afforded only a brief encounter with this one today. I was able to fire off several shots at a distance and then it lost me in the woods. Because of the scarcity of early Celastrinas in this area I will label this one as azure sp. I may have Will Kerling run this one by David Wright for his opinion. Any other opinions are certainly welcome as well.

We walked the first 1/2 mile at midday. The Elfin flushed before I could get a picture.

Around 3pm - lots of Blueberry Azures out today. I saw 2 at Beaver Dam, 1 in my backyard in Dennisville, and three more individuals on Narrows Road. One of the undersides of the hindwing on the snout was very ornate and the other hindwing was completely plain, which I thought was cool and interesting. The snout was also on Narrows road, by the current puddles in the first major bend from Sunset.

[Apologies to Jack McD for my misreading of his report and my original comment yesterday assuming that he was describing two individuals. My brain couldn't deal with what he was saying. We have exchanged some emails since and he has underlined that it was a single individual!

Lepidopterist Art Shapiro noted (in Butterflies Of The Delaware Valley) that ventral pattern differences in snout are "clearly genetic" and differ from individual to individual (i.e. like hair or eye color in humans). Do we have something here like a human w/two differently colored eyes? I need to do more researching. Has anyone out there ever seen a similar snout – with one ventral showing the "plain" pattern and the other the "striated" pattern?! At the moment, this strikes me as a remarkable find!

Congratulations and thanks to Jack McDonough for the careful observation, diligent photography, and patience with my original error. jc]

Mourning Cloak nectaring on red maple flowers

We did NOT spray the Dandelions this Spring and it paid off. Had a Anglewing sp. stop to check them out then shortly after a Cabbage White. It jumped from flower to flower and then discovered the blooming Primrose. The local bunnies also like the dandelions so it's a Win Win!

Worked in the yard all morning and while reviewing my accomplishments, I was visited by my yard's FOY.

[Nice! Our log's first for the year and ties Dave Amadio's record FOY set just last year. jc]

Late afternoon and mid low 60's. While searching for Henry's, I was surprised to find a Rick Cech! A couple of years ago, we met for the first time within 10 yds of where we met today. Of note: Last year on March 26 Harvey and I saw over 100 Henry's at Belleplain. Where are the Henry's?

The Goodwater section of the preserve just east of Chatsworth. Cloudy & temperature about 65 degrees. Wasn't expecting to see any b'flies today. One of the azures kept flying around me and then eventually landed on my boot. After a few minutes it started flying around again so I walked about 5 feet away and stood still and it eventually returned and landed on my boot again at the same spot. I think this is the "Lucia" form?

[Yes, azures test our sense of species – and our faith in our ability to ID the several forms and/or sister species. These two photos fit the form/species that we have been calling "blueberry azure" on our log. The "lucia" patch is dark and evident in each, as are the dark trailing edges of both forewing and hindwing, and the duskiness of the lighter areas on both fw and hw. David Wright and Harry Pavulaan call this butterfly Celastrina lucia. If blueberry azure is a species and can be identified, this is one, in my humble opinion. However, also imho, it's clearly ok to call these spring azures. "Spring azure" has become a term that covers a mix of forms and possibly full species. See Lep Log for more discussions of this extremely complicated complex. jc]

Around 12:20pm

Around 12:00pm 60 degrees. Wild to see a Mourning Cloak feeding on a fish (probably a menhaden) dropped and left by an Osprey.

Hike from about 2-3:30pm

in parking lot at 12:40pm

I also went to Belleplain SF/Tom Field Rd. but saw no butterflies. Bee flies are out, plus I got a tick.

my FOY sulphur