Butterfly sightings for September 2011

Pretty Awesome. Never have seen one before. I see plenty of swallowtails on the bush outside the kitchen window, but never a Giant. Pictures aren't the greatest.
Sunny, 86 degrees and breezy.

Now 2 Little Yellows at the ame spot we found 1 Little yellow on August 3. Not much progress! Little Yellows have crashed this year -- after large numbers in 2010.

I was disappointed that I only saw two species at a place where I usually see many. However, the silver-spotted skippers were entertaining, landing in many unusual places, like on a yellow rose and on my right arm. It was fun to stare at the skipper up close and personal when it was on my arm, but I couldn't take a photo since my camera was also in my right hand.

I was pleased by the largest number of Monarchs that I have seen here all summer (and the only caterpillar). All the adults looked very fresh. Working on the bluff cutting out burdock, I came across a caterpillar which I later identified as a Brown-hooded Owlet. Despite the beauty of the larva, the moth it turns into is very plain.

The Monarch was just floating over the highway about 7:30 this morning when I was coming in to work.

I stopped here on my way home, hoping to see some other butterflies than I'd seen in Fitchburg. The scenery was nice, cabbage whites were flitting around in large numbers, birds were singing, a cedar waxwing sat on a branch about 5 feet from me and stayed for about 2 minutes, but no other butterflies until I was about to leave. Just adjacent to the parking lot I located an area where there were about 8 least skippers. A nice end to my day.

Hot and sunny. Saw many while fishing on the lakes. Milberts suprized me by landing on a flower 50 yards out in the lake. Monarchs would drift into the boat and check out all the colored lures and then be on their way. Viceroy was nearly dead when I found it on Bass Lake Rd.

Nice day, somewhat rainy. Dirt road had been recently graded and butterflies were all over the fresh, wet gravel.

Did not see any actual butterflies, perhaps the cool rainy morning was the reason, but we did find some prickly-ash loaded with giant swallowtail caterpillars of various ages.

Warm & spotty rain. Monarchs liked the boat on the lake today.

Just a few butterflies on this morning's bird walk between much needed rain storms. The E. Tailed-blue was a very dark, fresh female. Many of the Cabbage Whites were puddling.

I spotted this Aphrodite Fritilary on the marigold flowers. I developed a butterfly garden this year and have had numerous butterflies.

Common Buckeyes seem to be quite common and widespread late this summer.

This was the only spotting here on this day, perhaps due to the much cooler temps and high wind, or perhaps due to me being preoccupied in finding prickly-pear cactus, which we eventually did! This individual was found injured and unable to fly. At one point, my daughter had it in the car, wanting to take it home, but we let nature take its course.

Sightings over a two-day period in a few areas in southeastern Germantown.

Pretty quite day today.

64 degrees and partly sunny. 4-5:30 PM. Found 3 of the 4 Giant Swallowtail and 1 monarch caterpillars. Zinnias still attracting monarchs and a Frit. Thistle in the marsh held 2 Frits. Blazing Star held the Blues and Copper.

This Aphrodite Fritillary, which has not been verified as being in Vernon County, was photographed in Vernon County on a Bonset plant, a native wildflower

Not a great variety on this chilly day, but a surprising number of Fiery Skippers on blue salvia and dandelions.

Western White and Variegated Frit were highlights. Black Meadowhawk was the first I've seen on my property.

Ratty individual, but new for county I guess.

All of these butterflies were spotted in a field next to some woods and a large natural pond. They were spotted between 1 and 3pm on a cool, windy, day with a lot of sunshine. All but the Question Mark and Clouded Sulphurs were nectaring on Goldenrod. I spotted a female Orange Sulphur, but was unable to photograph it.

Was quit a bit warmer today...so Marsh Road was a lot more active than it was yesterday.

Mids 60s and sunny. Monarchs are moving through. 1 Black form ET Swallowtail came to visit the Zinnias. Pecks Skipper was on Blazing Star. 1 Harvester looked fresh, the other is pictured.

I walked for about a mile and a half along the MB Trail east of Hatley - past marsh, bog, field and woods.

Saw several frits but they decided not to stop and nectar on the Blazing Star.

Mid afternoon, sunny, breezy, mid 60s

Delightful sunny weather, but all butterflies greatly diminished compared to 10 days ago.
NO MONARCHS!!!!very disappointing late summer showing here, this season. Fiery Skippers quite common. My latest date ever for Summer Azure.

