Butterfly sightings for September 2012

A little windy today, didn't see too many out there.

Prairies very dry with limited nectar.

Much slower than the last time I was here. What happened to all the Sachems???

The peep had a deformed bill that would not close but it seemed to feed all right. I think it was a Baird's due to its oval shape.

This species is a first for our farm.

Dainty's continue to thrive, expanding into more places. Red Admirals were 20-25 feet off ground on tree trunks. Pockets of butterflies, with long stretches empty of activity. Late Dion surpassed Fiery for top find of the day.

E. Tailed-Blue and Dainty Sulphur were most abundant species! Dorothy took swallowtail photo.

Kiep's Island and also a field of Blazing Star north of the Visitor's Center along the loop. This field had 53 Monarch's, 3 Giant Swallowtails, 4 Fiery Skippers as the highlights of about 45 minutes of searching after 5:00.

86 degrees and Sunny. Mourning Cloaks and a Red Admiral visited us in the boat hundreds of yards out in the lake.

This is the first Red Admiral I have seen in weeks.

I have seen few butterflies except Mourning Cloaks for some days now.

Just a few observations while gardening.

I was surprised to see the emperor and the pearly-eye.

I was watering in the late morning and felt like the skipper's and cabbage whites were following me around. The viceroy and the Admiral were enjoying the most boisterous pot of zinnias.

Even in areas with seemingly good nectar sources, there was little flying. No skippers at all!
added note 3/25/2021: I had originally identified this as Efferia albibarbis and was pleasantly surprised when I recognized that this was actually E. pogonias.

Spotted this Giant Swallow Tail on my Humming Bird Feeder this afternoon....the Hummers were a bit confused at first but welcomed him after a bit. Spotted this Female Black Swallow Tail on the Joe Pye Weed this afternoon before the rains moved in.

Mostly at Colic Slough Road and Marsh Road(s) north and south of Weyauwega. The Checkered White and 33 Dainties at the southeast corner of the fairgrounds.

Sunny mid-80s, 10am-noon. Butterflies everywhere.

4:10-5:10

Observed these two acting as if they were buddies, nectaring from the same flowers, and following each other around, or so it seemed.

Lovely fields of prairie flowers made a pollinator's paradise today. Good to see lots of Monarchs still alive; I've heard reports of many being found dead on the beaches of Lake Michigan. Besides the butterflies, I came across several giant Puffballs including one twice the size of a person's head. I put my hat and glasses on it to show scale.

Beautiful day. High 70's, sunny, light breeze off the lake.

Gray Hairstreak and Tawny-edged Skipper were new species for my butterfly garden yardlist.

93 degrees and sunny. 2hrs. Saw a very rare species of Ann T. also.

A very odd checklist for early September in far northern WI! C. Checkered-Skipper vanished before I could break out my camera...

Excitement of the day: A snapping turtle was on the sidewalk across the road from the pond. A man who was concerned about the turtle getting run over trying to cross the road provided assistance. He gently prodded the back of the turtle's shell with his foot and eventually got the turtle onto an old blue bedspread. He pulled up the edges of the bedspread and carried the turtle safely across the road, depositing it near the edge of the pond. Within 10 minutes the turtle made its way into the water. (I provided moral support and minimal help with the edges of the bedspread. I don't generally mess around with snapping turtles.)

88 degrees and Sunny. One cluster of flowers had 22 Dainty Sulphurs. They are in every area that I looked. First time I have seen a Praying Mantis(5" long) in the wild. One Sachem laying eggs on sedge grass.

The giant swallowtail flew all around my citrus trees in the backyard for 20 minutes, landing on leaves and probably looking for nectar. Those plants have never flowered so it was out of luck, but it was cool to see the butterfly looking for its southern host plant.

Warm & sunny, 11:30-12

warm, sunny, 11:00

82 degrees and Sunny. Nearly all on a short section of Grand River Road near the sunflower field.

Several in a wildflower area in the yard.

North and south from Medina Junction Road. It was slow both ways.

Pipevine Swallowtails - pair nectaring on phlox

Wow! Very exciting to add a butterfly to our life-list! Didn't think we'd ever run into a Horace's Duskywing -- too rare. After a few minutes it flew off, never to return.

Disturbed field with a patch of Canadian thistles attracted about ten species. Fiery Skippers, Pecks, and somewhat fewer Sachems blanketed the flowers.

Lovely day, mostly sunny, some wind, clouds coming in, rain likely, temp in low 70s, no dragonflies, no mosquitoes (smile), one monarch, a few bees and fat chipmunks.

