April 2022 Sightings

Sharon & Wade Wander

Home garden, Fredon Twp.
Sussex County, NJ

Nectaring on the Squills that have invaded our garden.

  • Cabbage White 1

Dave DeSarno

Capik Preserve
Middlesex County, NJ

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.

  • Cabbage White 2
  • Mourning Cloak 3

Mourning Cloak

Mourning Cloak

Mourning Cloak

John J. Collins

797 Ashton Street, Raritan
Somerset County, NJ

My first butterfly of the season.

  • Cabbage White 1

Dave DeSarno

Deep Run Preserve, Old Bridge
Middlesex County, NJ

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

  • Mourning Cloak 1
  • Juvenal's Duskywing 1

Juvenal's Duskywing

Dave DeSarno

Sandy Hook - Fisherman's Beach Trails
Monmouth County, NJ

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

  • Cabbage White 2
  • American Copper 2

American Copper

Chao Fang

Mercer meadow
Mercer County, NJ

  • Mourning Cloak 1

Tim Vogel

Wildcat Ridge, Upper Hibernia Road parking lot, Rockaway, NJ
Morris County, NJ

Counted from parking lot to and including the hawkwatch

  • Cabbage White 2
  • Spring Azure 2
  • Mourning Cloak 6

Joyce Cloughly

Mercer County Park
Mercer County, NJ

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

  • Cabbage White 18

Chris & Paula Williams

Julian Capik Nature Preserve, Sayreville
Middlesex County, NJ

  • Cabbage White 5
  • Mourning Cloak 1
  • Juvenal's Duskywing 3

Juvenal's Duskywing

Dave DeSarno

Thompson Park
Monmouth County, NJ

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

  • Cabbage White 3
  • Spring Azure 1

Spring Azure

John J. Collins

Raritan Greenway, Raritan Borough
Somerset County, NJ

Sunny in the 70's

  • Cabbage White 2
  • Question Mark 1

Joyce Cloughly

Monroe Township
Middlesex County, NJ

2:00. Sunny, in the seventies.

  • Cabbage White 1

Marianne Ofenloch

Montague Twp.
Sussex County, NJ

  • Cabbage White 1

Sharon & Wade Wander

Whittingham WMA, Fredon Twp.
Sussex County, NJ

mostly sunny and 70s
The lone azure was form violacea

  • Cabbage White 1
  • Spring Azure 1

Michael Newlon

Great Swamp NWR
Morris County, NJ

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.

  • Spring Azure 22
  • Mourning Cloak 1

Spring Azure

Spring Azure

Spring Azure

Spring Azure

Sharon & Wade Wander

Millbrook gap , Delaware River Water Gap National Rec. Area, Hardwick Twp.
Warren County, NJ

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.

  • Spring Azure 1
  • Mourning Cloak 1

Trailing Arbutus

C Wyluda

West State Street Trenton
Mercer County, NJ

false dead nettle and dandelions around; blooming trees

  • Cabbage White
  • Cabbage White 1

C Wyluda

West State Street, Trenton
Mercer County, NJ

same species, slightly different location

  • Cabbage White 1

Tom Halliwell & Mike Tracy

Kittatinny Valley SP
Sussex County, NJ

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.

  • White M Hairstreak 1

White M Hairstreak

Tom Halliwell & Mike Tracy

Kittatinny Valley SP
Sussex County, NJ

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

  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
  • Cabbage White 12
  • Spring Azure 2
  • Eastern Comma 3
  • Mourning Cloak 2

Chao Fang

Pennington watershed
Mercer County, NJ

  • Cabbage White 5

Stephen Buckingham

Mountainside Park, Pequannock Twp.
Morris County, NJ

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.

  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1
  • Cabbage White 3
  • Falcate Orangetip 3
  • Spring Azure 1
  • Mourning Cloak 5

mo

Jim Springer

Allaire State Park
Monmouth County, NJ

68°F, 2:30pm-3:00pm, sunny

  • Brown Elfin 2

Brown Elfin

Sharon & Wade Wander

Whittingham WMA, Fredon Twp.
Sussex County, NJ

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.

  • Mourning Cloak 3

Karyn Cichocki

Paulinskill River Wildlife Management Area/Hyper Humus
Sussex County, NJ

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.

  • Cabbage White 3
  • Sulphur sp. 1
  • Spring Azure 2
  • Red Admiral 1

C Wyluda

Stoneybrook Millstone , Hopewll Twp
Mercer County, NJ

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

  • Cabbage White 4

Chao Fab

Holland Ridge Farm
Monmouth County, NJ

Beautiful tulip farm.

  • Cabbage White 3
  • Clouded Sulphur 4

C Wyluda & M.Lee

Institute Woods, Princeton
Mercer County, NJ

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

  • Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 3
  • Cabbage White 4
  • Question Mark 1
  • Mourning Cloak 2

Eastern Comma

Mourning Cloak

Chao Fang

Princeton
Mercer County, NJ

  • Eastern Comma 1

Marianne Ofenloch

Wallkill River NWR (Kelly Rd.)
Sussex County, NJ

  • Cabbage White 1