June 2020 Sightings

11:15 to 1:45. Partly sunny; temps in 60s; quite breezy.

A beautiful day to do some gardening. Unfortunately, I was constantly being distracted but butterflies and dragonflies.

While working, I flushed an unidentified Sulphur from my Senna plants which are just finally starting to come up. Fingers crossed!

9:30am-4:14pm, sunny to start but cloud cover came in earlier and denser than forecast had predicted. Brief moments of sun most of the time. 67°F at 4:00pm. Breezy. The trees on the ridge were just starting to leaf out–noticeably delayed compared to previous years. Quick looks at 2 Common Roadside-Skippers. Red-spotted Purple was mint

all zabs were male

2:00-3:30 PM, Sunny, Mid 60s, A bit Windy

Juniper Hairstreak Is a late first brood or early Second Brood?
I thinks it a late first brood.

10:30 AM-2:20 PM. Sun, then increasing cloud, 72 degrees. Huge area of Cow vetch blooming in meadow at Wagner Farm but no butterflies using it.

2.30-4.30. Mid to late 60s. Sun eventually showing more in second hour livening things up. Only fields at end of Cherry St.

Mid-morning walk with ZuZu. Mid-60's and mostly cloudy. Most of the action was on Red Clover. A survey of the entire park probably would have yielded 25-30 Peck's Skippers.

Cloudy with temps in 60's with sun only occasionally.

Mostly cloudy but starting to warm up - all seen nectaring on rhododendron. Not many around this spring.
One unidentified skipper flyby.

2-4pm. 70°. Cloudy. Missed a Hairstreak that dove for cover. Also wasn't sure what to do with the Cloudywing pictured. Assume it was a Southern but had a dark face and Antennae bend!

[moderator]:The duskywing is a good example of cloudywings that can be found in NJ–they seem to have fieldmarks of both Southern and Northern Cloudywings as described in the field guides. Personally, I put cloudywings with such well-marked wing patterns in the Southern Cloudywing camp even though it doesn't have white at the antenna bend and a white face. I do note that it has white around the eye. Please send comments to springer@naba.org and I may update additional information here.

11:30 to 11:50. Overcast. A few other grass skippers too quick to identify.

evening…lost sun early and had a shower

10:15 to 11:15. Increasingly overcast; ca. 70°.

830-1200
rain expected at 2pm. increasing clouds and humidity.

3.15-5.30. Around 75-78°. Gardens and most of park. Zabulons all over.

3:50-5:10 mostly sunny, warm, and humid after the rain.
No pierids!!!
Have not seen a Giant Swallowtail yet this year despite everyone else reporting them. Time to bring the field guide with me again.
Peck's Skippers everywhere on Red Clover.
FOY Monarch and Dun Skipper.

At least 2 Zabulons today.

12:00pm-1:00pm. 81°F, sunny, incredible amount of Wild Geranium along side of road this year

10:15am-11:45am, sunny, 80°F, some breeze, female Falcate Orangetip rejecting male's advances

Late PM
Nice boardwalk on west side of pond through wet areas

1:30 to 2:45. Sunny & warm (ca. 80°).

Late morning amble in wide utility company right-of-way. Partly sunny, warm and humid. Good butterfly weather but someone forgot to notify the butterflies. Ticks outnumbered the butterflies 42 (and still counting) to 30. Lots of blooming rubus, wild geranium, and red clover. Also, not a single dad-blasted tiger beetle. Might be time to pack-it-in.

missed a skipper that was NOT a zabulon; and a little gray thing, maybe a hairstreak :(

milkweed has flower buds

West side of lake on the north morris greenway trail, just off Jacobs road

10:45 to 1:00. Filtered sun to sunny; temps ca. 80°.

Isn't it early for the Cloudless Sulphur

[moderator}: Yes, it's early but not unprecedented. It is true that most sightings are in the summer and fall. Hoowever, this year there was an earlier sighting in Morris County on May 30, and last year there was sighting from Sussex County on May 18 and Somerset County on May 19. Also the all time early date in our database for northern NJ is May15.