One Common Checkered-Skipper chased a grasshopper for over 40 yards. He was within a foot of it at all times. I didn't even notice the Hummingbird Clearwing until I got home and looked at the photos.

This beautiful Giant Swallowtail was my companion for about ten minutes as I worked in my perennial beds. We live on four wooded acres on Bass Lake, next to pasture lands and marsh.

A windy morning with cool temps.

Windy conditions. This is a great place to look for butterflies.

No Monarchs and no skippers.

I was walking the trails when this huge butterfly landed basically right in front of me. I snapped as many pictures as I could before it flew off over the water.

74 Degrees and Partly Sunny. The Dainty pictured is only 3/8 inch tall. Less than half the height of any of the others I saw. Only made one pass through the bean field. Can't imagine how many the field holds.

Nice sunny day, temperatures in the low 70's.

Visit in late afternoon to bluff prairie remnant; quite windy on top! After dark saw mouse crawling about on tip of stick for at least a minute (doing what I don't know); another was observed eating moths off of baited trees (not helping with survey!).

Beautiful day for a walk after work. Not much buttterfly activity. One caggabe white, three Fiery Skippers, one Morning Cloak, and one bright blue damselfly. No camera, alas.

Windy.

Saw this Gray Hairstreak while walking on the Sugar Maple Link not far from the Nature Center building.

I found this butterfly along the bluff and relocated it about and hour and forty five minutes later to take several photos. There may have been two in the area.

Search late in evening; not much activity. Dainty Sulphur was a nice surprise, flying about the end of a weedy abandoned runway.

89 degrees and Sunny. Didn't even make a full pass through the bean field before I counted the 350th Dainty Sulphur. Took Doreen back out to see a cluster of 25-30 on some flowers in the meadow. She got to see 85-100 from the seat on the 3 wheeler. A dying elm in the front yard held nearly all of the Mourning Cloaks and Red Admirals.

After my riding lesson, I took a short walk around the outside of the barns and managed to spot quite a few butterflies. An unexpected pleasure.

A few minutes in my garden around 4:15 pm. Sunny and warm.

Warm and breezy. Saw two Gartersnakes and a Fox Snake.

60s Sunny no breeze. At the hospital Skippers only and very few at that. At the boat launch Little Yellow, two Clouded Sulphurs, two Morning Cloaks, 3 Common Green Darners, C geese, ducks, sandpipers and sail boat.

Warm, sunny afternoon-had hoped to see a late flying Leonard's skipper. Tons of flowers blooming with good butterfly activity.

I've been seeing a Checkered Skipper for about a week - and finally got a photo.

Great day. Mid-70s and sunny. Quite a few asters and lots of clover. The great spangled fritillary spent a very long time nectaring on one of the last large thistles around. The two most numerous butterflies were fiery skippers at 25+ and Eastern-tailed blues at 10+.

The Red Admirals were swarming a large crab apple tree's fruit, along with a few Mourning Cloaks.

My first ever Common Checkered Skipper!!! Common? I think not! Very pleased to add it to my life list! Great day today for our butterflies!

Today I went canoeing on the WI River. We went from Blue River to Boscobel

The Mourning Cloak was in the experimental garden.

These guys were hanging out on the big bush on the bike path behind my house! The Painted Ladies seem to be beginning their migration while the Mourning Cloaks were stocking up for their upcoming hibernation and they both decided to spend the weekend here. So glad that they did! I wish I would have been able to get some pictures, but both my phone and camera were dead. Hope they come your way too!

Sunny, 82F, breezy. Not much seen here today. The fiery skippers and sachem were seen in the grass along the lakeshore, the least skipper was seen in the tamarack swamp west of the picnic area.

Had too many Mourning Cloaks to count today! The Red Admiral landed on my leg, and a Mourning Cloak sat on my knee for several minutes. Great afternoon!

Very pleasant day. Monarchs were feeding on plants sheltered from the wind.

78 degrees and Sunny. Still a lot of Dainty's around.

Still nice out, sunny, but clouds building. Few hours before the storm hit. Spotted a Morning Cloak flying around. Followed it with my eyes as it went into the tree top. As I watched i saw several Morning Cloaks flitting through the upper branches of a willow tree. There may have been more but I was only able to count seven distinct individual. Too far away for a good picture. Here's an old one of the willow by the pond. A quick check of the bank of flowers I've been watching was down to couple skippers.

56 degrees and Mostly Cloudy. In a large cluster of Heath Asters while the sun was briefly out.

Relatively late Summer Azure

67 degrees and partly sunny. The frost a couple nights ago killed some of the zinnias, but wildflowers look good.

