Butterfly sightings for May 2014

Gusty windy day, more clouds than sun. From cloud openings sun revealed itself only for a few minutes throughout the day, barely reaching fifty degrees! Forest roads still have some snow piles in various locations along the edges. Some fire lanes are rutted and impassable. One fire-lane to a remote lake was deeply rutted at the entrance, flooded in the middle and I walked through two foot deep snow at the back end to get to the lake.
One of the earliest lepidoptera to appear in the spring, in northern Wisconsin is a moth, the Infant Geometer, Reliably so, it marks virtually every year, the beginning of the Lepidopteran season, usually preceding any early butterflies! One battered Morning Cloak & one Eastern Comma ( Fr. Rd 130 ), three Infant Geometer Moths ( 1-Gates Rd, 2-Riley Road for a five -hour day of driving & walking.

9:50 am - 11:20 am. 54-59 degrees F, sunny, wind NW 2-15. This is the only butterfly we saw. From 12:00 – 12:50 pm we searched west of Hunter Haven Road and found no butterflies; 57-64 degrees F, 50% sunshine, wind NW 5-15.

It was breezy. I was looking for both birds and butterflies.

The lady was out on the road through the prairie. The cloaks and admiral were all in the woods--first 150 meters in from the prairie. Two Mourning Cloaks were courting.

Seriously, one of the toughest of Wisconsin's butterflies. These guys were clinging to the flowers despite a strong wind from the northwest.

I was hoping to find some Elfins today.

sunny

The Olympia Marble was the FIRST butterfly I've seen this year!

Also saw my 1st Green Darner of the year.

My husband and I took the 2 mile hike down the Alma Buena Vista Park Trail and spotted this lovely Butterfly spreading it's wings out in the sun.

Drove South this morning to Spirit Falls, Wisconsin entering the forest ground at its NW end. A fourteen mile drive through and walk, headed SE towards Merrill, Wisconsin proved to be quite fruitful compared to yesterday: One Spring Azure-marginata form & two Morning Cloaks ( New Wood rd. ). Nine Anglewings - ,four photographed and the rest declined to have picture taken, & five Infant Geometer Day Moths, of which I only could photograph three ( Camp Ave. Rd. ). Mostly sunny this day, a few clouds and fifty-eight + degrees. According to a thermometer I carry with me, in direct sun on the sandy & gravelly roads temperatures reached into the mid sixties.

Seen while driving

3:45-5:00, Sunny and 60 degrees

2:03-2:24 pm, 67-70 degrees F , 70% sunshine, wind E 4-12

Sites along Hastings, Fern Dell, and Turtleville Roads. 12:27 – 1:50 pm, 62-71 degrees F , 75% sunshine, wind SE 5-10. Also saw one Polygonia sp.

Sky cloudy, temperature 68 degrees, air is a foggy haze, with the sun trying to peek through between shower bursts! Early afternoon walk through woodland edge, next to a native meadow restoration:

Sky almost clear, temperature is mid 70's, mildly windy. A butterfly flying across the Milwaukee River lands right next to us, on the warm sunny ground. As I raise to shoot the camera, my motion chases it away.

I was surprised to see the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail flying around.

82° and mostly cloudy. 3:45-6 PM
There was another blue that might have been a Silvery Blue.

It finally warmed up, maybe too warm it reached the mid 80's today. Saw 2 painted ladies and 1 red admiral flying around in the late afternoon. Finally saw my first butterflies of the season!

Bright sunny day, calm gentle winds as I arrived around 2PM, by the time I got out on the trails gusty winds prevented any opportunities to photograph what butterflies I flushed.

Along the road where the power line goes through. Spring Beauty and Bloodroot in bloom.

Single Couded Sulfur meandering on my lawn, seeking dandelions.
Kettle Morraine St Forest nr Eagle, void of butterflies except Cabbage Whites.

