Butterfly sightings for September 2013

Lovely garden with ample nectar sources, where in other years there have been many butterflies of many species. This year, not so much. I was ready to head home, having seen my 2 silver-spotted skippers and 5 cabbage whites, when over my right shoulder flew an Eastern tiger swallowtail that landed on a flower right in front of me. A nice end to what had appeared to be an ordinary day.

I was looking for shorebirds along the reservoir that borders the park. The reservoir is slowly being drawn down, so I had plenty of beach area to hike on to a spot where I have seen shorebirds in the past. While looking for shorebirds, I saw a butterfly flying around me that at first I thought was a Viceroy, but when it landed about 8 to 10 feet from me, something didn't look right for it to be a Viceroy. I put my binoculars on it (Swarovski 10x42, close focus to 6 feet), and I knew it was something different, and a new butterfly that I have never seen before. What struck me the most was the orange in the front wings with black markings. The wing tips were black with white spots. The hind wing was also black with white spots running down the entire length to a black area on the back wing, which was also marked with white spots. Like I said, I knew for sure this was a new butterfly for me, one that I have never seen before. I know many of the more common butterflies, so later in the afternoon I called my friend Mary Backus, who is an avid butterfly observer here in Marathon County, to ask her about what I saw. I also went page by page through the only butterfly field guide I have (Kaufman's Field Guide to Butterflies of North America), and the only butterfly I can come up with is a female Regal Fritillary. The habitat I saw this butterfly in is all wrong from where it should be. It was flying along the beach area of the drawn down reservoir, with heavy forest cover along the edges. I'm thinking with the strong west winds we have had with some recent storms this past week, including the storm in the early morning hours of Sept. 1, 2013 (today), that this might have blown in the butterfly? I did not get any photos as I don't own any high quality cameras (like what Mary has), so I did not get any photos.

cloudy, breezy, a chilly 71F. Surprised to see as many butterflies as I did. I kept thinking I almost need a jacket.

This was an afternoon visit. I was glad to see two Monarch caterpillars. An adult Bald Eagle was a bonus sighting.

This is my favorite place in Waushara County for migrating Monarchs. Not many today.

Most of these were seen while mowing my yard and trails in my field and woods.

On Black-Eyed Susans

One Monarch attracted to a Butterfly Bush.

I hiked all the way around this flowage. I was surprised to see my first Dainty Sulphur of 2013.

Have Giant Swallowtail coming to my yard, on Zinnias and butterfly bush. I never saw one before.

Dainty Sulphur. Saw two flying up river into the wind.

Trails in Prairie Home Estates

Very frequent calling of the Scissors Grinder (cicada) including in Lancaster.

I saw this beautiful butterfly on a flower in my front yard. I have never seen a butterfly like this!

I parked my car near the fish cleaning station, then hiked the Woodland Trail loop. This was mainly a bird watching trip, but I did also find some interesting butterflies. The Common Checkered-Skipper was flitting about the lawn near the fish cleaning station. The Hackberry Emperor was flying up in the tree tops where it landed, then sat. This Hackberry Emperor was so tattered that it took a while before I recognized what species it was. I submit the poor quality, much enlarged photo of this Emperor because this is a near record late sighting date.

First alfalfa field that I have seen this year where sulphurs were abundant. Short stop, where I counted 100 Clouded, stopped counting and then counted the Orange Sulphurs over the same area. Many, many more of each.

75° Sunny. Lots on turtlehead blooming in the marsh.

11:30 to 1:15. Sunny and windy enough for a pleasant walk on the trail.

The photographed N. Crescent was so large I couldn't figure out what it was for 10 minutes, until I finally got a good look.

8:30-9:55 and 3:30-4:10 pm, 64-90 degrees F, sunny, wind SW 6-14 mph. Walked two areas totaling 1.3 miles in the grassland. The Milbert's Tortoiseshell was south of the rock west of County W. We have only seen 2-3 other Milbert's (two were in a Forest Co. bog) this year.

10:20 am to 3:00 pm, 76-92 degrees F, sunny, wind S 6-12mph. Walked almost 6 miles surveying 9 grassland plots. 38 Aphrodite, all 3 Great Spangled, and 1 female Regal Fritillary were in one plot. We saw one male and one female Regal altogether. It has been a low year for Bolorias here.

1 pair each of E. Tailed Blues & Cabbage whites flying while mating. Also plenty of celery loopers nectaring and chickweed moths.

Seen by Heather Eiden on Good Hope Island, Milwaukee River

I hiked the paved trail from the parking area on the north side of Priem Rd out to the viewing platform, then back again.

Meadow Fritillaries were very numerous. Red Admiral, Question Mark, Commas, and Viceroy were on rotting apples.

Two chickweed geometer moths and two white faced meadowhawks allowed me to observe them closely for several minutes.

