Butterfly sightings for June 2015

Just a quick stop to see my first Karners of the year. Both were males.

64-74° Sunny 11-4:30 PM. Met up with a pair of entomologists on Klotz Rd who found this Western Tailed Blue. They also told me of a great mud puddle(60' long) at Lincoln & Klarquist. That is where there were 6 Arctic Skippers and the only C.T. Swallowtail I IDed.
Eastern Tigers were confirmed sightings.

Both Monarchs were egg-laying females.

also one tiger swallowtail

It was clinging to an outside door frame near its empty chrysalis. I touched it with its wings together very
gingerly. It then opened its wings wide open what a beautiful sight. It was still attached to the door frame when I left it to continue my delivery of food for Milw.Public schools.

All these I found flying while on my bike ride on Town Line Rd.

This is the first Viceroy I every remember seeing here before!

65 degrees, nearly clear sky, windy, lake front private residence: Nine sightings for three species

Also saw two other tiger swallowtails

Quick walk after supper.

~1:00 sunny 73

Saw only one of these Fritillaries along Gates Lake Road in the Riley Lake WMA.

Saw 5 monarchs -2 at the state park laying eggs on milkweed, one while driving between the state park and the preserve, and then a mating pair at the preserve, I was thrilled!

also a couple Eight-Spotted Forester moths and a Hummingbird moth

10:15 AM to 12:50 PM, 67-75 degrees F, 90% sunshine, wind south 5-15 mph. Six grassland bird survey units (18 minutes each) and one barrens. 96 Karners in a grassland unit and 25 Karners in the barrens, where the Karners seemed further pre-peak than in the grassland. 100 male Karners, 20 females, and 1 unknown.

The Red Admiral dutifully chased the Tiger Swallowtail away from "his" garden; we hope he doesn't do that when the Pipevines arrive (I planted our first Aristolochia yesterday).

Bog Fritillary last documented here by George Balogh in 1977. Good to see the population is still thriving, esp. given that it is on the southwestern range edge. Lots of other habitat pockets in the area should have this species as well.

Hoped to push the documented southern range edge of Bog Fritillary-success! Jutta Arctics were both worn.

3:25-5:30 PM, 73-76 degrees F, 95% sun, wind south 10 mph. I walked 3 miles in the grassland and 1 mile along roadsides. One Purplish Copper was along the road west of Cty W, just north of Apache Road. The other Purplish Copper was along the north side of Archer Road almost a 1/4 miles west of Cty W. Two of the Silver-bordered Fritillaries were on Mustards 0.25 miles west of Cty W , about 10 meters south of Archer Road.

64-72° Sunny. Pepper and Salt Skipper was hanging out with the Hobomok & Arctic in a secluded spruce bog(see pict) in the forest. The big bog had only 1 Brown Elfin. Saw a Smooth Green snake in a small bog on FR 137. Observed close to 100 swallowtails today.

2:30Pm to 4:30 Pm 68 degrees, sunny & windy.
Thirty-nine sightings for Seven species. The Black Swallowtail was laying eggs on Golden Alexanders. One of the Question Marks appeared to be laying eggs on burning nettle plants!

cloudy day, little wind, very dark sky, light rain at times. For the past week or so I have noticed very many caterpillars, hosted by a variety of compositae (goldenrod and sunflower relatives). Here pictured on Heliopsis helianthoides (Smooth Oxeye).

1:15-3:12 PM, 75-82 degrees F, 25% sunshine, wind south 2-10 mph. 59 male and 19 female Karner Blues.

7:50-1:40 Am to 12:236 PM, 63-79 degrees F, 70% sunshine, wind southeast 4-10 mph. 85 male Karners, 53 femnaes, 4 unknown. 62% males suggests that these counts were on average relatively near the peak. We usually run 70-75 % males at peak in Jackson County and 60-65 % males in Wood County at peak, but this year the "high male %" sites are having fewer Karners in Jackson County than some sites that typically have higher female proportions. Scott found 2 Brown Elfins in Jackson County on June 1 and Ann and Scott found 2 on May 28; two of those other four and the June 3 Frosted were extremely worn.

Basking in the sun along a lowland wooded trail.

Private owned Prairie Remnant: 68 degrees,windy, sunny: 1:30 - 4:00 Pm Fifty Four sightings for Ten species. Two grass skipper observations I was unable to ID or photograph -

One of us was watching a bird while going through the entrance and didn't notice the Hognose Snake that was nearly stepped on! We will have to do better if we go to Texas ("real" snakes!).

1 tiger swallowtail

72° Sunny. 10:45-11:30 AM. Quick trip around the farm added a Common Ringlet to Doreens life list and to the farm list.

Went here specifically to look for a lifer, Bog Fritillary. Saw at least 12 of them flying around. Also found a life dragonfly, Elfin Skimmer.

