October 2020 Sightings

9:30 AM - 12:30 PM; 61-66 degrees; sun then increasing cloud. Butterflies not very active.

Cumulative total of 11 species on the day. Jack Miller in Cape May gets this many just glancing out his kitchen window.

A quick morning walk through the group campground area with ZuZu. Cool, mostly sunny and breezy.

Morning started cool but warmed up when the sun broke through

It was nice to see some butterflies in the garden again since the cold nights moved in a few weeks ago. I found an unexpected Silver-spotted Skipper caterpillar on the wisteria early this morning while mothing.

6 Monarchs nectaring in yard mostly on Tithonia, the rest migrant flyovers seen from lounge chair while watching sky for hawks.
Painted Lady very fresh, on Lantana.
Side note: second brood male Pipevine Swallowtail that appeared late August was last seen Sept. 25. It hectared for a month on Tithonia.

4:15 - 5:00 PM. Sunny, slight breeze. One of the Buckeyes very worn. One of the Eastern-tailed Blues without a tail.

2:30-4:00pm, 63-66°F, sunny

9:15-11:30 am. Sunny and cool.

10 AM - 2 PM. Sun, a few clouds, west wind 2-10 mph. Monarchs southbound, a few quite high. Ominously, a flyby Spotted Lanternfly; other hawkwatchers saw several more.

I was very surprised to see a Hairstreak this late in my garden.

10:30 AM - 12:30 PM. Sun then increasing cloud, westerly breeze, 60-65 degrees. All butterflies flying west, into the breeze. With the sun getting lower, the powerline cut here gets increasing shade.

Mostly sunny, upper 60s.

Mostly sightseeing today, but always looking for butterflies. Mid to high 60's and sunny. Mid afternoon visit.

a drive by

Obs. made at the southern end of the lake. Fiery Skippers were male & female.

Sunny; Warm
1/2 hour late afternoon walk along north side of Gardner's Pond

12:30-2:00, Upper 60’s, overcast and breezy.
Common Checkered Skipper very fresh.

Breezy, in low 70s. All of the four male and 2 female Bronze Coppers were quite active. Both females appeared worn whereas 3 of the males looked quite fresh with the fourth worn. We did not see any of the usual host plants (docks), but plants in the genus Polygonum are abundant here and may serve as host plants for this colony.