Overcast, windy, 60s. Only had a few minutes. The Mourning Cloaks were gone from the willow tree. Two were resting in the driveway. One Clouded Sulphur, one reddish dragon fly with translucent wings with red veins, two Common Green Darners.

50s and windy.

Not many butterflies out on the Point; I was a bit surprised to see the Buckeye.

sunny, with wind in the low 60's

the skippers are all getting old, while the Red Admirals and Painted Ladys look very fresh, I think the Mourning Cloak is the same one I've been seeing for the last couple of weeks, it finally stayed still so I could get pictures

74 degrees and sunny. Saw the most beautiful white form of a Orange Sulphur. The orange really stood out on the females white wing with black laced edges.

I also found a Gray Hairstreak in my garden yesterday (images).

Saw a Red Admiral early when it was very windy and cold. Didn't see another butterfly till over two hours later.

Sunny and 60's but very windy.

Spent about an hour here from 11:30 to 12:30. Interesting other sightings were a Great Spreadwing damselfly and a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird with the base of her bill colored orange from pollen.

sunny day, 70's, light wind

Perfect weather with some nearby fields ablaze with New England aster. Cabbage white and Orange Sulphurs rampant. Astonishing rarity of Monarchs this entire month. Dainty Sulphur a treat to see. One hour well spent.

Bopping around the east half of Waushara County. The Great Spangled Fritillary was at the garden by the beach of Mount Morris Lake. The Dainty photo was from on top of Mount Morris by the ball diamond. The other Dainties were on Sumner Street by Pine River.

Numbers down. Mostly Orange Sulphurs and Mourning Cloaks. Many Green Darners and a few Variegated Meadowhawks (dragonflies).

Just a short trip today but I found it interesting that I saw more eagles than butterflies.

Dainties and the American Copper were by the fairgrounds. Lots of Palm Warblers around the last couple of days.

Explored a two acre disturbed field laden with goldenrod, iron weed and asters for about an hour, seeking rare fall migrants. Success! Uncovered a Common Checkered Skipper, very fresh, and only sighted once before by me in Wakesha County during 2007. A slightly worn Dainty Sulfur , fourth sighting this year, added to the bonanza.

70's and sunny, mid-afternoon. The skippers were nectaring only on thistles and ignoring the large number of asters that were around. Nice to see a fair number of dainty sulphurs. I haven't seen as many this summer as other folks have.

The butterfly was spotted sunning itself on asters bordered by a row of oaks, a restored grassland and farm fields.

Lovely day in the 60's sunny with a brisk breeze. Almost gave up on seeing any Butterflies today. Finaly a pair of Firey Skippers mating or trying to.

I photographed this Common Checkered Skipper on a neighbor's farm lane today. Very active on the ground in the lane and in the nearby alfalfa stubble (but a bit camera shy). Beautiful little butterfly, and now verified for Ozaukee County.

74 degrees and sunny. Somedays the spider wins. Checkered Whites were 2 males and a female. Bean field still has tons of Daintys. Combine should be here this week. Saw all 9 species in the yard.

Various parks and open spaces in northern Winnebago County.

Casual obs while leading a birding field trip.

Very dry conditions here.

Stopped on my way home for just a half hour. Still plenty in flower but they took the flowers out of my favorite garden plot already.

Not a lot of nectar sources this year compared to past years at this time. My favorite field was mowed this year, but I did stop and saw the Gray Hairstreak along the road. I took lots of photos to get the two opened wing photos.

The first Dainty Sulphur I ever saw... I had to chase it around a while, and it didn't land without obstruction, but I was able to get a photo.

even more exciting than a dainty sulphur cooperating for a photo were the dragonflies. I saw my first ever black an and saffron-winged meadowhawks (pending confirmation of the photos by KL!)

Up to nearly 80 degrees and sunny. Fall colors were fabulous. Two interesting sightings were the American Snout and Variegated Fritillary. I have included Edgar Spalding's nice photo of the rare Black Meadowhawk (dragonfly). Congratulations Edgar!

Stopped counting Dainty Sulphurs after 300 in a half an hour.

This Question Mark was sighted sunning itself in a wooded area of Whitefish Dunes State Park. Temperature was in the mid to upper 60s.

I almost got the picture.

Early on I thought my sightings would be limited to one cabbage white seen through a window and one dainty sulphur spotted on a barren patch of grass, but things picked up slightly a bit later. There were abundant asters at one location, but I only saw one butterfly nectaring on the asters, a fiery skipper.