9:18-11:08 am and 1:40-2:03 pm, 60-78 degrees F, 100% sun, wind NW 0-5 mph. It seems like Hoary and E. Pine Elfins might be having a low abundance year. The Hoary Elfin was in Wazee County Park and the Henry's Elfin was in South Brockway West doing spiral flight with an unidentified elfin. Seeing a Clouded Sulphur before our first Hoary Elfin of the year was the biggest surprise. One pictured Olympia was nectaring on Early Buttercup

3:30 pm to 3:42 pm; 76 degrees F, 60% sun, wind southwest 3-5 mph.

Found this red admiral basking in the garden. Its left forewing was torn. It could still fly, but not very fast. It crawled onto my finger so I carried it to the stinging nettle patch. It immediately started depositing eggs. What a thrill to watch!

No swamp butterflies evident. I walked out on the peat for a little while.

The first sighting of a butterfly in my yard for this year! A Painted Lady, flew through this AM while walking the dog outside in the morning!

Missed one Lady ID. Would not land and took off across pond. Meadows plant growth slow. Water levels very high. Cool start (64) but very warm after noon.

North side of big hill. Sunny, warm, calm...FINALLY!

70, sunny, breezy

11:35 am to 1:15 pm; 68-75 degrees F, 98% sun, wind west 1-5 mph. The E. Pine Elfin was right next to Hunter Haven Road, where we also saw an unidentified duskywing.

2:24 pm to 2:36 pm; 75-76 degrees F, 50% sun, wind southwest 2-5 mph.

sunny, 60's light wind

Warm, sunny and breezy, noon to 2:45. This was nicest day I've had off since November 15, when I saw a Question Mark in the UP. Now, almost six months later, I finally saw some more. At Stockbridge I saw a nervous lady or punctuation butterfly. I also saw 13 new birds for the year including the first Orchard Oriole I've seen in a long time.

Finally...the FOY butterflies seen on Jimmy Carter Rd and Cty Rd O. I also had one yellow fly-by. Identity unknown.

70, sunny breezy

1:15-4:00. Cloudy after 3:00.

Honeybees on muscari. Native bees on Cut Leaved Dentaria and serviceberry. Sunny, 60s.

Almost ran over the Western Fox Snake sunning itself on the road.

Sunny and warm this morning although still a cool breeze from the lake once and a while.

Accidentally hit it while driving!

80° and hazey. 12:30-1:30 PM. Have been hoping/waiting for this first sighting of a mating pair of Harvesters. A few moments before this shot they were just courting. Flying seperately, round and round in the air. Doreen saw them land on the branch wise I never would have gotten the pict for you to see.

noon, 68, sunny

Another beautiful day, warm and a bit humid.

My first sighting of the entire year so far.

Inspection of native planted meadows, for potential burn management this spring.

2 Red Admirals were flying around us while we were sitting in our backyard (3:30 pm). One landed on a hand and stayed there for 5+ minutes. The day was partly cloudy and 70+ degrees.
Cabbage White sighted in our backyard around 9:30 this morning. 65 degrees, sunny.

Between Marsh Roads north and south of Weyauwega. 12:15 to 1:45. Warm with filtered sun. Also saw three whites that were determined not to get their feet dirty.

Also Mosquito hill (Outagamie) from 10:15 to noon. The Lupine is coming up at the base of the hill. Nothing here but a R-S Purple, swallow-tail or something else I could not ID.

I saw these while mowing in my yard. Also saw a white Pierid and an unidentified Lady. So far this year I've seen most butterflies while not looking for them.

A brief respite from the rain around 3pm.

My first Cabbage White of the year!

Dike 17, Brockway Road sites both north and south of Castle Mound Road, and sites west of Hunter Haven Road. 8:57 am to 4:15 pm, 53-65 degrees F, 60% sunshine. We found more butterflies in central Wisconsin barrens (including Wood Co.) on May 10 than on either May 11 or May 14. The Pine Elfin and Karner Blue caterpillar + tending ant pictures are from May 11 in two of the sites surveyed today.

Only butterfly sighted for certain on the Barrens. Spring is way behind there. No Prunus out, no Prairie Buttercup; just two Pasque flowers seen in the woods.

This is one of the Olympia Marbles seen during today's SWBA field trip.

I also spent an hour exploring the grounds of the Badger Army Ammunition Plant in Sauk County, which is open to the public until May 27. No butterflies seen today, but this looks like it will become one of the premier butterflying locations in south central Wisconsin.

