Recent sightings

Observations from 11am-2:00pm in various areas around the State Park. Mostly cloudy and a little on the cold side at the beginning turning partly cloudy. Still some decent activity. Photos of Leonard's Skipper.

70's & overcast

Most of these butterflies were in Alexander's Meadow and Kitty's Field

11:30 to 3:30. Mostly overcast with sun breaking through in the last hour or so; temps in low-to-mid 70s.

4:00-5:00, partly to mostly cloudy, 76 deg.

Noon - 12:30 PM

10:30 - 11:30 AM
Temp 70, Mostly Cloudy

Monarchs mating, many caterpillars

1:40- 3:45pm -Overcast and cloudy, humid.
one of the eastern tigers was a dark morph.
large Saytr unidentified just before entering meadow
also unidentified hairstreak

Several monarchs and painted ladies and a first for me a giant swallowtail

12:00 to 2:00. Mostly sunny humid,, temps in mid-80s.

The N. Pearly eye was a nice surprise and not one I commonly see in my garden.

In addition to the butterflies, I had both species of clearwing (Hemaris) moths.

1:45pm-3:30pm, High clouds, 88F, humid

11:30am-12:30pm, 86F, mostly sunny

10:10am-11:00am, sunny, 83F

9:30 AM - 12:30 PM, Hot and sunny. The Giant Swallowtail flew by, would not stop for a photo. Much Knapweed blooming, this was predominant nectar source. Both hairstreaks were on goldenrod. The few thistles attracted swallowtails.

Not certain of the ID on the brown butterfly but hazarding a guess that it is a Dun?

Female monarch was laying eggs everywhere. I'll be hand raising as many as I can.

Spotted some Monarch eggs on our milkweed and brought them in to raise.This seems to be a better year for Monarchs
as they seem to be more numerous.Let's hope so!

Doing dragonfly and butterfly search in the mid-afternoon.

The sad looking Giant Swallowtail was still quite active, despite the bird attempts to the contrary.

All sightings from South entrance area in early afternoon.

1:20 - 1:40 PM

10:00 AM - 12:30 PM

Sunny and very warm all day. Our first 20-species day for the yard this year.

Nice to be seeing higher numbers of butterflies, finally!

1:30pm-4:00pm, 86F, mostly cloudy, lots of water on the paths compared to last week.

Giant Swallowtail spent app. 10 minutes stocking up on nectar from Lantana and Zinnia potted plants on our deck before drifting off to parts unknown.

Leaderless Walks - 9 participants
9:30 AM to 1:30 PM

1200 to 1420. Sunny, low 80's, light breeze. 13 Black Swallowtail Caterpillars on Fennell; 3 Monarch Caterpillars on Orange Milkweed(Asclepias tuberosa).

12:00 to 12:30. Mostly sunny, though rain before and after; 70s.

4:45-6:00pm
cloudy with rain on the way…

2:45-4:15pm
83F sunny with some clouds
best area near the spillway and waters edge
2 monarch caterpillars on milkweed

1:45- 2:30pm
sunny 83f better weather than predicted…no camera

Obs. made between 2:52 & 4:20 p.m. Mostly Cloudy with some strong filtered sun at times. 84 degrees. Covered most of the fields at the Goodale Rd & Park HQ including the butterfly garden. Two Tigers here were dark females. Strong showing by Monarchs today.

Obs. made between 1:30 & 2:20 p.m. Mostly Cloudy and 83 degrees. One E.Tiger was a dark form female. While not the best of images, these two show the Giant Swallowtails in different poses. One seems to be an imitation of it's smaller grass skipper cousins. The jet-fighter position.

2:30pm-5:15pm, Mostly sunny going over to all cloudy, 87F, humid, gasline portion of ROW mowed since June

Good weather, 9:30 - 11:30AM
Broad-winged Skipper was great surprise!

Nice to see our usual one Red-banded of the year - super fresh, too.

Lots of activity today.The weather was less humid,much more pleasant!

4:30pm -5:30pm, 89F, mostly sunny

9:30am-11:30am, mostly clear but some clouds later, 85F, humid, Purple Loosestrife and Swamp Milkweed seemed to be most popular as nectar sources. Plenty of Ironweed in bloom but not as attractive.

Leaderless Walks - 6 participants. From 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM

No Aphro today, but a bit more variety.
Noon to 5pm on and off. Sunny to partly cloudy, 80's

1:15-2:45 PM. Mostly sunny, ca. 90 degrees F. Mountain-mint still blooming, goldenrods just getting started. Few thistle this year. Much Knapweed along River Road but nothing was nectaring on it.