July 2017 Sightings

Cloudy, Rain at Times; Wind SW 7 to 10 MPH. 86 Degrees. Humidity 99%

Humid, 84F, some brief showers, 6.5 hours
Garry Annibal, Steve Glynn, Jonathan Klizas, Jim Springer
Photos by Steve Glynn

Mostly Cloudy, Humidity 99%, Wind 7 to 10 MPH

At 9:00AM had 4 Dion's by 9:15 AM all were gone
Mostly Cloudy, Humidity 99%, Wind 7 to 10 MPH

Partly Cloudy, Rain @ Times. 86 Degrees, 99% Humidity
SW wind 7 to 10 MPH

Part of NABA Mercer butterfly count, J. Hummel, M. Lee, J. Springer, C. Wyluda, 90F, little wind, mostly clear
Photo by Mike Lee.

Part of NABA Mercer butterfly count, 7 people, 90F, little wind, mostly clear

Warm & humid; mid 80s. 11:00 to 2:30. Plenty of nectar sources available; few butterflies.

10:45-1:00, mostly sunny, 76-82 deg.

11:30 to 1:00pm visit.

1200-1345, Sunny, 85 degrees, 6-10 mph breeze. Usually the numbers for Little Wood Satyr and Common Wood Nymph are reversed in this area.

Locations, Rifle Camp Park, our home, Wilson Ave and Garret Mountain Reservation.
8:25 am till 5:pm
81 to 88 degrees
severe clear to 30% cloud cover by afternoon

Visited mid-morning (9:30 to 11:00) and again in mid-afternoon (2:30 to 3:30)

Spent most of the day here wading through very high vegetation. Not a single Swallowtail here today. I wonder if we are seeing the extirpation of Baltimore Checkerspot here. I remember just a few short years ago easily finding double digit numbers, now only a couple of singleton reports so far.

9:45 to 11:15 AM, Sunny, Hot, Humid

Extensive time covering areas accessed from south and north entrances.

Cloudless Sulphur seen just over fence line to west of dog park, in private/"do not enter" area. Large, bright and obvious.

Difficulty with areas bordering the dog park as landowner was cutting fields with a large combine cutter. Gray Comma seen in one of these cutting fields only briefly, before retreating to cover.

Tough watching the cutting and seeing Meadowlarks, Bobolinks and other birds flying out of the grassland being cut.

Sunny, low 80s most of the day. Usually at this point in the season we would be seeing 15-20 species on our property, but this year 9 is looking pretty good.

2 to 5 pm. I walked the complete circuit around the lake from the parking lot off of Spring Valley Rd. I was surprised that the main fields off of Rt. 521 had hardly any butterflies in them. An Eastern Milk Snake was a nice surprise.

10:00-1:45, sunny, 71-80°. The marsh off Mountain Road has produced good numbers of Baltimores for at least 20 years. It is gratifying to see that they are still here, as they are becoming increasingly scarce elsewhere.

10:00-11:30. Mostly sunny.

Excited to have a female Pipevine laying eggs here today!
It's been several years!

I saw that Passaic County didn't have photos of Least Skipper. I went back to Garret to get some (pictures that is.)
It took close to an hour because they just wouldn't cooperate.
I had female suphur sp.
12:30-1:30

10:30 to 12:45. One of the Eyed Browns was very worn and flew out and landed on my hand for it's photo.

Sunny, low to mid 80's. 1015 to 1235. There is a area of 3 to 4 acres chock full of flowering Milkweed to attract and support Monarchs. I found only 4 Monarchs and 7 other butterflies amid this abundance of nectar. Other patches of prime Milkweed have been very lightly visited this season.

Sunny, about 80F, 5.5 afternoon hrs along Old Mine Rd. Bears! Porcupine. Thousands of distracting moths.
Photos by Mike Lee.

10:45 am - 1 pm observations made along the rookery, adjacent marshland and roadside. Drastic reduction in activity as observed in past years. There were several patches of various Milkweed species and other blooming nectar sources which had very little butterfly activity. The habitat has also been replaced with several invasive species and was impassable from the former access point.