9:00 sunny 64

Extensive hike through multiple habitat types

Found a little off the Ahnapee State Trail near where County Hwy A crosses the Little Scarboro Creek. (Jay Watson submitting this observation on behalf of Joe Johnson.)

Lots of insects out, lately. Very humid and low wind.

There were a large group of these butterflies fluttering around. There was also a group of 5 sitting in the sand. Fascinating sight.

7:20-9:30 AM. It was mainly cloudy and I was surprised to see any butterflies.

Baltimore Checkerspot went into chrysalis yesterday.

Joined by Dean Hansen and others on a Natural Resources Foundation field trip in search of birds and butterflies. The former were plentiful, the latter not so much...

10:00 to 12:15 Nicest day I've had off this year.

In open space in wooded backyard

The Red Admiral chased all 3 Swallowtails out of the edge of ours woods at one time then went back to sun himself on a small tree!

Ann Thering found Purplish Coppers here in 2009 and we found 8 of them here in Aug. 2014, so we decided to check for 1st brood ones. This is a complete list of the butterflies we saw. 10:48-11:20 AM, 68-73 degrees F, 100% sun, wind south 2-8 mph. All 12 Purplish Coppers were females, so maybe it is late in the flight. The Purplish Coppers were in the sedge meadow along the south edge of the lake that is in the northern part of the SNA, more than half of them within 10 meters of the lake (ground is damp to wet this close to lake, but not damp further than 10 meters from lake). Before 10 AM this meadow is extensively shaded, so it is good to go more toward midday if seeking to find Purplish Coppers.

2:25-5:15 PM, 75-81 degrees F, 90% sun, wind south 8-14 mph. We walked 3+ miles in the grassland

Noon to 2:10 PM, 69-76 degrees F, 75% sun, wind south 8-14 mph. We walked 2.5 miles in the grassland and we each walked a different half mile of the Archer Drive roadside. The Purplish Coppers were 55-60% females. Only 3 Purplish Coppers were along roadsides. 34 Purplish Coppers were inside the western part of the 2013-2014 grazed pasture south of Archer Avenue, between 0.375 and 0.5 miles west of Cty W, especially the part within 150 meters south, southwest, and west of the pasture gate that is 3/8 mile from Cty W. The Arctic Skipper was a surprise out in a grassland--southeast of the Akron Drive/5th Avenue jct., the northwesternmost part of Leola WA. There were trees just 120 meters west of the Arctic Skipper.

There were a lot of Northern Crescents. Saw multiple Hobomok Skippers including a female, form Pocahontas and Little Wood-Satyrs.

Sunny, warm and calm day. The Eastern Tiger was nectaring on spiderwort. Saw 2 Eight-spotted forester moths flitting around the flower garden and a fly/bee on golden alexanders.

10:00 a.m. in our yard looking for a special place along side the house near the Milkweeds. A mating pair of Silver-spotted Skippers.......here's to nature at its finest........

Around 70 and sunny, early afternoon.

65 degrees: Sunny,with a few clouds and gusty winds after the morning rain showers left us.
12:30Pm - 3:30Pm: 158 sightings for 13 species.
Note the beautiful Yellow Lady's Slippers, a rare find!

Also had some 6-spotted tiger beetles, Bronzed Tiger Beetles

4:30 - 6:30 Pm, sunny but getting cloudy & windy
Ninty-two sightings for 16 Species.The Pink-edge Sulphur & Jutta Arctic are from Bass Lake Bog. Also had the opportunity to photograph a Spear-marked Black Day Moth today!

Painted Lady feeding on my garden flowers for quite a while.

Just working around my back yard and noticed 3 or 4 Little Wood Satyr's flying around. I went and got my camera and then noticed a small Arctic Skipper working the clover. I then found another. Later I went to the Navarino Wildlife area and got a picture of a White Admiral, about an hour before sunset.

... and an unidentified blue. We're raising two Monarch caterpillars from eggs now, but are disappointed at how few adults have shown up so far.

Black form female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Birdwatching around 11:30 am. Sunny and warm after this morning's rain.

~1:00, 70s, sunny
I don't think I've seen Little Wood-Satyrs in my yard before. There has been at least one several days this past week. Very interested in the dead lilac flowers.

Also 4 Tiger Swallowtails

A couple incidental sightings. Black Swallowtail was on Upper Road and elfins were on Fire Lane.

One Hobomok was female pocahontas form

Also saw a blue and several small brown butterflies that I could not ID.

The Viceroy had prominent line across veins in the hindwing below but almost none on top! (Therefore a better mimic of Monarch.)
Note the silver comma on the Gray Comma that is hard to see because it is thin and lacks end-barbs.

82° Sunny changed to Cloudy 9:30-11:30 AM
Tried to make it to Oak Island, but had to turn back. Stepped on one fawn, looked back to see I nearly stepped on its brother and then saw another one when I got back to the parking lot (pictured). Long Dash had me convinced it was an Indian Skipper. Nuts!