This was the 8th annual Bauer Brockway Barrens Field Trip of the Southern Wisconsin Butterfly Association. Twelve people braved temperatures only up to 63 degrees. We saw a total of 9 species which is the lowest number in the 8 years. No doubt due to a very cool spring which has delayed vegetation and the flights of butterflies. Tim Fenske photographed the porcupine we observed and Ann Thering Photographed the Sleepy Duskywing. We missed the Frosted Elfin and Henry's Elfin, but we had many great views of the Olympia Marbles, which weren't as active in the cooler temps. And the E. Pine Elfins are always neat. In summary we found less than we'd hoped but more than we feared!

Singleton Monarch and first of the year for me.

4 Bogs along Forest Road 137 (Riley lake Road), 1 along FR 136 (Gates lake Road), and 2 along FR 505 (Hemlock Road). 8:47-2:25 am, 52-65 degrees F, 75% sunshine, wind west 2-8 mph. The only Freija we saw was in the phenologically fastest Wisconsin Freija site that we regularly visit, and the best site for them out of these bogs, south of FR 136. We have seen Red-disked Alpines at all 7 bogs, so their flight must not have been detectable yet. The Green Comma was in a bog east of FR 505.

My husband also found wing remnants of a very fresh Black Swallowtail on our patio.

Too windy! Temps good. Ran into Dean Hansen and we chatted about lack of plant/flowers so far. Lots of water on the meadows. Lupine starting to grow. Bearberry budding. A very few violets in bloom.

The first Meadow Fritillary I have seen this year.

Hit five spots in Crex Meadows. Saw two "blues" in flight, but neither was seen long enough to get a positive ID. Spots where I've seen a couple dozen spring butterflies in previous years were totally devoid of any butterflies. No prunus, blueberry, or Juneberry in bloom. Some prairie buttercups were in bloom. Like the Barrens yesterday, the place is very behind the normal plant phenology.

Single American Lady on the ground or on a dandelion bloom.

I hadn't seen any butterflies all week (the weather turned cool and rainy), but today a red admiral showed up. It's in the mid 60's and sunny

In addition to the ID'd butterflies, I saw 3 more blues, but wasn't able to catch up with them for a positive ID, it's possible they were also Silvery Blues.

Sunny, 73 degrees, around 1:00 pm

I keep seeing Cabbage Whites and nothing else so far this year.

Surveyed the part of the bog that is well north of Forest Road 2182, east of Three Lakes. 1:40-2:28 pm, 70-75 degrees F, 35% sunshine, wind northwest 2-6 mph. This is a good Freija Fritillary and Red-disked Alpine bog, but we didn't think their flight would quite be started here.

8:47-10:59 am, 62-75 degrees F, 95% sunshine, wind west 5-10 mph. Elfins seemed in the early part of their flight because Hoary Elfins are quite abundant on some of these sites. All 8 patches we surveyed have Chryxus Arctics, so it seemed like their flight was not detectable here yet.

Noted while birding.

Around 5:30 pm, Sunny, 91 degrees

Also had Festive and Big Sand Tiger Beetles (picture)

11:00 to 1:00.

Around 3:30 pm, Sunny, 88 degrees

Also one Lady who didn't stop long enough for a precise ID.

I drove the roads slowly for 50 miles today and only spotted 2 butterflies.

Ryan Brady referred to this as Comma City but there were no commas today.

In backyard hosta bed next to house. 6:30 pm.

This has been my favorite Henry's Elfin site for over 25 years.

10:00 to 10:20. 10:00, a white. 10:05, a a blue. 10:10, a duskywing. 10:20, a tiger swallowtail? Oh, yeah... this is going to be a good day!

The first Silver-spotted Skipper I have seen this year.

12:10 to 1:30. Too windy. A lot of blues here.

Perfect day, but butterflies very scarce. No Silvery Blues, thus far. No Juvenal's either.
Dreamy Dusky wing occupied itself on wet gravel and sand.

My first Mustard Whites of the year.

84 degrees and sunny.

I actually chased the monarch!

