Butterfly sightings for May 2011

Cabbage White at Halfway Creek Marsh just outside of Onalaska, the Clouded Sulphur a couple of miles away in Onalaska.

Very Windy! Plus temps didn't warm up as much as I expected.

Mourning Cloak found on the edge of the woods.

My first Mustard White ever! It was fresh and couldn't fly. When I put my hand down in front of it and it climbed right on. And one very worn Cabbage White.

Warm Sunny afternoon. Saw these flying. Had to stop the car and run back to ID these. Thought it was only 1 when we were driving. Saw others I couldn't ID while driving.

Warm and Sunny. We pulled the boat up to shore so I could get picts of the 5+ types of flowers growing there. The Swallowtail snuck up on me. Only spent an hour looking, but saw other butterflies that I couldn't ID or photograph.

Sunny and upper 60s in the afternoon!

It was a very lightly patterned specimen.

Sunny until 1:30.

Warm and sunny. Took my wife for a ride on the 3 wheeler to the woods along the marsh to show her flowers. Ferns, violets and wood anemone are open there. Saw 2 brown/orange butterflies dancing together thru the woods I could catch up with. We only spent 20 minutes there.

Silvery Blue was found along Hwy 14.

The only time in the day when I didn't have my camera ready at hand.

71 degrees but overcast.

What a day!!! Sunny 76º. Mating pairs of Mustard Whites and Spring Azures! The Azures didn't like the first photo I took so they flew up and landed on my pants. And the first Monarch of the year! WHOOT!!!

More flies than butterflies, with few nectar sources available. One duskywing wouldn't sit for photo.

Prairie recently burned; most leps were moths. One monarch found no milkweed sprouts here.

Noted orange on top of wing proximal to body.

one Eastern Tiger swallowtail flying westward across Hwy 67 at about 10 feet high within forested stretch.

Storms rolled in and cut my visit short but it didn't matter as I found no Freija Frits or Red-disked Alpines flying yet in the same places that held many in late April last year.

Made a 15 minute trip to the marsh. Saw 5 Cabbage Whites in the yard and on the way down there. 4 Mustard Whites and 2 Spring Azures there. Excellent for such a short trip. Rain started and I scurried. Thanks Dad for the 3-wheeler! Glad I chose to go!

Cloudy most of the day but warm and light winds. When sun broke through LOTS of butterfly activity. Increased Hoary Elfins due to more host plant areas checked. American Lady appeared to be egg laying.

The American Lady may have been laying eggs.

Sunny and 86º. First Eastern Pine Elfin. It sat on this flower (flying away and coming back to it) for more than an hour. One of the Commas was protecting his territory. He landed on me about 18 times. Finally relaxed and let me get as close as 4" with the camera lens.

While driving to work I saw my first Monarch. I had
to hit the brakes to be sure I didn't hit it.

Tiger cruising the treetops; monarch didn't stop at any of our 30 milkweed sprouts already up, so perhaps a male.

I was 99% certain I had seen a monarch on May 10 in a parking lot at the corner of County Q and County M in Middleton but could not believe it would be here so early after our cold spring. This one was definitely a monarch.

It was along the town road, at dead end, near creek.

I saw my first Black Swallowtail of the year. It was cold and windy today, and it was the only butterfly I saw today.

64º Sunny 4:30 -5:30 PM Windy
Both Whites were finding places to settle down for the night. Cabbage liked the tall green grassy clumps. Mustard White(100 yards away) found a stem found a dead stem in a patch of Wood Anemone.

Two scarlet tanagers partially made up for the very few butterflies on this slightly cool, windy day at the Arboretum.

60º, windy and sunny. 1-5:45 PM. 1st trip to my inlaw's drew a blank. Muir park had Am. Lady, Whites and Azures. 2nd trip to the farm I found a windless spot where all the other butterflies were communing. Am. Ladies were laying eggs in both places. (First base on the ball diamond at Muir) First Juniper Hairstreak for me! The Sulpher was fresh and climbed on my finger. The Silvery Blues are truly breathtaking. All numbers were minimums.

nectaring on pussytoes

Both of these butterflies were seen puddling.

This SNA should be called "Mosquito Wetlands" because they were so abundant you could hear a constant hummmm while walking the forest edge. Not recommended for a visit. Yet.

Sunny and 65º.Took my wife along today for 5 hours. She was amazed at all the butterflies we saw. The Silvery Blue & the spider was a neat find. I had just taken a moth out of a spiders web 50 yards away. Have one pict with a Silvery Blue and an Azure inches apart nectering on pussytoes. Close Focusing Binoc.s are a dream!