Feeding on peppermint in my backyard.

93 degrees today.

I was amazed to see a Giant Swallowtail right outside the building at Wehr Nature Center, feeding on the thistle flowers. Sorry that I didn't have a camera with me.

Overcast, 12-2pm

Around my yard in the Summit Pass neighborhood.

94° Sunny & Humid.

Very humid. I arrived early (7:30am) to look for birds and was surprised to see Monarchs active.

This is the latest I've ever seen the Northern Pearly-eye and American Lady in my yard.

I again hiked the paved trail from the parking area on Priem Road. The Purplish Coppers seem to be hanging around the boardwalk section of the trail.

About 15 Common Buckeyes hang around our home. Saw a few together it is not common, I beg to to differ.

The Monarchs were flitting around the evergreens
The American Lady was in an alfalfa field, along with a lot of sulphurs, including clouded, white and at least one orange.

Went up to look for Jaegers but didn't see any on this day. I finally saw one Parasitic Jaeger on Thursday afternoon and two on Friday morning.

10 AM, sunny 70s

My first Viceroy!
5:15 PM, sunny

The recent warm weather seems to have wafted more immigrants into Wisconsin!
Also saw two swarms of a dozen Green Darners, a Russet-tipped Clubtail and Wandering Glider (dragonflies). Good numbers of Scissors Grinder (cicada) are still calling.

Saw one fresh American Lady and a very worn one. Lots of American Coppers on the Sedum.

Guests in my garden today:
Hackberry Emperor in the lemon balm,
Green frog in the cucumbers,
Cluster of bumblebees in the last squash blossom.
4:30 PM, 70s, sunny.

67° Sunny.

Backyard on aster plants

I had meant for this to be a quick trip and then check out the Avon Bottoms area but the White-lined Sphinx moths, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, and the Giant Spreadwings were all so photogenic today that I spent too much time here. 11:30-3:15

Cabbage whites and clouded sulphurs everywhere. The highlight of the day was seeing a white-lined sphinx moth. This was the first time I had ever seen this moth.

64° Sunny. The weather is getting cooler. The zinnizs in the garden is still the hot spot. Purple asters in the marsh are still blooming.

Sunny but chilly and breezy this aft. Walked less than two miles. Not much here.

One of the Clouded Sulphurs was so pale at first I thought it was a Cabbage White at first!

Cabbage White. Day after our first frost.

Backyard (Monarchs & Cabbage White) and Prairie Home Estates trail (Orange Sulphur & Cabbage White)

1 Monarch, 1 Common Buckeye, 1 Sulphur (undetermined species).

Warm, windy, and partly cloudy.

Seen my first Sachem, I may have seen this year 15 to 20 grass-skippers, the last 2 years I've at least double this number on sunny day in August and September.

Had 5 Monarchs in the late afternoon, most of the day there was at least one in the garden.

Finally, the garden as been filled with up 10 White-lined Sphinx moth for the last few weeks.

Sunny warm day, hoping to see more monarchs, but I did see 2 common buckeyes, 1 eastern-tailed blue, several cabbage whites and 2 orange sulphurs. Also saw a variety of bees on the showy goldenrod.

We also found a White-lined Sphinx (moth), observed a singing Scissors Grinder cicada, and a Lance-tipped Darner (dragonfly).

85° Mostly Sunny. At one point the question mark would have been in the pict, too. For some reason this section of the honeysuckle was a hot spot. The only thing we saw in the rest of the woods/marsh were whites on the far end.
No monarchs today.
Saw 1 white this evening trying to find shelter in the pouring rain.

Near the junction of Y and S. Maybe the last hot day of the year.

Low 80s and sunny. Ground was wet from a.m. rain. After visiting a friend at Oakwood West, I walked around in back on a whim, not expecting to see much. I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a few butterflies, especially the American and painted ladies, which I'd only seen a few times this year.

A compilation from several individuals. Peter Fissel spotted the Monarch flying at near treetop height down the beach. He also saw a White-lined Sphinx.

During Wisconsin Society for Ornithology Jaegerfest, Sept. 20-22, 2013. Bronze Copper landed on my leg, and is a lifer for me.

Also saw about 175+ Nevada Buckmoths (Hemileuca nevadensis)

The Monarchs were flying high and in a fairly straight line to the Southwest. Mexico or bust!

64 degrees and sunny.

A perfect weather day. Saw a black swallowtail caterpillar on parsley. There were lots of white-striped sphinx moths, spotted in various parts of the gardens. Two hummingbirds were very entertaining. Many of the fiery skippers were on the orange flowers (marigolds and other flowers) that line the edges of the parking lot.

A few remaining Goldenrod flowers attracted tons of bees and one lone Copper. The Comma was the 1st one I've seen in this area this year. Buckmoths are everywhere.

