Butterfly sightings for July 2010

Was at the Park doing non-butterfly stuff and this little guy practically begged me to take his photo.

4 species in this photo - Mourning Cloak upper left, 2 Eastern Comma front left, Gray Comma front right, Compton Tortoiseshell back right.

I was leaving for work and found this guy next to my garage. Probably just a dispersing individual but a good one for the yard!

I had to go to Madison on business and decided to do a little birding and butterflying in a place I had never visited. So much lovely blooming prairie and yet not so many butterflies as I had hoped. There were a few Fritillaries but not a one would land and let me get a look.

Two Milbert's Tortoiseshell butterflies seen in my backyard garden in the late afternoon.

I also saw a Tiger Swallowtail that couldn't be identified to species. This was the 20th year for this count. 64 different species have been seen over the years. The Bog Coppers and Little Yellow were new to the count. 1987 was the last time I saw a Little Yellow in Wood County. This one was very worn and pale. 6 butterfly species have been seen on every count: Acadian HS, Great Spangled Frit, Mourning Cloak, N Crescent, Eyed Brown and Monarch. 3 skipper species have been seen on all 8 counts since I've learned to ID them: Long Dash, Two-spotted and Dun. Thanks Mike for the help in those first few years. Most of the Two-spotted Skippers were fairly worn. What a nice day, not a cloud in sight all day, also a first for the count.

Beautiful day but no Poweshieks flying. You will get wet getting to the SNA.

Cloudy with scattered rain.

Large group of Red Admirals up to 8 on one tree in private pine woods out side Montello.

Incidental observations walking around town today

Very wet day, but I went walking anyway. Not many butterflies out, but I was happy to see the swallowtail.

Cloudy with rain again today.

45º 45.2831' N
90º 32.8789' W

Actually I got chased out by mosquitoes that were really, really bad. Give me 50+ wood ticks any day! I bought a hat with mosquito netting for tomorrow, but I still hope it is windier.

calm , sunny afternoon between periods of rain

A large group (approximately 20-30) are congregating on our front porch.

It was still cloudy with scattered rain when I went out for a quick look for butterflies.

Butterflies seen in brush along north side of road, between snowmobile trail and first metal building.

Have seen these in large numbers on my lavender plants.

We've seen many each day since about June 26 on our milkweed.

Duskywings were associated with crown vetch. Saw two mated pairs. I also saw one unidentifiable hairstreak.

Close up of Red Admiral on Coneflowers

Kathy J joined me for part of the day. Deerflies near wooded areas are horrible. Elsewhere they are barely tolerable. Saw many more Frits than I could pos. ID.

It has been an amazing few days so far. I have never had so many red admirals in my yard. I think I have had over 100 of them in all the beds in a couple of days total. I hope they stay around for a while because it is so fascinating to see so many at one time. My husband counted 15-20 just while he stood there. It is so beautiful to see them flying from flower to flower. We might of been counting the same ones if they flew to another flower in the next bed so I can't be real accurate. Remember the total is for a couple days . On the alliums I got a shot of at least 4 at one time.

Despite too many mosquitos, I saw a number of nice butterflies and birds and as a bonus I breakfasted on delicious wild raspberries. The Buckeye was only feet away from the spot where I saw one last week (same one?). I also watched in fascination an incident with several wasps. I think that two males were attempting to mate with a single female who could barely walk under their weight. Then the three were joined by yet another male and a short but fierce battle ensued. Two males were defeated and the female flew off with only one male mounted on her.

At Home

Relatively shallow lake that has rare horned bladderwort (Utricularia cornuta) growing on sandy shoreline.

At our new house on the northern city limit. Yard backs up to thick woods, no grass yet planted but the Red Admirals are everywhere. Especially around my wife's potted plants. Had a half dozen or so flying around inside the opened garage late this afternoon. Truly a beautiful species. Going to try for some pictures this weekend.

I only made a couple of short stops today on a gravel road. Deerflies are out in great numbers making any lengthy stops sheer torture when not prepared. Yes Mike, as much as I dislike them, wood ticks are preferable to mosquitoes and deerflies.

Today at about 6 pm I spotted two Red Admirals in my perenial garden.