Butterflies spotted between 11 and two. Temps in high 70s low 80s

Just Scott today. Most sites were south of Castle Mound Road between Hunter Haven and Brockway Roads, but I also searched Black River State Forest sites at Clay School Road, Seils Road, and Dike 17. 15 miles on foot. 8:16-8:43 am and 9:22 am to 5:35 pm, 69-80 degrees F, 90% sunshine, wind NW 5-10 mph. The Frosted Elfins were all 1.1 to 3.1 miles south of Castle Mound Road. The Persius Duskywing was 1.5 miles south and 1 mile west of the junction of Castle Mound and Brockway Roads. The Sleepy Duskywing was 3/4 mile west of Hunter Haven Road. I heard a pair of Whooping Cranes Unison-calling west of Dike 17. In the poor photos I got of one Frosted Elfin, only the first one (B) shows the thecla spot. The 2nd pic (A)shows the tails better, but a grass blade shadows the thecla spot.

A monarch was observed in our yard about 10:00 am. It looked to be in good condition, so it probably was not one that was coming up from Mexico.

10:20 to noon. Sunny warm and windy. A lot of unidentified blues.

I was over at Stricker's and Tiedeman's Ponds in Middleton as well, and only one cabbage white all day.

A twenty-four acre, new native meadow reconstruction on mostly fabricated soil! Conducting the spring plant species inventory for both invasive & native seedlings, walked sixteen acres of the area over a five hour period,and had "Thirty One" sightings! Including the four Chickweed Geometer day-flying moths.

Numerous American Ladies today, laying their eggs on Pussytoes, and Burdock. also sighted Spring Azures, & Clouded Sulphurs & Red Admirals

Eight AM front yard, on Dandelions, flushed a Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, 1st of the season, run to get my camera, spilling a cup of coffee on the camera front lens, I still try to take the photo, ET Tiger flys to the nearest tree and lands. Note Photo looks like the butterfly is smeared! Hence the coffee covered lens!

No overlap between these sites and ones visited May 21. 2:38-5:06 pm, 70-79 degrees F, wind south 2-6 mph.

The Elfin and the Azure were both feeding on garlic mustard in the same patch alongside a trail in a pine forest.

2 Red Admirals flitting around the hosta bed an for ~20 minutes. Early evening (7:00).

Visiting local cemeteries on Memorial Day weekend. This one landed but flew off before I could get a picture.

Late afternoon, 70's and sunny. Included is a picture of what I believe to be a Red-belted Bumble Bee (Bombus rufocinctus).

Between 3:00 and 5:00pm. Sunny and low 70s.

Spotted it flying from south to north in our backyard. It didn't stop to land. Looked pretty battered from the trip its been on!

One Spring Azure. What I thought to be seven Juvenales Duskywings, really turned out to be five juvies and if I have ID this right Horace's Duskywing, I have never seen this one before. One pair of Duskywings was mating, as I approached to take a photo the pair broke up, while flying, one flew away and the other fell to the ground. But this one I photographed was not a juvi. I had to wait till I got home to figure this one out!

Eight bogs along a loop of Hwy 70, Forest Road 505/Hemlock Road, Forest Road 136/Gates Lake Road, and Forest Road 137/Riley Lake Road. 10:08 am to 2:59 pm, 63-77 degrees F, 99% sunshine, wind east 2-8 mph. This Freija Fritillary count doubles our previous record high for these sites set last year. This is in keeping with the significant increase in Freijas we found in an analysis of 2002-13. The Brown Elfin seems to be in a multi-year peak here that began in 2012 as part of an approximate 5-year abundance cycle in bogs. Both patterns are discussed in our presentation "Assessing abundance patterns of specialized bog butterflies over 12 years in northern Wisconsin USA".
Two Freijas landed on Ann and one on Scott as we walked. We also saw at least 71 unidentified elfins.

66 when I entered the meadows. Very little wind all day and sunny skys. Slow start but in afternoon I began to encounter butterflies. Missed a few duskywings as they were not settling down for pics. One possible Comptons tortoiseshell flew by. One possible juvenals but it was a quick flyby. Searched several spots for brown elfin but came up emtpy. Many butterflies seemed to be taking their first flights right before my eyes. Wish I could have returned to meadows over weekend.