Sunny and calm this morning, 50 degrees. Saw 1 male monarch basking and nectaring on New England asters. Several cabbage whites and 1 clouded sulphur.

Was walking around in the afternoon and saw many more butterflies! Saw another monarch-this one was a female. Also saw a pandorus sphinx caterpillar.

Again, buckmoths very abundant, but a lot more active in sunny weather. All monarchs were fairly low to the ground and three were at flowers.

Went hoping to find Buckmoths, but didn't see any. Few nectar sources except near the parking lot and in the first restored prairie. All but three butterflies were seen in these two spots.

It was my first Red Admiral of the year.

A glorious day in my backyard which seemed filled with butterflies when I wandered out there.

66° Sunny. "Admirables" & a comma like the bait I put out. Have been waiting for the commas. :) Almost stepped on the White-lined Sphinx while moving the picnic table.

69° Sunny 3:30-4:30 PM CC Skipper was terribly tattered, but could still fly faster than I could follow. Clouded Sulphurs never paired up.

My first Fiery Skipper, seen on the same sedum as the Sachem from a few days ago.

4:30-6:00. Still looking for my first buckmoth.

This was an afternoon visit. The little Northern Brown Snake was sunning itself on the blacktop trail surface.

76 degrees and Sunny. More Monarchs than one could count!

Lifer! Went to Mr. Reese's P. Copper spots to see if I could find one. I brought along the GPS to grab a couple of geocaches and it's a good thing I did. I found a cache at the Pine Lake boat landing and also found four P. Coppers.

10:00 to 1:00. Partly cloudy and cool. At Redgranite I had one O. Sulphur, two E-t Blues, one C. Buckeye and one M. Cloak on the way home.

Mid-70s and sunny, 1:00-3:00. Monarchs everywhere. Most on purple butterfly bush, but a fair number were attracted to these orange flowers as well. Found 2 white-lined sphinx moths. Very cool. Strange to think that I'd never seen one of these moths, and in the last week and a half I've seen them in FOUR different locations (one was in northern Illinois, so not reported here). I notice that alot of other folks are seeing them too, so we're fortunate to have lots of these visitors this year.

On western slope of drumlin near center N-S.

1 PM, 60s, sunny. Numerous cabbage whites along Hwy 27 between Hayward & Ladysmith.

Boghaunter trail. 1:15-4:00. Got my first looks (lifer!) at an adult buckmoth. They were bigger and faster fliers than I expected. Not a chance of getting a photo today.

I was surprised to see a cluster of the most Buckeyes I've ever encountered in one spot, all nectaring together on asters. Sadly I had only an 8-iron, not a camera.

mid 70's, light wind, and sunny

Counted 18 monarchs in the flowers at one time this afternoon, amazing I have never seen this many in my yard.

Have also had a large number of White-lined Sphinx moths, Cabbage Whites, Clouded Sulphurs, and Orange Sulphurs in the flowers for the last week or so.

It was a surprise to find a single female Checkered White in the midst of all the Cabbage Whites. Other species found were similar to those reported from Olbrich recently.

First sighting of the year. This species has been seen every year in Wisconsin since 2005.
Mike

The American lady was quite worn. I watched it and the monarch for quite awhile. On a number of occasions the American lady flew over to where the monarch was nectaring and sat close by for awhile (15 seconds?). Then flew away and came back. This happened three or four times.

Took a walk around Edna Taylor Conservation Park 9:15am-10:30am. Wasn't expecting to see any butterflies at that hour. However, there was one early riser, a Pearl Crescent, seen at 9:42am. The only other butterflies seen were 3 Cabbage Whites at the edge of the parking lot just before I left.

First Fiery Skipper (a female) that I've seen this year was feeding on the fall flower display. The Monarch was flying by.

The female Sachem was so worn that it was starting to look like a Long Dash!

Sightings during a brief afternoon walk in my backyard.

Sunny, warm and breezy

Also found a Gray Hairstreak caterpillar while picking green beans.

Went looking for the White-tailed Kite first seen this morning by Quentin Yoerger. The butterflies were casually seen while watching the Kite. Dan Belter spotted the Mourning Cloak.

sunny, warm and calm. The sulfurs and monarch flew south after feeding on New England asters.

cloudless, 68F

66° Sunny. Admiral & Comma still by the bait. Comma has a more jagged edge than the one in my photo on the 23rd. Just slightly more than an hour 2 survey the two Summerton locations.

I'm seeing some fall color in the area.

Sunny, warm and breezy day. Saw 1 male monarch basking and nectaring on asters

72 F south wind, 13 mph about 3 PM A pair of sandhill cranes was hunting grasshoppers in the field.

2:00-4:00 pm. My first Sachems of the year. Amazing number of American Goldfinch at the gardens.