Dorcas Coppers back in the same spot I had them last week, got some photos this time.

11 people counting in two groups found 39 species. This was 21st year. Monarch numbers were the 2nd highest in 21 years. Record number of Red Admirals, Northern Broken-Dash, and Little Yellow.

Many Red Admirals on purple coneflowers and English Lavender in our yard for over a week.

My first C. Buckeye of the year. Ringlets now replaced by Wood-Nymphs. Also had a beautiful Twin-spotted Sphinx moth that I thought I'd share here.

Nothing noteworthy here today.

The little yellow was seen on June 27 and June 28 at another Lake Michigan location, Sheridan Park, St. Francis, WI

My Yard: Several sightings this morning. Recorded amount is the most I saw at one time. They are all loving the Echinacea that is in bloom!

So many mysteries in the butterfly world; why on Wednesday I saw not a single Red Admiral and today they were everywhere? Lots of Monarchs too as the milkweed is in full fragrant bloom. In the north meadow there were several lovely Halloween Pennant Dragonflies.

I participated in the butterfly count on Saturday at Riveredge and although this isn't a complete list of all the butterflies we saw, I thought that a partial list might do until the official report comes out. Most impressive were the 20 or so Swamp Metalmarks we saw. This was a lifer for me and I got the most beautiful photo from only inches away.

25 species. Highlights are Juniper Hairstreak, Byssus Skipper, Wild Indigo Duskywing, Little Yellow, and Tawny Emperor.

Saw a Red Admiral in my perennial bed today.....a friendly thing, he landed on my shorts while I was trimming the roses and stayed there a few minutes before heading over to the daisies.

I let the Milkweed grow at the corner of my house just for the Monarchs. I finally got a shot of one egg laying.

Yea - new species for me!

Juniper Hairstreak on the road at the western section. Little Yellows at both of the western sections.

Mosquitoes!

Plentiful milkweed in backyard.

There were tons of butterflies along the bike trail today. We spotted several Monarchs, Cabbage Whites, Great Spangled Fritillaries, Northern Pearly-eyes and too many Red Admirals to count! We even had a couple Admirals land on us while we biked. I almost felt like we were in a butterfly house. Didn't take many pictures as the deer flies and mosquitoes were wicked when we stopped biking.

As I was dumping some weeds into our compost pile, I saw a butterfly I had never seen before, eating off some watermelon scrapes. I found this website and found out it was a Red-spotted Purple. I also have many Red Admirals in my flower garden.

It was cloudy for most of the trip, but the rain held off. The Hairstreaks, Karner Blues and Skippers cooperated nicely. Swamp Milkweed was popular with many Monarch caterpillars, and a few plants were almost stripped of leaves. As can be seen from the photos, we also saw a lot of other things.

To the left of the long National Park Service dock, on milkweed plant on edge of the beach. Shared the pollen with lots of bees.

Several red admiral butterflies were enjoying the liatris (gayfeather) currently blooming in my perennial gardens.

There have been many of these on my coneflowers and butterfly weed.

Saw frits that wouldnt slow down for an ID. Question Mark was hanging upside down, under the eaves, and in the shade.

More Monarchs today than I could count. Interestingly I found another Banded Hairstreak in exactly the same spot as the one I saw last week. However it was definitely a different individual because its wings had no missing bits. Likewise the Little Yellow was again in the same group of plants down on the beach where I have seen the others in the past. Besides the butterflies, I saw 3 Hummingbird Moths sipping from the milkweed.

My Yard- In addition to the butterflies, I also saw a Hummingbird moth sipping from the Salvia (May Night), Milkweed, and Echinacea. I've included a picture, hopfully you will be able to see it. I also think that I may have Monarch eggs on my swamp milkweed... we will see :)

pine barrens habitat nectaring on common milkweed

pine plantation

Slow start with lingering high clouds. 3 yellow swallowtails likely Eastern Tigers on the wing. Could not get them to stop for a pic. Tawny edged would not pose open wing so I snapped that pic in flight. Gorgones were very fresh.

I saw two Red Admirals flitting from one liatris flower to the next. This is the second day of their presence.

brief stop; surprised not to see any bog coppers.