Mid 70s and Sunny. Only had an hour to spend there. Fiery Skippers chasing everything away, even dragonflies!

70 and sunny. Quick trip around the yard before a trip to Madison. Fiery Skipper was on Blazing Star before I scared it to the grapes.

Found this one rummaging amongst the fallen apples from our backyard apple tree.

Quite chilly this morning with few butterflies.

Early afternoon sunny around 68 degrees;
No photo, good close visual with binos

Noticed from my balcony some Clouded Sulphurs and Cabbage Whites flying around in a field adjacent to my apartment building. Decided to go down and take some pictures and this is what I found.

Was pleased to see a mated pair of Common Checkered-Skippers - no camera along, but I did have my iPod Touch (lousy camera included)

I spotted most of these butterflies on a trail between a field and a large natural pond where there's a lot of tall grass and Goldenrod. Some were seen in my flower garden and on flowers in potted outdoor plants. It was sunny and warm today, but extremely windy and the butterflies were having a lot of trouble in flight. Most hung close to the ground.

76 degrees and sunny. Mating pairs of Cabbage and Mustard Whites today! Pecks was being eaten by a predator. 1 Monarch sitting on a Joe Pye Weed suddenly threw its wings forward. When I tapped the assassin bug it let go and the Monarch flew off. 3 Giant Cat.s still doing well.

Cranes and butterflies. An enjoyable afternoon.

First Sachem detected in several years. ..flying in company with Fiery Skippers. No Monarchs on the wing since August 28, despite hours of field observation daily. Most listed sightings seen today in nearby red clover patch. A Snowberry Clearwing moth also sighted.

Spotted on the dirt road to Deer Lake 4 miles outside of Wabeno, in Forest County.

between 12 & 3PM, sunny, low 80s

78 degrees and Sunny. Didn't see a monarch until after 2:30 today. One Buckeye had 3"+ wingspan. Largest I have ever seen. No picts. Accidently deleted them on the card.

Had to include this picture of a small garter snake visiting my gardens again.

Nice to see an American lady, the first one I've seen this year.

We had seen a Southern Dogface here on August 3 and we returned to see if it had left any descendents. It had! We found 5 Dogfaces!

Good weather. Only on west side of the meadows and pumphouse area so around 1/2 my normal route.

Butterfly numbers and variety seems to be dropping as the end of summer nears. Many of the remaining butterflies are very tattered. Found 1 Cabbage White being eaten by an Ambush Bug.

80 degrees and Sunny

around 11 AM, sunny, 70s

I also saw a Black Bear cross the road at 11:30 a.m., but I was too slow to get a photo.

80s and sunny. Walked around with the Hamels and my wife.

This intersection was part of the Ironman bike route today. Many eastern tailed blues were doing some urban puddling on a wet rock near an office building where water was spraying from a fountain (rock at lower left). There were also quite a few eastern tailed blues in another dry area nearby. In keeping with the urban theme, there was a silver spotted skipper on a plant near a drainage ditch structure.

warm, breezy day. All but the Least Skippers were found in pine barren/prairie areas. Least Skippers were in vegetation around wet areas.

86 degrees and Sunny/Partly.

86 Degrees and Sunny. Quick drive in and out. Stopped to ID a few.

10 gray commas were scattered along a gravel logging road a little after noon, sunny and around 80 degrees.

Pleased to find another Common Checkered Skipper (Dorothy's photo).

86 degrees, windy and sunny. Covered a lot of ground. My mom saw the Giant outside the kitchen window at the home farm which got me off the couch in a hurry. My Thanks to Ann T. for helping me learn to ID some today and the people who send me in the right direction to find butterflies. Also got to watch a Clouded Sulphur laying eggs.

Sunny, Mid 80's, and windy. Main target was Pipevines. Only saw one very uncooperative black butterfly. Only got one picture, barely good enough for a positive ID.

I've been waiting to capture a monarch with its wings open for once! Just happened to look at my butterfly bush on my lunch hour at home today and there he was.

Oxford, Buffalo, and Moundville townships

I came to Holland Sand Prairie SNA in search of the Leonard's skipper as there is lots of blazing star and prairie grasses. No luck on Leonard's but did pick up a few Fiery skippers!

56 Degrees and Sunny. No Giant Caterpillars.

not sure about either...it *looks* like a Bog Copper, but no bogs; *Pretty* sure the other is a Northern Crescent.

Cool, breezy. Except for Sulfurs & Whites, all butterflies rare or absent.

