September 2021 Sightings

Beth Polvino

my yard NABA #1151 & Monarch Waystation #8318
Cape May County, NJ

Still large numbers of sachems all over the yard. Count is estimated and probably they are undercounted. Mating monarchs seen every day for the past week. Sleepy oranges still laying eggs.

  • Black Swallowtail 3
  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
  • Cabbage White 4
  • Cloudless Sulphur 3
  • Sleepy Orange 4
  • Gray Hairstreak 3
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 1
  • Question Mark 2
  • American Lady 2
  • Common Buckeye 2
  • Monarch 7
  • Sachem 140

Jesse & Jack Connor

Our yard in Port Republic
Atlantic County, NJ

Half a dozen silver-spotter skipper caterpillars in different instars feeding on American wisteria. At least some of the eggs laid on/about August 15. Smallest and largest cats photo'd.

  • Silver-spotted Skipper 0

Silver-spotted Skipper

Silver-spotted Skipper

Chris Herz

Audubon garden
Camden County, NJ

Pearl crescent hasn't been in our yard for a number of years.

  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 1
  • 'Summer' Spring Azure 1
  • Pearl Crescent 1
  • Monarch 1
  • Peck's Skipper 1
  • Sachem 8

Harvey Tomlinson

My Del Haven Garden
Cape May County, NJ

2 probably 3 Clouded Skippers in the garden today. But between the hoard of Sachems and bees keeping track of them was difficult.

[A FOY for our log in 2021 and a superb find of a genuine rarity! We have logged this species in only eight of our fourteen years of logging and its numbers in our area are never high. Great work, HT! jc]

  • Black Swallowtail 1
  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
  • Red-banded Hairstreak 1
  • 'Summer' Spring Azure 1
  • Variegated Fritillary 1
  • Red Admiral 1
  • Monarch 7
  • Clouded Skipper 2
  • Salt Marsh Skipper 1
  • Sachem 75

Clouded Skipper

Jennifer Bulava

Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Absecon
Atlantic County, NJ

11:00-2:00, along Wildlife drive

  • Black Swallowtail 5
  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
  • Cabbage White 10
  • Orange Sulphur 21
  • Cloudless Sulphur 11
  • Monarch 5

Beth Polvino

my yard NABA #1151 & Monarch Waystation #8318
Cape May County, NJ

Sachems continue to increase daily. Count is probably under estimated. In the back yard, there were 30 in one small area. 3 of them were chasing the hummingbirds away from the salvia. Several times I thought I saw an Ocola fly by in the crowd of skippers but could never find it again at that time.

  • Black Swallowtail 4
  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
  • Spicebush Swallowtail 0
  • Cabbage White 2
  • Cloudless Sulphur 4
  • Sleepy Orange 2
  • Gray Hairstreak 1
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 1
  • 'Summer' Spring Azure 1
  • Question Mark 2
  • American Lady 3
  • Common Buckeye 2
  • Monarch 6
  • Sachem 200

Sleepy Orange with sachem

Sachems

Cloudless Sulphurs mating

Jeanine Apgar and Greg Prelich

Pinelands Preservation Authority
Burlington County, NJ

Morning after heavy downpour and winds, sunny and breezy, 2:30 -3:30 pm

  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
  • Cabbage White 2
  • Orange Sulphur 2
  • Cloudless Sulphur 1
  • American Copper 1
  • Gray Hairstreak 1
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 1
  • Variegated Fritillary 3
  • Pearl Crescent 5
  • American Lady 1
  • Red-spotted Purple 1
  • Monarch 3
  • Common Sootywing 1
  • Least Skipper 6
  • Peck's Skipper 6
  • Sachem 20

Gray Hairstreak

Common Sootywing

Peck's Skipper

Robert C. Koch

Lumberton Leas on Creek Rd. Lumberton, NJ
Burlington County, NJ

Praying Mantis with Silver-spotted Skipper, Yellow Jacket devouring a Sachem and a newly emergent and pristine Monarch. The Sachems increase in abundance by the day. I counted 252 and then encountered many more in a flower garden. 300 is probably a low estimate.