14th annual NABA butterfly count at Northern Kettle Moraine. We found 33 species with record numbers of Question Marks, American Ladies, Red Admirals, Broad-winged Skippers, and Monarchs.

not much activity considering the nice weather

My first Bog Copper.

Early this evening, we found this lovely Red Admiral enjoying our tall phlox and, in particular, our Coneflowers.

two-spotted skipper a big surprise considering the advanced season

only one bog copper despite much hiking about in good habitat; the flight is probably nearing the end in much of Wisconsin (esp. the NW)

This female black swallowtail showed no cell-end spot, which threw me for a loop but didn't faze the two males that pursued her high into the air for at 200 yards before she dropped fast down into the prairie. I thought the cell-end spot was a surefire underside field mark, but I guess it can be absent.

Quite breezy, butterflies were very flighty and tough to observe. Saw perhaps 4-5 duskywings but could not identify them.

Surprised to see the Broad-winged Skippers.

While watching butterflies on the milkweed, I found a lovely green Gray Tree Frog the first I’vet ever seen. Several Hummingbird Moths again today.

This was the 10th year for the Sister Bay NABA butterfly count. Record number of Dorcas Coppers. 3rd highest year for Monarchs. After supper we found a Question Mark nectaring at about 6:45 p.m. but it was outside the count circle.

One male and one female seen on this date.

Winds made things difficult. Watched hairstreaks getting blown off flowers no matter how tightly they gripped the petals.

3rd year for this NABA count. 8 participants in 2 parties. Record high of 40 species. Earlier phenology this year gave us the summer generation of anglewings, which were abundant and fresh. Species highlights were Green Commas, Appalachian Brown, Dion Skippers, and my first ever Delaware Skipper. A fantastic day!

After 5:30, looking for a Green Comma. Found one!

I found this Duskywing in my back garden.

It was flying around a farm where I was working

Very windy. My first Painted Lady of the year. Dion Skipper a good find up here.

Sipping on some Echinacea in the Master Gardener's Butterfly garden in the Northwestern Mutual Life Family Farm.

The most remarkable butterfly of the day is this wonderful black spread-wing Skipper with the white tail edging which must be a Funereal Duskywing. One of the 2 Tiger Swallowtails was a black form female.

It was hard work finding butterflies to count here.

My Yard. We have Monarch caterpillars!!!!! And the monarchs keep laying more eggs! I hope I have enough Milkweed to go around!

Worked most of the day in my garden and although there were no unusual sightings, I can report that Question Marks and Red Admirals really like watermelon. The Green Darner Dragonfly was newly emerged from my little backyard pond.

Lots of nectar sources but very little nectaring activity. Nothing cooperated for photos today. These were my first Regals. I was hoping for some photos, but they didn't even settle down long enough for a good look with binoculars.

This sandy habitat dominated right now by Aphrodite Frits, Meadow Frits, and Coral Hairstreaks.

1.5 mile section of road from 9:15-12:30. I am still trying to get that really good photo showing the green in the wings of the Green Comma from below. I thought that I might be able to get it when it landed on my pants but as you can see I still don't have it.

Seen from my brother-in-law's house on the north edge of the Brillion marsh.

We were walking along the edge of the woods when this little fella settled on a leaf right by my side. Was kind enough to sit while I played around with various camera settings and lenses.

Silver-spotted Skipper was heavily worn and very likely the same individual that's been around for weeks now. Next batch of Americans Coppers has just emerged.

My Yard: First Spring Azures I have seen this summer. I hope to see more!

The white sweet clover has so overgrown the path in places that the plants are over my head and made walking and butterflying very difficult.

One Black Swallowtail laying eggs, and one nectering. Whites and Sulphurs rarely landing for pictures.

A female Black Swallowtail was laying eggs on parsley and dill in my herb garden. .

The nasty biting flies outnumbered the butterflies here today.

Took a short lunchtime walk around the boardwalk. Also saw a couple of Ebony Jewelwing damselflies along Token Creek.

This little garden has lots of nectar sources and is always worth stopping and seeing what might be there. Cloudy today but Red Admirals were still sipping the coneflowers.