This golf course has literally thousands of mature milkweed plants in the rough, but I didn't see a single Monarch in three hours at midday.

3:00 to 3:13 PM, 76-77 degrees F, cloudy, no wind. A good Jutta Arctic bog in odd-numbered years: on our best day here in the past, we saw more than 15 Juttas in 15 minutes.

8:44-9:26 AM, 61-65 degrees F, cloudy, no wind. Ann also saw a backlit Limenitis sp. that couldn't be identified.

79 and Part Sun. Butterflies everywhere. Saw 2 non-IDed Frits.

80 degrees by 1pm. There were 5 or 6 Tiger Swallowtails. The two that landed for photos were Eastern. No Monarch adults, but there were over 20
2nd and 3rd instar caterpillars.

High 70's sunny and still.
Besides the listed butterflies I also saw three monarch/viceroys which I was not fast enough to ID and about the same black-colored swallowtails flying fast and high. Six-spotted and Big Sand Tiger Beetles and an Eight Spotted Forester Moth.
The photograph shows two Red Spotted Purples on scat (mostly hair so maybe coyote or fox) where they spent at least half an hour.

My residence .Three Eastern Black Swallowtail 2nd instar larvae on dill.
Nine Monarch ova on milkweed in a meadow in Sullivan, (Jefferson Co)

The first of the year Eyed Brown liked my wet jeans. This is the earliest I have ever seen this species. Also saw 3 tiger swallowtails.

This was on a short gravel road with potholes retaining water from the last rainfall.

I don't remember ever seeing a Harvester at Sandhill. Also 6 other tiger swallowtails.

79 degrees and part sun. Doreen and I made the trip up and were glad we did. Lots and lots of butterflies. Didn't need to leave the road to see 15 species. Tried the bog, but no Frit.s. Only covered 200 yards of shoreline. Like walking on ice cold water filled sponges on a swinging hammock. Pocahontas was a highlight.

4:00 to 4:22 PM, 76-77 degrees F, 25% sunshine, wind southwest 2-5 mph.

Sitings are for the 8th through the tenth. Many more tiger swallowtails were observed, but I could only confirm that two were glaucus. Many Admiral chrysalids all over the place, most were likely Red-spotted Purple/White Admiral due to what I saw there. My 100+ estimate on Little Wood Satyrs is probably very low.

Seven of the bogs were in the Nicolet National Forest East of Three Lakes: 5 along Forest Road 2182, one along FR 2414, and one along FR 2183. Also one other bog. 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM, 71-77 degrees F, cloudy, wind south 1-3 mph. The northeastern Wisconsin bogs are at the wettest end of the spectrum that we have seen them in early June during 2001-present. The Hobomok Skipper was of the Pocahantas form.

Sunny, about 75 degrees. Mid afternoon.
Two Tiger Swallowtails, sp.

5:30 PM On wet gravel

What a great day for butterflies in my yard today! I've never had so many different types in one day. The blue and hobomok came between 3 & 4. The others were betweem 8:45 & 9:30 am. Warm sunny day.

The robber fly is Asilus sericeus that is feeding on a European Skipper.
also 2 tiger swallowtails

Around 6 pm saw 3 Monarchs, a mating pair and another male.

4-s skimmer

Little Wood-Satyr Sighting on small blooming bush , in prairie area , near blooming Lupines and white Daisies.

West edge of Spring Valley

Five minutes in roadside area

Warm and sunny. Oodles of Baskettails (dragonflies) including Spiny Baskettail. A Dusky Clubtail arose from the road to take a moth. Presumably some of the butterflies are also caught.

In the Nicolet NF east of Three Lakes, 0.5 mile east of the Military Road on the north side of Forest Road 2182. 10:40-10:55 AM, 69-72 degrees F, cloudy, no wind.

Lake front private residence: 10:30Am - 1:30 Pm reaching 76 degrees early afternoon: scattered puffy clouds & very windy! Twenty-seven sightings for Nine species. A Monarch on the property today! When we left to work on a Mequon, Wi. site we saw three more Monarchs - one on Beach Rd, one approaching the freeway entrance on I-43 and the third as we went down the ramp on I-43 south!

These two Admirals spent 20 minutes walking around each other & interacting.

It took two trips in the rain today totaling about 2 hours to find the European Skipper resting in the grass. I spotted two of the local albino deer and got as close as I could until the cover ran out.

Assured myself a couple hours ago that there would be no butterfly sightings today, but even in the pouring rain a Mourning Cloak came flying past our windows only to rest upon the butterfly doormat.

72° Sunny 5:45-6:30 PM
Even though it was later in the day and mosquitoes were ferocious we ventured forth so you could read this.

