July 2022 Sightings

9 AM, sunny, 75 degrees at the start but getting hotter by the minute. Lots of Common Milkweed in bloom as well as Dogbane but always a lackluster collection of butterflies at this location.

4 Silver-spotted Skipper caterpillars at different instar. The Pearl Crescents are fresh.

2:50-4:20 nearly 90 and sunny. less activity in the fields today but it was nice to see a few monarchs!

9 AM - noon. Warm and sunny. Common milkweed nearly spent.

10:55-11:45, sunny, 82º. The Cabin Glade metalmark site is becoming terribly overgrown and has lost its Black-eyed Susans. We are likely to lose this tiny population. Lots of Susans in the WMA field, but no metalmarks.

4:00 - 5:30. Hot and sunny, around ninety degrees. Baltimore Checkerspot was a lifer!

Hot, partly cloudy. 11am to 5pm
More Harvesters today. 2 close to our house and 2 more on our swamp path.
I haven’t seen any at the nearby Jamesburg Park Conservation area yet where we’ve seen them a few times in past years but I’ll be checking there again soon.

10:00-10:45 walk with ZuZu, mostly cloudy and wet from 3:15 A.M. rain; and again, sans ZuZu, mid-afternoon for another 45 min. Mostly sunny and 80s. Includes observations from nearby Waterwheel Farm (private). Very few pierids and grass skippers, save Little Glassy Wing.

9:45 AM, overcast and then partly sunny; 80+ F degrees. Two fields are near the peak of the Mt. Kemble loop. The one near the peak is primarily dogbane. The field on the east slope is practically impenetrable this year so not many butterflies were tallied there.

First Harvester sighting at the Lord Stirling Park EEC since July 2013 when Harvey Tomlinson found one. This sighting was in a completely different section of the park than the previous.

1130-335pm

9:30 am to 1:15 pm. Sunny, temps around 80 degrees. Pleasant day. I walked Mountain Rd from Walpack cemetery to Buttermilk Falls, poking into several fields along the way.

Brief stop from 3:50 to 4:15 pm. Walked down to the old house and checked the milkweed there.

1:00-3:45 80's and mostly sunny. I walked the edges of the main wildflower fields. I wasn't 100% on the skipper in the photos but I thought most likely northern broken-dash. First time I had a Common Wood-Nymph land on me - so cool!!

1pm to 4pm, sunny and hot.
Checked the bogs for Bog Coppers but season may be over. Nice to see Harvesters in our back yard yet.

1:30 to 3:30 pm. Parked at Roy Bridge and walked over to Mountain Road.

4:05-5:30 I checked the parking area and walked a few of the dirt and gravel trails through the forest. Banded hairstreaks were competing for perches in a couple areas. One of the commas was a cool mottled form.

10:00-12:00, cloudless skies, low 80’s, light wind.
Explored large undeveloped area at south of property labelled as a protected wetland which seemed to me more of a currently dry floodplain. Several stands of milkweed and dogbane entirely butterfly free.

1155-1228pm
lots of milkweed in need of water.

12:30 pm to 2:15 pm; sunny and 85 degrees. Lots of Common Milkweed blooming and yet to bloom. I was greeted by a Broad-winged Hawk who flew over my head as I entered the woods to access the powerline ROW. Great Spangleds abundant today; count is conservative. No swallowtails.

11:00 to 3:00. Sunny with temps to mid-80s. In addition to the species on the list there was an unidentifed anglewing, the only one we saw.

2:15 pm to 4;45 pm; 85 degrees and sunny. Banner day for Great Spangled Fritillaries, which were nectaring on Bristly Sarsaparilla as well as Common Milkweed and Dogbane. First time for me finding Baltimore Checkerspot and Coral Hairstreak in this location. Checkerspots were on utility dirt road one at each end of wet area in ROW where road comes out of woods. I wasn't wearing muck boots so I didn't go into the wet area to look for more.

100-318pm
streams very low and fields very dry

2:35-4:05 breezy with clouds and mid 70's - mainly birding but this was the most Monarchs I've seen in quite some time at this location and only covered one field. I estimated at least 50.

Warm and humid but very little sun. 2:20pm to 2:50pm

10:00-12:30, overcast the entire time. 80 F degrees. The upper fields; milkweed field near the entrances; Cherry St. The only grass-skippers were seen in the 12:00 time range. Common Wood-Nymphs were abundant and under counted.

9:30-11:30 AM; sun and clouds, 82 F.

1:30 to 3:30. Mostly overcast with maybe 15 minutes of milky sun; temp c. 80°.

Surveyed different parts of the park I thought might have Harvester. Did not visit the more specious meadows. A little too overcast by the time I started and that may have impacted activity. I checked the original Harvester spot from Saturday, but did not refind that individual. Though I found a new Harvester on the opposite side of the park. Incredible to have these butterflies around after a 10 year absence. I will continue to search for more. One unided anglewing.

9:30 am to 1:30 pm. Mostly cloudy, humid, temps in low 80s.