  • Black Swallowtail 1
  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
  • Cabbage White 11
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 1
  • Variegated Fritillary 1
  • Common Buckeye 5
  • Monarch 1
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 12
  • Peck's Skipper 14
  • Sachem 300

Monarch

Mantid and silver-spotted skipper

yellow jacket and sachem

Wijbren Huisman & Lucy Hooper

Lucy Hooper’s Backyard, Mickleton
Gloucester County, NJ

Carol & I had a great get-together with Lucy and Bruce.
Lucy's knowledge of wildflowers and host plants is amazing. I saw my first Sleepy Orange in their backyard

  • Cabbage White 3
  • Orange Sulphur 1
  • Sleepy Orange 1
  • Red-spotted Purple 1
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 4
  • Peck's Skipper 6
  • Sachem 25

Sleepy Orange

Robert C. Koch

Lumberton Leas on Creek Rd. Lumberton, NJ
Burlington County, NJ

  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
  • Cabbage White 7
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 1
  • Variegated Fritillary 1
  • Eastern Comma 1
  • Common Buckeye 5
  • Viceroy 1
  • Monarch 2
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 12
  • Peck's Skipper 14
  • Sachem 254

Peck's Skipper

Eastern Comma

Viceroy

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Jennifer Bulava

Whitesbog, Pemberton Twp
Burlington County, NJ

1:30-3:30pm.
Beautiful sunny day in the 70's.

  • Cabbage White 2
  • Pearl Crescent 4
  • Appalachian Brown 1
  • Monarch 2
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 2

Lucy Hooper

My backyard in Mickleton
Gloucester County, NJ

I saw the red-spotted purple before I even went outside- it landed on the window and right behind it from my viewpoint was a hummingbird. Pictured are the Pearl crescent on Rudbeckia triloba and the Peck’s skipper on Phlox paniculata ‘Jeana”. The skippers are an undercount. They were everywhere-besides the phlox, on mountain mint, New England asters, blue mist flower, zinnias and sedums.

  • Cabbage White 5
  • Pearl Crescent 1
  • Red-spotted Purple 1
  • Monarch 1
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 1
  • Peck's Skipper 8
  • Sachem 16

Peck's Skipper

Pearl Crescent

Karen Thompson

Home, Cape May
Cape May County, NJ

  • Black Swallowtail 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur 1
  • Gray Hairstreak 1
  • American Lady 1
  • Common Wood-Nymph 2
  • Monarch 3
  • Zabulon Skipper 3
  • Swarthy Skipper 1
  • Peck's Skipper 1
  • Sachem 2
  • Broad-winged Skipper 1

Sachem

Gray Hairstreak

Jesse & Jack Connor

Our yard in Port Republic
Atlantic County, NJ

Can't remember when we last had a dark tiger in our yard.
A dozen monarch caterpillars, most in late instars.

  • Pipevine Swallowtail 2
  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
  • Spicebush Swallowtail 1
  • Cabbage White 12
  • 'Summer' Spring Azure 1
  • American Snout 1
  • American Lady 2
  • Common Buckeye 2
  • Red-spotted Purple 1
  • Monarch 4
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 6
  • Peck's Skipper 1
  • Sachem 25

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Tom Bailey

Greenwood Forest WMA
Ocean County, NJ

9:20 am to 2:35 pm. Sunny, breezy, 73 degrees when finished. Beautiful day. Also 5 hairstreak sp. & 10+ skipper sp.

[Our first white-M from OCN this year and an impressive mix from one of our under-explored counties. Painted lady and fiery skipper as well. Thanks for the report, Tom. jc]

  • Black Swallowtail 1
  • Sulphur sp. 1
  • Clouded Sulphur 2
  • Orange Sulphur 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur 1
  • American Copper 7
  • Red-banded Hairstreak 17
  • White M Hairstreak 1
  • Gray Hairstreak 6
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 8
  • American Lady 17
  • Painted Lady 1
  • Common Buckeye 16
  • Monarch 11
  • Swarthy Skipper 12
  • Fiery Skipper 1
  • Tawny-edged Skipper 9
  • Crossline Skipper 2
  • Sachem 109

Fiery Skipper

White M Hairstreak

Chris Herz

Tall Pines State Preserve, Glassboro
Gloucester County, NJ

11 am -2:30 pm, cool temps to start, 68 degrees to mid-70's. Main bridge closed due to damage from Ida. "muddy path" to 2nd bridge is open. Did not notice any trees down and walkways were clear.