Hoping for some Karner activity, although in some areas the Lupine is starting to open did not see any.
Three American Ladies,all laying eggs on Pussytoes, and one spring azure also laying eggs on a Prunus shrub spp., and five Cabbage Whites!
A dark purple bi-colored Birds Foot Violet is a rare find in WIsconsin. Very common in Illinois!

Confirming presence of WV White in Oconto Co.

Went there around 6:45, but mosquitos were prevalent, so we only stayed for about 25 minutes. 3 Nessus Sphinx moths were also seen.

Seen while trying to relocate a male Summer Tanager in Hudson Park.

Verifying existence of WV White in Langlade Co. I believe I saw more west of Lily, HWY 52.

Mid-day, in the 70's and sunny. Seeing a lot of sulfurs and whites on the roadside while driving, but not much elsewhere.

74, sunny, ~12:30
Only one butterfly but I found wild ramps for the first time.

High pressure, moderate wind, low count. 12:30 to 2:00.

70s, sunny, 3-4PM

66, 11:30, sunny with breeze. The last time I was here at an earlier time in the year blackberries were in bloom and the place was teaming with butterflies. This time the blackberries didn't even have leaves and I only saw 3 butterflies in half an hour. There were quite a few false morels.

High pressure... moderate winds... fair skies... fair numbers I guess... for this year anyway. The best spot was the south end of the north Marsh Rd.

Many unknown Duskywings were seen. Cicindela sexguttata, scutellaris lecontei, formosa generosa, and patruela were also present.

Butterfly flew in front of us at the Starbucks drive thru in Eau Claire, WI. It rested on the building wall, in the sun. It was a warm sunny day (77 degrees and time was 9:00 am). First Swallowtail of the year for us.

I was biking around mostly looking for birds, but also trying to keep a count of butterflies as well. There were too many Clouded Sulphurs to count.

3:10-4:11 pm, 84-88 degrees F, 100% sunshine, wind southwest 10-20 mph. Sixteen Olympia Marbles were found on Namekagon Barrens Wildlife Area and a Henry's Elfin briefly entered the wildlife area. All other butterflies were northeast of the wildlife area. We saw 2 unidentified duskywings.

10-12, 84, sunny
I also saw a tiger swallowtail in my yard around 9:30 and discovered some morels in my flowerbed when I came home. Snake photo by Mike Reese.

10:45 am to 2:40 pm, 78-85 degrees F, 99% sunshine, wind east 2-8 mph. The phenology here was slower than in Price County. The Red-disked Alpine was south of Milchesky Road. We aw 2-9 Freijas on each of 5 bogs, including one near Moose Junction where we had not seen a Freija in several years. We also saw >8 unidentified elfins.

Sites east and south of Solon Springs. 8:23-10:17 am, 68-79 degrees F, 100% sunshine, wind west to south 5-10 mph. All of the Olympias and the Western Tailed-Blue were in Douglas County Wildlife Area. The Chryxus Arctic was well east of Solon Springs, where the next day we saw one Olympia and twice as many Hoary Elfins as today. We saw one unidentified duskywing.

Late afternoon hike in the woods, only saw one butterfly, a red admiral. We did see a spotted salamander, great blue heron and a pair of Indigo buntings.

Sunny and warm today. Saw my first black swallowtail of the year! Also saw several bumble bees.

I couldn't photograph the Chryxus Arctic--moving too fast and flew into private property. I thought I'd see more.

Spruce grouse was really pretty tame. I"m not surprised that they are rare.

I was surprised at the variety of butterflies seen but very happy to see them. Field pussytoes were blossoming and the Elfins seem to love them. I also saw some type of swallowtail fly past but wasn't able to confirm the type and a comma that wasn't identifiable.

Bad pic of the mustard white but I did get the mustard.

If anybody knows anything about Bogus Swamp butterflying, please email me djbuege@gmail.com

Watched one Black Swallowtail for about an hour waiting for it to land to get a picture. Also saw one or two Tiger Swallowtails, but they didn't come down out of the treetops, so I wasn't able to get an ID on them. A few "blues" of some type, also not cooperative.