Duskywings very active and hard to ID. Many more seen than counted. First sulphur drifted by but no way to ID at distance. Head buzzed by two different commas, but they took off so no ID there either.

4:45-5:45

One Monarch was laying eggs on butterflyweed, the other on swamp milkweed.

I have been seeing these every day for about a week now. I also have seen 3 tiger swallowtails, and numerous Spring Azures

Olympia Marbles everywhere!

Mustard White uncommon, flying in company with commoner Cabbage Whites.

Butterflied in the afternoon. The Columbine Duskywing was sniffing around the basal leaves of Columbine.

75º and Sunny. Spent and hour at both places. Saw the Black Swallowtail fly by while rototilling the neighbors garden. All 5 Juniper Hairstreaks were on a patch of pussytoes 3' in Dia. The Lady's and a Silvery Blue were laying eggs.

3500+ acre burn today, pretty amazing to see. Barrens species should really take off in the next couple years!

Most observed on mud and gravel. One male Sleepy Duskywing found as road kill.

There was just enough sunshine at the end of the day for me to spot my first elfin of the year.

I spotted this butterfly in the grass; his wings obviously torn, finding a place to rest in the grass, out of the fray. Also saw other tiger swallowtails , duskywings and Pearl Crescents today

First time I've ever seen this butterfly! Very exciting!

Finally a warm and sunny day here by Lake Michigan. I have been reading with envy the reports of butterflies from the rest of the state--but here until today it's been more like winter than butterfly season.

You don't even have to leave your bedroom when you are sick to see butterflies. A Monarch flew by to make me feel better and also 3 whites.

This is the totals from the SWBA fieldtrip that was rescheduled.

Thunderstorms moved in shortly after we arrived.

Classic Loews Lake location, near Holy Hill. Very few on wing, despite ideal weather. Blues and Skippers alarmingly absent.

65-72 degrees 4 different BFs climbed right on my fingers! Juniper stayed on for 10 minutes while I followed and took picts other BFs. 1 Monarch was laying eggs. Saw a Viceroy or Red Spotted Purple Caterpillar.

The Mourning Cloak, very tattered, was laying eggs (willow), as was the American Lady (pussytoes).

Black Swallowtail emerged from his chrysalis in the rearing cage...it was cold and rainy, fed him some nectar until May 28th, then released him, it was beautiful!

62º Warm South facing slopes and open meadows. Lupine is really opening. Only had 1 1/2 hours. Red Spotted Purple caterpillar was no where to be found. Will be looking for the butterfly in a couple weeks.

On this day last year, this prairie had abundant large American Lady "nests" in the pussytoes; this year they were rare and tiny. The season seems slow to start.

67º Sun to partly cloudy. Snowberry Clearwing Moth! The pair of Silvery Blues never mated.

Natural Resources Foundation field trip to a private property where there are large expanses of lupine. No Karner blues yet, but did see two Eastern tailed blues.

3pm, mostly sunny, 70-75 degrees F.

I saw a skipper, photographed it, and wondered why it was there. Then I saw the first columbine 5 feet away. The skippers were fighting over territory with the columbine.

8pm. Last butterfly of a long day of good butterflying. Had to use flash for picture.

95% overcast, rare moments of partial sun. 10am. 65 degrees F. Lupine in bloom.

Sunny but windy day.

Sunny from 11-4:00!

75º Sun to partly cloudy. First time there. Lots to see. I spotted the Elfin in the picture from a 30' away. Something didn't seem right.

Lots of columbine in flower. 11am, mostly cloudy, 65 degrees

Cloudy, slight breeze

Saw the sun for about two minutes. Lots of a little green moth.

11-12:00 cloudy and cool. Kicked up two butterflies walking around, but hardly anything else.

The most Northern Cloudywings I have ever seen in one day!

The usual suspects...

Dry, sandy pine barrens.

88º Sunny and windy. Another busy day with family. 1st Silvery Blue in my yard. Another spider eating an American Copper.

On this day last year the nettle patch had many large cats inside curled leaves. This year not even a single egg. Kinda spooky...

Cloudy, then sunny, then cloudy....didn't keep the butterflies from flying. Gorgone Checkerspots were everywhere!!!

8:30 am. Hottest day of year so far.

Black Swallowtail was seen near large prairie garden.

Driving the gravel back roads we easily saw over 100 Tiger Swallowtails. Saw one group of over 50 and another of over 20. Probably getting out of the 40 mph wind gusts.

77º and sunny in the afternoon, and WINDY! Polyphemus hatched out here. Would have been burned in a leaf pile if we hadn't brought it in. First Harvester. Monarchs, Azure, and American Ladies laying eggs. Saw many more that blew by so fast that they couldn't be positively IDed.

Very windy today, making it almost impossible to get photos.