April 2022 Sightings

Nectaring on the Squills that have invaded our garden.

3:30-5:30 mostly sunny and breezy. 3 mourning cloaks were competing for basking perches. Then these 2 met and slowly floated down the hill at close range with softer wingbeats, landed and joined after about 30 seconds on the ground - really cool.

My first butterfly of the season.

3:30-4:20 sunny and warm. first duskywing of the season! mourning cloak was a flyover. 1 anglewing as well

1:45-2:30 Sunny and warm. 1 lady species to quick to identify

Counted from parking lot to and including the hawkwatch

2:45-4:15. Sunny, light breeze, in the seventies. Also, about a dozen Tree Swallows.

3:25-4:35 sunny and warm. first azure of the season for me along reservoir loop

Sunny in the 70's

2:00. Sunny, in the seventies.

mostly sunny and 70s
The lone azure was form violacea

10 AM - 2 PM, warm and sunny. Azures on Orange Trail, from the end of White Bridge Rd, mostly in the drier area with
blooming Spicebush. First part of trail VERY muddy, need rubber boots. Mourning Cloak basking in Pleasant Plains Rd.

Partly sunny and 70s.
The lone azure was form marginata.

No Brown Elfins were seen along the AT to Catfish Fire Tower. However, the Trailing Arbutus was just starting to bloom. Trail very muddy and difficult in some spots.

false dead nettle and dandelions around; blooming trees

same species, slightly different location

An addition to yesterday's list from Kittatinny Valley SP. It turns out what we thought might be a moth in deep shadow yesterday was a White-M Hairstreak! Mike was able to process this photo to get a better-late-than-never ID.
[moderator]: Nice find, guys.. There were no White Ms reported in northern NJ last year. With this early start, perhaps this will be a great year for them.

10:00 to 2:30. Sunny. Temp 75-82.

1 to 3 pm. Temp. low 80s. Was happy to see the orangetips. Thought it might be a little early in the season. Not much in the way of nectar sources anywhere in the park, but an orangetip found a little rockcress (?), which allowed me to get a photo. Very surprised to see the swallowtail, which never landed but engaged in extended aerial battles with a couple of Mourning Cloaks.

68°F, 2:30pm-3:00pm, sunny

Took ZuZu for a mid-morning stroll through part of Whittingham WMA. By 9:50 the air temp had warmed into the upper 50s, enough for butterflies to start basking in sunny spots along the leaf-strewn forest trails. We have seen more Mourning Cloaks this year than Eastern Commas which is the reverse of most springs. Adults of both species overwinter in NJ but in our long experience the ratio of commas to cloaks in spring is in the neighborhood of 3:1.

Walked trail from parking lot off Rte 94 to back ponds and back. Sunny with slight breeze. Saw dark yellow sulphur but don't know species. Also saw several anglewings but they were flitting around so much I couldn't get an id on them.

spent about 2 hrs here- swampy but nothing much emerging, violets, spring beauty, trout lilies lots of lesser celandine

Beautiful tulip farm.

another wet area; missed a mid sized dark flier… maybe a dusky wing?