Recent sightings

Field trip in morning from 9:30-11:45 followed by annual club picnic. As many as 23 participants on field trip with a few more attending the picnic. Good food and good company. Congrats to Betty and Henry for making the long trip west.

Very warm and humid under partly cloudy skies.

Here are a few photos from today's NABA NJ annual picnic/butterfly walk.

2:00 pm to 2:30 pm. low 90s. Hot and breezy.

Clouds, intermittant sun, 80 F, strong breeze. Large butterflies mostly on Purple loosestrife and Joe Pye Weed; Liatris blooming, Grass-leafed goldenrod getting started.

no hairstreaks :(
incredible stonecrop blooming this tear and I did finally see a cabbage white and a zab on it.

2 Dark Tigers

extremely hot humid afternoon. found what might be an Appalachian Azure caterpillar (?) on the underside of a cohosh leaf but it was as small as you would imagine. one female zab. Joe pye weed, monarda, hibiscus, sweet pepper bush, asters, thistle, golden rod, Queen Anne's lace blooming, esp in the garden adjacent to the "event" building.

3:10-3:40 90's and sunny - Quick walk through the sunflower field. Lots of pollinators out. Likely large numbers of sachems in this field.

Very warm and humid under partly cloudy skies.

Observations made through most of the day. Highest one day yard total this year. Second brood of Zabulons emerged on Aug. 5. Very fresh Red-banded Hairstreak was the first we have seen here since May. In addition to the 22 species identified we saw an anglewing or a lady zip by.

We could not resist including two photos of Royal Walnut Moth that appeared at our moth lights on Aug. 3. First sighting for yard.

1:30 - 4:00. Mostly sunny, in the nineties. A total of fifteen Harvesters seen! Nine were observed at a single location, frolicking and pairing off around a Beech tree whose twigs were particularly loaded with Woolly Aphids, and one of those began laying eggs on the twigs near the aphids. All in all, an amazing sight!

Sparrow Fields/ Riverside
2 pm - 3:10pm
90 degrees, 40% cloud cover with storms threatening later
Minimal breeze
Very birdy
Butterfly diversity good but numbers low, dragonfly numbers low

Leaderless Walks - 12 participants
Sunny, warm in 80's

Surveying managed fields north of Kelly rd. Much Wild Bergamot in bloom. Mostly sunny, warm and humid.
10:30 - 11:30

Finally had a few butterflies around my house.

Extremely hot day.

Clear, 78°F-86*F, 10:00am-2:00pm
White Snakeroot a potential nectar source just coming intol bloom. A modest patch may be found just south of the Raccoon Ridge peak along the Appalachian Trail. Minimal interest by pollinators so far,

Observations for the 2nd and 3rd.

9:30-12:20, 73-83 and full sun

The purpose of this visit was to search for Common Roadside Skipper, which is anything but common. We have found this species here for many consecutive years until this year. We usually search for the first brood in mid-May. But we were late this year and may have missed it. There is a little known, and perhaps not annual, second brood in late July and early August ( I have a slide photo from this site taken in early August). Did not find it on this visit but we did find a very fresh Swarthy Skipper and 4 very worn and ragged Edwards' Hairstreaks (new late date by 1 day). Only 2 Orange Sulphurs in an area that in the recent past has supported large numbersas well as lesser numbers of Cabbage Whites and Clouded Sulphurs. Our 3 hr. total of 21 species and 138 individuals is well below recent totals. So many 1s and 2s!

Partly cloudy, 90 degrees, 12pm to 5pm

12:15 pm to 3:45 pm, mid-80s degrees and partly cloudy with light breeze. Walked the powerline ROW for a few miles and back, and through woods. Many acres of blooming wild Bergamot, Joe Pye, Goldenrod, but butterfly numbers pretty low. Highlight was a Clamp-tipped Emerald dragonfly that landed in front of me.

