Recent sightings

10:00 to 1:00. Sunny/cloudy. Temps in mid-80s.

great way to beat the heat head north….70-83f
9:30-2:30pm
best milkweed at Jager….lots of dogbane in bloom.
rescued a Juniper Hairstreak which was barely missed by a pickup in the road. White Striped Black moth which is more brown

Grass skipper diversity way down the past few days.

Observations made between 10 and 10:40. Temp. was 86 and too hot for ZuZu so we left early.

1130 to 1430; sunny, Heat index 104 to 111. Not too much activity, but more than yesterday, when all butterflies apparently took a siesta. The Variegated Fritillary was a FOY.

3:50pm-4:50pm, sunny, 92˚F

88° Hazy 9:40 Start
92° clouds High 11:32
Hot and humid

The dog park was not very productive. But the unpaved entrance drive into the east section of the park was very busy with Questions Marks, Spicebush and Tiger swallowtails, Red-spotted Purples, and snouts. Seven of the 9 Gray Commas counted were on this driveway between the bridge and the utility line easement. A bit toasty today.

Several observers. 10 AM - 1 PM. Sunny, humid, mid-90's.

3:45- 4:25, hot, slight breeze
no hairstreaks….

on vetch and swamp milkweed

Female Pipevine Swallowtail hovering around new growth and nectaring on Scarlet and Purple Monardas. First in 2 yrs .
Late morning. Hot and sunny.

Very hot

on swamp milkweed

Mostly sunny, hot & humid all day, high 90 degrees. Nice to have our first yard count of 20+ species this year, but distressing that 14 of them were represented by only 1 individual. Our first Pipevine in a long time. New brood of Juniper Hairstreak out. One Snout was laying eggs on a Hackberry seedling.

Very fresh-looking.

11:00-11:45. The 2 fields at north end, Greenway entrance.
Best I've seen at this site so far this summer.

88° high thin clouds 10:00 am start
91° high thin clouds 11:00 am end

ets on a large oak tree

10 AM - 1 PM. 90 F, sunny, humid; mosquitoes and deerflies abundant. Wildlife Observation Center, areas near parking lots at N and S ends of Orange Trail/Old Meyersville Rd, and on Long Hill Rd. Not a single grass-skipper!

10:15 to 2:00. Mostly sunny, hot, & humid. Temps ca. 90°.

Very Hot, 10 minute stop

Very hot and bugy but got my first Appalachian Brown. Thanks very much Jim.

butterfly on concrete

Sunny, High eighties, Little wind
12:30 - 1:30 PM
Also seen 1 Lady sp.

10 AM - 1 PM; 85 F and sunny. Swamp milkweed blooming but, except for Monarch, all butterflies I saw nectaring were on Mountain-mint or Clethra. Nice to finally see multiple Tiger Swallowtails. One dark swallowtail sp., likely a female Tiger.

I arrived at 11:30 am and stayed until 2:15 pm. It was hot (86-90º F) and sunny. Entering across from Blackwell Mills Road, I looped around the wooded area toward Federal City Road following the cut paths. Shortly after arriving, I observed a fly-by of a Cloudless sulphur and decided to count the butterflies seen today, as that is a very rare sighting for me in this area. The variety of butterflies out today was amazing for this part of the park! Not only that, but I observed 25 Monarchs (including three mating pairs) and a second Cloudless sulphur on this trip.

monarch back ovipositing on swamp milkweed

1200 to 1445; sunny, 80's. Several acres of pasture are devoted to Milkweed, in the hopes of helping Monarchs breed. An acre or so has been taken over by thistle which provides patches of nectar, which attract a variety of butterflies. Cloudless Sulphur is annual down her, but this is the earliest I have seen one. Most of my sightings are from August onwards.

At last my garden is getting some butterflies!! Sunny and warm today.

80˚F-89˚F, 9:00am-4:30pm
Very early in season for 7 Cloudless Sulphurs .
Photos by Mike Lee

Sunny all day, high in mid-80s. Hoary Mountainmint and a purple Monarda cultivar are the main attractions, with Buddleia almost ignored.

1:10-2:30, sunny, 83º.

1200 to 1600; Sunny. 80's. Butterflies are starting to arrive. They have been very scarce despite an abundance of nectar and host plants. Horace's Duskywing and Delaware Skipper are FOY. Bees and wasps have been plentiful, however.

Sunny, low 80's, 12:00pm-4:00pm.

Observations made from 12:00- 4:00. Sadly, I have lost my notes from this trip (I spent 3 days in NNJ observing bflys). The numbers I am reporting are conservative and do mention all of species I saw. I know that I saw about 25 species here this day.

flying around my backyard

used to wonder how people managed to "catch" butterflies ovipositing AND photograph the eggs, but now I know. Noticed that the eggs are left with unopened buds that are small and round themselves.

Female monarch was ovipositing in all my milkweed patches.

I am not totally certain on my id of the Hickory Hairstreak, but leaned towards that id owing to the very brownish color of both relative to Banded which always look more gray to me. Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong.

[moderator]: I'm not sure how reliable the ground color is in distinguishing Banded and Hickory Hairestreaks, but perhaps it's a good tie-breaker?
[moderator]: I'm not sure how reliable the ground color is in distinguishing Banded and Hickory Hairstreaks, but perhaps it's a good tie-breaker? The leading edge of the post-median band on the forewing of the left individual indicates Hickory. The right individual has all the field marks of a Hickory.

9:30am-2:30pm, sun and clouds, 89˚F

80s and cloudy increasing humidity…Cannas are only 2 feet high.

1:20 - 3 PM. Sunny, 85 F. Mostly along powerline cut to west.

Wildlife Observation Center, areas near parking lots at end of White Bridge Rd and on Long Hill Rd. 9:30 AM - 1 PM. Sun and clouds, 85 F. Overall, few species. Mountain-mint, Buttonbush, Swamp and Orange milkweed blooming, no butterflies nectaring except for the two Mulberrywings on mountain-mint.

10:00 to 3:00. Mostly sunny, temps in 80s. First time in northern NJ that my only sulphur was a Cloudless!

So much Asclepias tuberosa and so few butterflies. Obs. made between 3:15 & 5:25.

Only spent about 20 min. here. Pathways extremely overgrown. Knees too sore to fight my way through today.

Obs. made from 10:30 till about noon. Sunny near 80.

Obs. made between 8:45 & 10:15, Bright filtered sun and low 70's.

Sunny all day, high in mid 80s. Our highest species count for the yard this year.

Decent activity later in the day. Saw a few hummingbird moths feeding on the wild bergamot as well.

Sunny and warm