I got there at 5:00 when the sun came out, but so did the abundant deer flies. The freshest looking Mottled has a pretty good chunk of a hindwing missing, but it also has a hole in the forewing.

Cloudy most of the day. Storms may have impacted numbers and species. Found some pretty torn up individuals.

Temp 85 degrees F, mostly cloudy, gentle breeze

The Red-spotted Purple is even more tattered than it appears! I finally found a mated pair of Peck's skippers, and also saw a Hummingbird Clearwing and a Snowberry Clearwing.
On Aug. 3 (signup deadline July 27) I'll be teaching a butterfly gardening class at Olbrich Gardens (see www.olbrich.org under education).

All sightings were from 6 pm and later. It looks like the Red-spotted Purple had a very close encounter, but it didn't seem to affect its flying.

Also saw many Monarchs and Red Admirals in Marinette County on the Peshtigo River. The boat landing near the mouth of the river was loaded with Monarchs.

Just back from New Mexico/ west Texas trip and wanted to see what was out here. Swamp Milkweed seemed to be the nectar source for the sightings.

I did most of my butterflying along Stolte Rd. through my car window as deerflies are just horrible. I even wore gloves when I did go out. The deerfly patch I wear on my hat only caught a teeny tiny portion of them. I did manage to get my first ever sighting of a Dainty Sulphur though.

Stopped to look for Green Commas and was surprised to see the Common Branded Skipper.

Frit numbers were much smaller this week. Getting a big mix of worn and fresh.

The Fiery Skipper was in Dane Co. at the pond off of 78 south of Sauk City. The American Snout and Little Yellows were in Iowa Co. in vicinity of Arena Boat Landing.

Saw this Skipper feeding from Bouncing Bet.

The tortoiseshell was flitting around an oats field.

I was mainly looking for robber flies, but was still eager to try to photograph the Green Comma.

Noticed some mid-afternoon activity as I garaged my car, so took a quick saunter. Caught my first "yard" Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and Pearl Crescents of the season.

Took a walk around my neighborhood and was surprised by the number of butterflies to be found in an urban/suburban area. Wednesday I had my first Fiery Skipper, a female, and today my first male Fiery Skipper. This is certainly the year for visiters from the south.

Partly cloudy conditions, temp of 85 degrees F, no breeze

Hard to count all the Clouded Sulphurs - had to estimate. One of the Regal Fritillaries had a chunk out of its hindwing; both spent a lot of time chasing Monarchs.

Around noon my husband and I saw this black-form female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail flitting around our backyard. It finally settled on the Tiger Eye Sumac. About an hour later we saw it again on our purple cone flowers.

My Yard: Stopped by for a rest in the early evening.

I found my first Am. Snout while tying up plants in the garden that had been flattened by the heavy rain. Then inspired by yesterday's success, I walked to the Library where there is a fine flower garden. I learned that I need to plant blue salvia as it is a Skipper magnet.

Went out again to see if I could relocate the Duskywing from yesterday for better photos. No luck there, but I got a nice photo of an urban Am. Snout in front of the Pharmacy.

Lots of sulphurs out now in alfalfa fields. The most that I have seen in several years.

Photo by Dorothy. We also found a road-killed Green Comma.

Black-form female

I saw dozens of them. I took many photos too.

Came home at 12:30pm and found this beautiful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail feasting on a water lily in our pond in the backyard of our urban home. We live in the middle of a residential neighborhood by the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus. Exciting weekend! Had our first hummingbirds in the yard on July 23rd!

The Funereal Duskywing has only been reported five times in Wisconsin; interestingly, one of those reports came 10 days ago in Milwaukee, so apparently some have been blown or wandered north this summer. This one was nectaring vigorously on catnip.

This black swallowtail was feeding exclusively on invasive spotted knapweed

Most are attracted to the cone flowers...

This large open area is rolling hills of some native plants with many agricultural weeds. The most exciting butterfly of the day was the Bronze Copper found in a low wet area. Also of interest were the large numbers of Crescents

Casual observation, upland/wetland transition area, early evening.

No duskywings, but plenty of Fiery Skippers!

Very warm and humid today. It seems that even the young deer knew better than me to stay out of the sun.