In cow pasture near pond.

64 degrees & mostly cloudy. Even with a cooler weather they were flying.

Lower 70s, mostly sunny, just a little windy.

68 Degrees and Sunny. 1-4:15 PM Covered a lot of ground. Only at Summerton for 25 Min., but saw 9 species. The prairie for 60 Min., saw 10 species.

58 degrees and sunny when I started. I was surprised to find so many butterflies. It did warm up a little later.

A beautiful day, after a nice rainfall, the sunshine came out and along with it came the butterflies. They were all feeding on the rigid goldenrod that is in full bloom in my friends' prairie garden. My time was limited, but the time spent was rewarding!

Ideal conditions in the afternoon. No Monarchs obseved during one hour in this habitat.

Four Common Checkered Skippers were puddling! All males, of course. (That was 5 for the day.) The males have a bluish cast.

74 degrees and partly sunny. Lookin' for "Harvey" and he was waitin' for me. Hard to imagine how territorial these little guys are. 4 different Harvesters used this same leaf to watch the world over the last couple months.

77 degrees and sunny. Didn't stay long.

Back from visiting my brother in Pacifica, California, it was good to get a beautiful sunny Wisconsin autumn day after a week of mostly cold and foggy.

54 degrees and mostly cloudy. Helping put up an osprey pole. Had the Frit climb onto my finger for a better look when we broke for lunch. Blue was one of the tiniest we had ever seen.

Despite the cold last night the butterflies were out early (8:30 am) in the bright sunshine. All the Monarchs were very fresh as were the Buckeyes. The American Lady was very worn and tattered.

At Morgan Coulee Prairie, I just saw clouded and orange sulphurs, and a single northern crescent. At Pine Creek, I saw just clouded sulphurs, northern crescent, a monarch and the milbert's tortoiseshell. Also saw a dark-grayish skipper type that I couldn't get close enough to ID/photograph.

60 Degrees and mostly cloudy.

60 degrees and partly sunny. Was surprised to see 2 garter snakes.

60 degrees, mostly cloudy. More clouds as the afternoon progressed.

It was cool, in the 50's on a back road. I almost didn't see the Gray Comma as it was motionless, and stayed that way even as I approached within a foot. It flew off as I was leaving. The Milbert's was near our house.

Great facility to tour!

Only had a few minutes for birds and butterflies after the heavy rain in the morning. The sun was bright but it was very windy and all the butterflies were staying close to the ground.

Hundreds of Sulphurs in and around long-abandoned farm field. Warm, sunny, no wind. Nectaring on Aster puniceus (Purple Stemmed Aster), and A. ericoides (Heath Aster)

67 Degrees. Tried to get a pict of this type of dragonfly last week. Today I hit a bug with the truck and just happened to go back to find it. Lots of Orange Sulphurs today.

A spot of beautiful weather between rains. The birding was so good, I spent most of my time in the woods and only saw a few butterflies as I crossed the meadows. Saw a hen Turkey with 5 half-grown chicks.

The Comptons were circling and landing on my house for over an hour.

70 Degrees. Sunny to Partly Sunny. Great fall day to be out "hunting".

On the asters in my friends prairie there was 200+ Clouded Sulphurs

We checked for Dogfaces a few days after some frost on Sept. 15, but did not find any. However, today I checked again and found 3. Two were the rose form typical of the last generation of the season.

What a beautiful autumn day! Sunshine, light winds and temperatures in the mid 60's made for one of the best butteflying days of the season. My friend hosts a very large praire garden, with Asters and Rigid Goldenrods in full bloom right now, to which the butterflies were attracted.

Stopped after work from 4-4:30. Mostly cloudy.

Cool weather with very little flying. But several larvae and one pupa uncovered in my garden.

Doing yard work in the few minutes of sunshine this AM. First Snout and I had no camera. Landed twice. No mistaking this guy, even in flight the "snout" stood out.

Great day for butterfly spotting!

55 degrees, sunny, windy but the Coppers were out on Asters on Jimmy Carter Rd.

Wanted desperately to see some butterflies today, but thought chances were poor, with windy conditions and more clouds than sun. But I did see a few. Cabbage whites flitting around in several locations. Nothing seems to bother them. The Pearl Crescent came out during a brief moment of sun and sat on some vinyl siding. The Monarch was in a fairly sheltered spot at Quarry Ridge Park in Fitchburg. The Clouded Sulphur was near the Military Ridge Trail in Fitchburg.