Spotted yesterday a lovely Monarch on top of budding willow in my back yard, which is about 10 miles east of Superior Wi.

184 Butterfly sightings that day, Hot, clear sky, calm in the AM, but windy in the PM. 100 of that # are Brown Elfin's but I stopped counting them after that!
Two Day moths for 103 count: 100+ on the Black Banded Orange, and three of a Mystery Moth. My first MONARCH for the season this day! Mustard Whites did not want their pictures taken , they were moving & on a mission.

Sunny and warm today. 2 male black swallowtails, one being chased away by the other. Painted Lady busy depositing eggs on Canada thistle

87° and sunny. OM in the corn field dancing in the rock cress. Nothing in the marsh except mosquitoes(Lots of mosquitoes). They laughed when I said I was making decoys. He landed a number of times.

Also had two Nessus Sphinx Moths on fresh scat.

Tried finding Cicindela splendida, but I couldn't.

Temperature in the low 80s brought up the migrant Monarchs. Not one overwintering guy seen. Numbers still very low, but duskywings and blues are starting. But no elfins yet. Only a couple duskywings seen on damp gravel of roads. Where are the coyote droppings when you need them? None were seen. Several undetermined duskywings seen.

11:20 to 1:00. Sunny and windy. Lack of butterflies a bit disturbing. Orange Mint Moth the best find.

11:31 - 14:41 Sunny 78 - 84 F. wind S 7.5 - 16 mph. Numerous Hymenopterans, including native bees. I walked at the cemetery, northeastern ponds, water storage area, firing range, and Area 4 near buildings and RR loading platforms.

Three bogs in Black Creek SNA area and one near Clam Lake. 9:52-11:45 am, 79-83 degrees F, 70% sunshine, wind south 2-4 mph.

Also one brilliantly metallic (Silvery?) blue that never stopped flying for an I.D. Pretty good variety, but not much abundance, probably because of seasonal factors. Too bad this large and diverse habitat is closing for the rest of this year.

11:30am, sunny, low 80s and very humid -- before the rain moved in. A short stop at McKee Park (20 minutes maybe).

Warm, sunny day. It's also humid and breezy. Saw my first monarch of the year! A female and she was depositing eggs. Counted 8 eggs on the common milkweed.

80s, sunny, 4:30

The abundance of sulphurs can be attributed to the adjacent alfalfa field. Sadly, the tattered and weak-flying Monarch did not have many milkweeds available for ovipositing.

4PM, sunny, 75

In front yard garden of house in Orchard Ridge Neighborhood. 4:35, Cloudy, 80 degrees.

This site is just north of Menominee County, but outside the South Branch Beech Grove SNA. The only records for Early Hairstreak from Wisconsin are from Menominee County. Since beech is their hostplant it should be a great place to look. I never saw a sign for the SNA, but there were plenty of beech trees.

Cloudy afternoon, mostly windy, when winds slow down it feels muggy, Monday PM: 24 sightings for six butterfly species. Finely get to photo graph the Mustard Whites. Passed on all other butterfly options for pictures! Met my traveling & exploration companion April - Second Monarch of the Season!

Species Similar to yesterday, AM 114 sightings of which 87 were butterflies and 28 were day moths, mostly Black Banded Orange & today I managed to take a pix of the mystery moth which is Boreal Gem (Heliothis borealis) Also today one Dreamy Duskywing

Walking the trails around Warren Town Hall. These were flying ahead of us, until I tried to take a picture.

May 26 Price County . Riley Lake Bogs. Re-surveyed four of the same bogs as on May 23 to check on Frigga Fritillary and Jutta Arctic phenology, and to try for Red-disked Alpines at different sites. Bogs were along Hwy 70 and Forest Roads 505 and 137. 1:19-2:34 pm, 82-86 degrees F, 25% sunshine, wind south 4-6 mph. The Frigga Fritillary was found in the furthest of these bogs away from the sighting on May 23. The Red-disked Alpines were found in a bog where we saw none of them May 23. One unidentified Polygonia.