  • Spicebush Swallowtail 2
  • Cabbage White 10
  • Clouded Sulphur 1
  • Orange Sulphur 3
  • Cloudless Sulphur 1
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 10
  • 'Summer' Spring Azure 3
  • Pearl Crescent 38
  • Common Buckeye 1
  • Red-spotted Purple 9
  • Viceroy 2
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 5
  • Zabulon Skipper 1
  • Least Skipper 11
  • Peck's Skipper 15
  • Sachem 74
  • Dun Skipper 1

Peck's Skipper

Cloudless Sulphur

Kathy Horn

Higbee Beach WMA
Cape May County, NJ

72, sunny, light breeze, low humidity. White M hairstreaks sunning themselves on scrub oak and winged sumac in separate field locations.

[Good to see white Ms might be staging a late summer surge, as they have done before. Three of them at one site is our high count for 2021. jc]

  • Black Swallowtail 1
  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
  • Cabbage White 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur 4
  • Red-banded Hairstreak 1
  • White M Hairstreak 3
  • Gray Hairstreak 2
  • 'Summer' Spring Azure 2
  • Variegated Fritillary 1
  • Pearl Crescent 2
  • Common Buckeye 1
  • Red-spotted Purple 1
  • Viceroy 1
  • Monarch 4
  • Sachem 1

White M Hairstreak

Wijbren Huisman

Wildflower meadow SJ Technology Park, Glassboro
Gloucester County, NJ

Observation during a partly sunny afternoon.
Not a single swallowtail.
Several moth caterpillars on Late Boneset.

  • Cabbage White 3
  • Clouded Sulphur 1
  • Orange Sulphur 2
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 34
  • Pearl Crescent 25
  • Common Buckeye 6
  • Red-spotted Purple 2
  • Monarch 1
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 5
  • Least Skipper 1
  • Peck's Skipper 4
  • Sachem 65

Salt marsh moth caterpillar

Common Buckeye

Beth Polvino

my yard NABA #1151 & Monarch Waystation #8318
Cape May County, NJ

Another day of triple number Sachems. Looked all day to see if any of Harvey's Clouded Skippers visited but couldn't find any. First Variegated Fritillary in the yard for some time. Brazilian skipper, cats and nests here.

  • Black Swallowtail 3
  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
  • Spicebush Swallowtail 1
  • Cabbage White 2
  • Cloudless Sulphur 4
  • Sleepy Orange 2
  • Gray Hairstreak 2
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 1
  • 'Summer' Spring Azure 2
  • Variegated Fritillary 1
  • Question Mark 2
  • American Lady 4
  • Monarch 8
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 2
  • Horace's Duskywing 2
  • Brazilian Skipper 1
  • Sachem 225
  • Broad-winged Skipper 3

Brazilian Skipper nest

Variegated Fritillary

Wijbren Huisman

Atkinson Memorial Park, Sewell
Gloucester County, NJ

A beautiful afternoon to be in the park. One stranger in the midst of Sachems and Peck’s Skipper.
Nice to see here some Hairstreaks.
No Whites and Sulphurs.