11:15 to 11:45, low 80s and sunny. Lots of wild Bergamot in bloom, as well as Goldenrod

partly cloudy, hot and humid, 10:15-10:45

9:20-11 AM, sun and high cloud, 72-80 F. Most butterflies on Purple Loosestrife and Liatris; Grass-leafed goldenrod just starting to bloom. And one recently-deceased Monarch in the clutches of a mantis.

11AM - 4 PM. Went from partly sunny to overcast. In the eighties. I "discovered" a vast field of some 100 acres consisting entirely of Cosmos and Partridge Peas (plus some corn, sorghum and oats from plantings of years gone by). A truly amazing sight. To find this field, turn right upon exiting the boat launch parking area and make a quick right onto an unnamed gravel road identified as The Big Dive on Google Maps. In two-tenths of a mile park at a pullover on the left and walk past the metal gates. Continue walking to the bend to view the entire field of flowers.

Not a lot of butterflies, lots of Dragonflies.

A first visit, we likely did not know where to look.

Trout jumping at Dragonflies was fun to watch.

We got there fairly late, only had enough time for a quick spin through one field. Not a lot of time for photos.

One black form Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.

A great day and plenty of butterflies to keep us busy. A dark morph Tiger Swallowtail was new for us.

Frequent observations throughout the day. Generally sunny and warm but overcast by 4:00.
The pristine Gray Hairstreak was the 50th species for our property this year. The pressure is now off of us and squarely on Jack Miller in Cape May. Good luck, Jack.

11:00 to 1:15. Sun & clouds; temps ca. 80°.

Monument Area & Saw Mill Road

Obs. made between 4:15 & 5:20 p.m.

Brief checks in and around parking turn around areas.

Obs. made from 1:10-2:40, 89 partly sunny & NW wind 8-10. One dark female E.Tiger here. Only explored from the Goodale rd access.

Explored from the parking area on Fredon-Springdale rd. Obs. from 11:15 to 12:30, 80-82 & sunny. Wide paths have been recently mowed around and thru the fields.

Obs. made from 8-10:30 with 70-83 & mostly sunny. Explored several fields from the large parking area off of Pequest Rd. Three of the E.Tigers were dark females.

butterflies mostly on New York iron weed; some senna (partridge pea?) blooming by the Cold Soil Rd. entrance but no sleepy oranges apparent. Streams dry but a few odd mud seeps hosting the etbs. A little overnight rain 2 days last week helped the foliage. 1 dark morph Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.

2:30-3:15. Short survey of the property to help a resident here with the International Monarch Monitoring Blitz which is occurring this week.

10:20-2:00
76-80 and mostly sunny

Most of the fields along Old mine Road on Federal and State land were planted in soybean and corn. Only a few fields had Wild Bergamot. Despite the recent rains which left some puddles and damp soil there was very little action on the roads. Our FOY Variegated Fritillary in Sussex County, and our second buckeye.

This might be our first lengthy butterfly expedition in July that did not turn up any grass skippers. Pathetic.

16 participants. 76 degrees at start at 9 am but cloudy and some rain even. Road closure forced us to delay accessing the Farm road. Explored the pollinator meadow, the large field with monarda fistulosa, and after lunch went on the Farm road as it was open. Also one early instar Monarch cat. Early afternoon–one participant explored the orange trail and had a brief sighting of a Gray comma by the stream. Zabulon skippers were fresh.

Leaderless Walks - 9 participants.
Hot and humid in the high 80's

Really zoomed in on Juniper Hairstreak to see wearing of green. Should I assume it's the same visitor? Quite a sight to see all 5 Eastern Tiger Swallowtails at once on butterfly bush. Duskywing ID uncertain.

Observations for the 26th and 27th. Buckeye is the 49th species for the yard this year.

10:30-12:15, sunny, 80º. Fields along Pequest Road. Disappointingly, several excellent pollinator fields were converted to corn this year. Only 2 of the 105 Tigers were dark.

A nice late afternoon hour or so of butterflying in this meadow.