Butterfly sightings for August 2009

Very windy and mostly cloudy

All male regal fritillaries and all chasing monarchs.

I had 3 sightings of the Monarch today...it was chilly this morning and quite windy.

Windy, lots of nectar sources but not many butterflies.

The swamp milkweed was alive with huge black Sphex wasps and Great Golden Digger Wasps, which greatly outnumbered all butterflies. Also a number of Slender Spreadwing damselflies.

also seen in Jackson Co. a Goshawk with snake. Traveling home through Wood Co. Wildlife area a Trumpeter Swan and Double Crested Cormorant where of note. A trip to Jackson Co Wildlife Area alo uncovered a Cicindela lepida on Mekan Road.

There was lots of nectar sources but no butterflies except for the Monarchs. It was very windy so I spent some time watching the pennants flapping in the wind.

I may have seen a viceroy too but wasn't certain.

Scouting trip for the field trip on Saturday. Eastern Pondhawk female was eating an American Copper.

More dragonflies and damselflies than butterflies today.

Many very fresh Karner Blues.

A couple of Hine's Emeralds still around! Never get tired of Dorcas Coppers on cinquefoils. The Ridges is a wonderful place.

Dry, with much less Liatris in bloom than in other years. The tiger beetle and robber fly were seen in eastern Jackson County.

Only covered 1/3 of usual trip.

My first-ever N. Broken-Dash. First Harvesters in a while...

I found this one in my yard

This was a SWBA field Trip.

Nice weekend with 28 species overall

I wasn't expecting to find a harvester today.

A mostly cloudy day, deteriorating into showers in the afternoon. Beautiful coppery-disked and brightly-spangled Aphrodite Fritillaries in Wisconsin! compared to our Massachusetts variety.

Mostly cloudy with intermittent showers and thunderstorms.

Surrounded by butterflies today! Also saw several hummingbird clearwing moths. Interesting how they hover.

A beautiful sunny day, with good numbers of butterflies; the savannah habitat was the most diverse and productive for butterflies today.

Later afternoon and early evening of a beautiful day. I also saw at least one, and maybe two, emperor(s) in the top of the large hackberry tree near the annual garden. However, it stayed only in the treetop and never landed where I could ID it as Tawny vs. Hackberry Emperor.

A cloudy, cool day, but enough warmth to allow the Dorcas Coppers to sit out and bask. Many of these were worn, but a few were quite fresh. Beautiful! I also saw 10 browns, but I am not going to report them all as to species, since some seemed to be Appalachian, but many were not seen well, and some could have been Eyed.

We looked and looked for butterflies but could not find any -- until I noticed the Tawny Emperor sitting on Dorothy's hat!
The Juniper Hairstreak was nectaring on Queen Anne's Lace

In the front on the house , actually on the porch.

All 3 species were in a 5-foot strip of vegitation between the gravel road, and the water. The Coppers and the Viceroy were very easy to photograph... all the super close-ups that I wanted, for over an hour, and were still there when I left.

I only saw this one on scat on the road.

Today the silver-spotted skippers were everywhere, sometimes sitting on flowers that were 6 inches from where I was standing and not being bothered a bit. Quite amazing.

Butterfly numbers were very low.

Prairie areas were crazy with butterflies. Blazing star in particular was swarming with monarchs.

Very small butterfly.

I recently moved and am enjoying the American Coppers at my new house. These are the first decent photographs I've gotten of this species, which is not common here in the northwoods.

Not a lot of butterflies but the ones I saw were nice surprises. The highlight for me was three lifer robber flies.

Nice to see a variety of butterflies today. Also a chickweed geometer moth. They're very small and quick, so it's a treat to see one up close and get a photo.

There was occasional sun that didn't stay long but I went out to see if I could see my first Leonard's Skipper of the year. I succeeded in seeing the skipper, but I didn't expect to see a violet in bloom.

The monarchs were nectaring on blazing star -- a lovely sight.

Back in cool Wisconsin after 3 weeks visiting family and butterflying in hot and humid Florida and Virginia.

Lots of nectar but few butterflies. The robber fly female was laying eggs in the blazing star.

The monarchs and great spangleds were mostly in two different patches of rough blazing star -- I saw one flower head with six butterflies on it. Also saw our first migrating Common Nighthawks (a group of eight) of the fall.

Wasn't even looking for butterflies. Just driving through the park as a shortcut. There were 8 monarchs right near the road. A pleasant surprise.

Still lots of Dainty Sulphurs.

Slow until noon. Karner was worn and seemed very weak. Also seemed smaller than usual. One very worn Northern Broken Dash. Great spangled frits are really torn up. Leonards were abundant.

Lots of robbers today. The Buckeye is my first of the year.

Small fritillary with white borders to wings, small dark triangles on base of hindwings and forewings.

Looked worn. Only butterfly that I saw!

This was the first dark phased female I have seen this year.

The butterfly's are moving so fast...it is a windy area here and I missed so much because I don't have time to properly identify them. I did catch a glimpse of a small light peach colored one just yesterday but it was gone too fast.

Two sunny hours in good habitat for Leonard's Skippers and Monarchs but saw none of them. I did see 20+ Proctacanthus milbertii including three mated pairs.

I was at this pond to see the impressive numbers of migrating birds, but chanced upon my first Bronze Copper and first Least Skipper.