[This is the first white M reported from GLO in nearly two years – since Dave Amadio found one at Riverwinds on 10-12-19. Good find, WH! jc]

  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
  • Red-banded Hairstreak 1
  • White M Hairstreak 1
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 1
  • 'Summer' Spring Azure 2
  • Pearl Crescent 5
  • Red-spotted Purple 1
  • Viceroy 1
  • Monarch 1
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 1
  • Peck's Skipper 24
  • Sachem 35

White M Hairstreak

'Summer' Spring Azure

Robert C. Koch

Lumberton Leas on Creek Rd. Lumberton, NJ
Burlington County, NJ

[Thanks for the count. Sachems have exploded in recent weeks throughout our area. Maryland also having more than can be counted. jc]

  • Cabbage White 11
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 3
  • 'Summer' Spring Azure 1
  • Variegated Fritillary 2
  • Common Buckeye 3
  • Monarch 9
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 8
  • Peck's Skipper 5
  • Sachem 264

'Summer' Spring Azure

Sachems

Greg Prelich and Jeanine Apgar

Cape May Point Triangle area
Cape May County, NJ

The bright blue of two Pipevines brightened up our day.

[Excellent find. These two are only the 4th and 5th adult PVSTs found in CMY since 2019. It seems to have become a scarcer species there over the last decade. jc]

  • Pipevine Swallowtail 2
  • Black Swallowtail 1
  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
  • Cabbage White 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur 1
  • Monarch 5
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 2
  • Sachem 10

Pipevine Swallowtail

Pipevine Swallowtail

Tom Bailey

Palmyra Cove Nature Park
Burlington County, NJ

Incidental sightings while birding in the park this morning.

  • Cabbage White 5
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 1
  • 'Summer' Spring Azure 1
  • Eastern Comma 5
  • Red Admiral 1
  • Red-spotted Purple 2
  • Viceroy 2
  • Monarch 3
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 3
  • Least Skipper 3
  • Peck's Skipper 1
  • Sachem 3

David L. Amadio

Backyard butterfly garden, West Deptford
Gloucester County, NJ

Limited obs. on this damp afternoon.

  • Red-banded Hairstreak 1
  • Monarch 1
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 1
  • Zabulon Skipper 1
  • Sachem 3

Wijbren Huisman

Chestnut Branch Park, Mantua
Gloucester County, NJ

I was planning to go on the Harvester-trail. This trail was closed due to several fallen trees, caused by IDA.
Spent a while at the Butterfly garden.
It seems that the White M Hairstreaks are showing up in GloCo.

  • Black Swallowtail 1
  • Red-banded Hairstreak 1
  • White M Hairstreak 1
  • Pearl Crescent 3
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 1
  • Least Skipper 9
  • Peck's Skipper 20
  • Sachem 28

White M Hairstreak

Teresa Knipper

Mini golf cape may beachfront
Cape May County, NJ

Wow good butterfly sighting while playing mini golf with my grandson! My first ocola of the season.

[And it's the first Ocola reported in CMY this year – and only the third in our area in 2021 (the two others were found in GLO.) Maybe more of us should take up mini-golf?! jc]

  • Ocola Skipper 1

Ocola Skipper

Kathy Horn

Rea Farm, Cape May, NJ
Cape May County, NJ

  • Black Swallowtail 1
  • Cloudless Sulphur 7
  • Gray Hairstreak 1
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 1
  • 'Summer' Spring Azure 7
  • Pearl Crescent 1
  • Common Buckeye 1
  • Red-spotted Purple 3
  • Viceroy 2
  • Monarch 2
  • Swarthy Skipper 2
  • Least Skipper 1
  • Sachem 6

Tom Bailey

Warren Grove
Ocean County, NJ

Incidental sighting while driving.

  • Cloudless Sulphur 1

Tom Bailey

Stafford Forge WMA
Ocean County, NJ

9:15 to 12 noon. Cloudy at start but mostly sunny when finished. Breezy & temps in upper 70s.

  • Sulphur sp. 1
  • Clouded Sulphur 1
  • Gray Hairstreak 3
  • Eastern Tailed-Blue 4
  • Lady sp. 1
  • Common Buckeye 1
  • Tawny-edged Skipper 1
  • Sachem 16

Wijbren Huisman

Alcyon Lake Park, Pitman
Gloucester County, NJ

My first sighting of a Cloudless Sulphur in this park.

  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
  • Cabbage White 1
  • 'Summer' Spring Azure 1
  • Red-spotted Purple 2
  • Silver-spotted Skipper 2
  • Peck's Skipper 2
  • Sachem 35

Cloudless Sulphur

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