Spotted a Giant Swallowtail sipping water on our front patio (about 30 yards from the waterfront). It had all the markings of the Giant Swallowtail as shown on this website, but it seemed to be missing its tails.

My first Monarch of the year!

hot, humid, and sunny

the swallowtails flew through the yard never stopping for long

I saw more than one of these butterflies but could not get a great upright image and had to settle for turning the image here upside down.

Late afternoon 4:30 PM Sunny, hot and windy. Butterflies were along the driveway and woodland edge! Eight butterfly sitings and two Eight Spotted Forester sightings.

also observed a White-striped Black Moth (Trichodezia albovittata)

Also saw a small blue butterfly and a type of Fritillary but neither stuck around for an ID.

Lots of Puccoon in flower but no butterflies nectaring, just lots of bee flies! Saw my first Common Whitetail (female) of the year.

Flying across the road as we were driving on County A north of Hudson

I watched the first Monarch in my yard laying eggs on the Swamp Milkweed on our shoreline. Milkweed plants are only about 6" tall but it didn't stop her.

Just Scott surveying. 11:35 am to 1:55 pm, 70-78 degrees F, 10% sunshine, wind south 2-3 mph.

I didn't have time to go out for a real butterfly hike today, but I still managed to see a butterfly. I stopped at the Farm and Fleet Garden Center to buy a a few things, and a pearl crescent appeared inside one of the greenhouse enclosures.

Butterfly flew through back yard at 12:40 pm.

86, sunny, humid
Lots of flowers - lupine, pussytoes, puccoon, and others but few butterflies. I saw 4 tiger swallowtails and a comma that were not identifiable.

87° and sunny. Forest Roads 136, 137 & 505 as well as my virgin trip into a "2' sponge ball covered bog" North of 136. We didn't keep strict count. Brown Elfins might have been closer to 200+. Was wonderful to meet Mary B. there. Some of our numbers overlapped. Many thanks to the Swengel's for all their efforts to find & share these places, and to Mike for his guide work & helping add 4 more to my lifelist. Note the green to me on the Dreamy's hindwing.

My first Monarchs of the year.

Found 2 life butterflies (Red-disked Alpine & Freija Fritillary) this afternoon at Riley Lake WMA. Also saw 3 Gray Jays. Mike Reese and Dan Sonnenberg were looking for butterflies there too. Before running into them I had spotted a Red-disked Alpine. After they arrived to where I was hunting, Mike spotted a Freija Fritillary. Very successful afternoon:)

8:08 am to 5:13 pm. We also found 9 unidentified tiger swallowtails and 4 unidentified elfins. We walked more than 14 miles in Frosted Elfin and Cobweb Skipper sites. We found Frosteds in 13 of the 29 subsites visited today where we have seen Frosteds before, and in one State Natural Area subsite where we had not seen them before. 13 Frosteds were on the 8 mile Hunter Haven Loop, four were in the South Brockway motorcycle trail forest + ATV Trail, and four were in the Bauer-Brockway area. One Cobweb Skipper was our first sighting for the species at the South Brockway ATV Trail. The Cobweb Skipper count is below average for main flight. All 3 Dusted Skippers were seen in the last hour, so maybe they were increasingly emerging in this area today. The photos are of Frosted Elfins at 3 different sites of the 7 Frosteds that Scott photographed.

No Mustard Whites seen. Butterflies very very scarce. Found 5 Lupine plants along a dry roadside which faced west.

Hot sunny morning in the "desert", periodic gusty winds all of the American Coppers were at the trails beginning for about the first 1000 to 2500 feet, as we approached scattered tree area NE more butterfly species were encountered. In the woodland I found the Spring Azures & a White-striped Black moth. Sixty + sightings in all this morning!

Afternoon sunny and windy, most butterflies when flushed, get taken away by the gusty winds. 2PM through 4:30 PM. Monarchs were mating, and some of the females laying eggs on the Whorled Milkweed in the restored fields.

It's not where I expected to see my first Monarch of the season, but still nice to see.

Sunny 88 degrees, ~3PM
Swallowtail and cabbage white were in my yard around 10AM. High 78s then

This sighting is hardly worth reporting, except to emphasize the absence of other species on a sunny warm perfect-for-butterflying day.

Visited cites where Silvery Blue, Juniper Hairstreak, and Duskywings used to be prevalent. None sighted. In general all butterflies very scarce.

Found seven minutes after starting a nearly two hour hunt. Seems like it will be a good year for mosquitos though.

Way more ticks than butterflies. 100+ wood ticks, but only 1 deer tick. Evidently the ticks survived the winter well... First Arctic Skipper of the year.

My first.

The Only Butterfly that I could find out on Marsh Road today and there were 9 of them.

The BST eclosed this morning from a chrysalis that had overwintered on our screen porch, giving us the Swallowtail Trifecta today.

10:31 am to 3:10 pm, 78-90 degrees F, 100% sunshine, wind south 4-8 mph. One of the bogs (we didn't find much there)is barely in Oneida County. All of the Red-disked Alpines and 23 of the Freijas were east and north of Wolf Lake north of 2182, primarily more than 1/2 mile out the bog. We walked a mile out the bog and back, but the best area by far can be accessed by walking northeast on a wide trail, a former railroad grade, which starts at a paved parking lot north of 2182 just east (maybe 0.2 Miles) of the Bailey Lake Horse Trail. 0.75-0.8 miles up this trail a wide flat snowmobile trail goes to the right (SE) across at least a mile of bog. The snowmobile trail is obvious so not hard to recognize. The snowmobile trail is good for Freijas and Alpines from the very west end to well out onto the bog, and the bog within 1/4 mile of the snowmobile trail is also good for those species near the trail's west end.

Cloudy very few breaks allowing sunshine. Very high humidity. 74 on entry @ 9am Rainshowers for first hour varied from misting to rain. 66 on exit after downpour @ 3:30 pm Estimate temps reached 82-84. Difficult to photograph as most butterflies seen are constantly moving. Increased butterfly numbers compared to last week but still below expectations.

Likely Checkered white below ridge but unable to photograph to confirm.

Best find of day. Newly emerged Sphinx moth. Wings like wet paper.

Thanks bunches to Scott Swengel for the great advice, though I hiked the muskeg bog twice, Friday evening and Saturday morning, and only saw two Friggas in there. I went to the cattail area and felt pretty exhausted by walking and fighting black flies.

I was seeing elfins and duskywings starting at 7:20 am.
Freijas were all seen in bogs along Riley Lake Road while Friggas were down Gates Lake Road--on road and in bogs.

Found 4 West Virginia Whites flying along Ada Lake Road near the entrance to Ada Lake Campground. Life Butterfly! Sunny and 80 degrees.

Saw only 4 butterflies in 45 minutes! Depressing!!!!

8:29-9:17 am, 72-77 degrees F, 95% sunshine, wind south 5-8 mph.

6+ Giant Swallowtails circling each other in tight climbing spirals to the tops of the white oaks surrounding the campsite. Also landing on the nearby, unidentified, flowering bushes.

We were getting ready for a WCA road race and my fiancé spotted this beauty. He flew away as I approached but as I stood still he came back. I took several pictures with my iPhone and got this with his wings spread.

I just finished a butterfly garden at my house and am new to butterfly watching so it was fun getting this picture.

3:35 am to 5:35 pm, 86-90 degrees F, 100% sunshine, wind southwest 5-10 mph. Both areas had significant #s Chryxus Arctics, Hoary Elfins, and Meadow Fritillaries. County I sites were were along the powerline/ATV Row near County Forest Road 602 up to a mile to the south, about 7 miles south of Hwy 8.

Landed on maple leaf, catching the morning sun.

It was sunny, breezy, very warm, and very dry. There were almost no road locations for butterflies to puddle at. I saw the Western Fox Snake sunning itself on a road. A fresh pile of wolf scat attracted several Canadian Tiger Swallowtails and Juvenal's Duskywings. I saw several other Duskywings that I was unable to ID to species, plus one sulphur butterfly that was either a Clouded Sulphur or a Pink-edged Sulphur, but I couldn't get close enough to be sure.