72° Sunny 1:30-4:30 PM
Lots of Greenish Blues to be experienced at intersection of the two roads.
Azures were extremely worn.
Saw 1 large frit. that didn't slow down to be IDed.

67° Sunny 11:30-1 PM
“Doug and Dan’s Most Excellent Adventure” My (Dan) first step into the bog with new boots resulted in shoving my arm up to the elbow into the muck to pull the boot out. Doug was on Bog Frits. right away in the NE corner. Watched some laying eggs.

72° Sunny 5-5:30 PM Quick stop to check for Greenish Blues. Score!

12:30 - 2:30, sunny, 82
My first chicken of the woods mushroom find. Nice tender specimen. Curious little red squirrel was a delight. There was also a tiger swallowtail.

We walked 1 mile to get to the bog. Only butterflies seen on the bog are listed. 5:58-6:12 PM, 57-68 degrees F, 90% sun, wind NE 2-6 mph.

have photos of Northern Crescents and Arctic Skipper as well if needed

Port Wing SNA West and 1 other Port Wing bog, Bark Bay Slough SNA, and Lost Creek Slough SNA. 3:30-5:20 PM, 57-68 degrees F, 90% sun, wind NE 2-6 mph. Bog Fritillaries had barely started flying in the western 3 bogs, but they were already in main flight at Lost Creek.

Jeff Nekola described these bogs in “Bog-Trotting for Butterflies in Northern Wisconsin” in the fall 1998 issue of American Butterflies, and Ann Swengel described them in "The Fascinating Butterflies of Northwestern Wisconsin Bogs" at
http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabawba/watching.html . 9:30-10:50 AM, 63-70 degrees F, 25% sunshine, wind 2-5 mph. We surveyed both parts of Wishbone ("Rainbow") Lake Bog, East Roger Lake Bog, and Crane Lake Bog.

Ann Swengel described all but two of these bogs in "The Fascinating Butterflies of Northwestern Wisconsin Bogs" at http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabawba/watching.html
Bog at Lyman Lake (E. Lyman Lake Rd 2.5 miles west of County L), three bogs along County A: Bear Lake, North Bear Lake, Bear Lake SW; Two along Milchesky Road at 1.15 and 1.75 miles west of County A; 4 miles north of Moose Junction both east and west of Hwy 35, and 2 miles of Hwy 35 on E. Foxboro—Chaffee road. 10:25 am to 2:18 pm, 75-83 degrees F, 100% sunshine, wind 0-8 mph. The wetter "suction bogs" at Milchesky 1.75, E. Foxboro-Chafee, and North Bear had the most bog Fritillaries, with 38, 23, and 22 respectively. The drier bogs had 0-3 Bog Fritillaries. The suctiony part of Milchesky 1.15 had 11 of the 12 Bog Frits we found there.

The mourning cloak was in our yard - all of the others were spotted on the trail. We saw a few tiger swallowtails, but sadly they evaded the camera.

Brief break in the rain.

Feeding along waste water plant gravel access road.

Low 80s, early afternoon. Alternating between sunny and cloudy skies. Northern Crescents were the butterfly of the day--they were everywhere. The Red Admiral was extremely warn. Also saw 6 or 7 tiger swallowtails but they were zipping around so fast that it was impossible to tell if they were Eastern or Canadian.

Our privet bush is in full bloom and a magnet to bees and butterflies. One of the tiger swallowtails was in the dark form female.

Noon to 2:10 PM, 69-76 degrees F, 75% sun, wind south 8-14 mph. We surveyed exclusively different areas than we did on June 6—no overlap in areas covered those two days. This includes only butterflies seen along one mile of Archer Drive west of County Hwy W, and 3 miles walking in the grasslands to the north and south of Archer.

9:20-11:30 AM, 74-75 degrees F, cloudy, wind 0-4 mph. We walked 2 miles in the grassland. This includes butterflies we saw while driving around. The Purplish Copper, a male, was in the same place we found a female Purplish Copper on June 6—-both were on yellow Rocket flowers: northeast side of the pond in the northeast corner of the WSO tract on Elm, about 0.6 miles south of County Hwy W.

Tiger Swallowtail noted as well. Not sure if Eastern or Canadian.

12 Noon - 1:00 Pm: Road side bogs on county trunk T, south of Hwy 8: 68 degrees,very cloudy just clearing from this mornings rainy, misty fog - and humid! Sixty-three sightings for fifteen species.

Rain in the morning 80s and humid.

Quick walk in the park. Mostly sunny.

Partly sunny. Walked every trail. The prairie had two dragonflies. I've never had much luck here.

I saw this butterfly in my garden about 4PM.

Purple martins were bringing in the Mourning Cloaks to feed their young.

There were around 30-40 Red spotted purples, I was able to capture of photo of 13 feeding near a stream in the hollow.

County Forest hunting grounds: NEW Wood rd - eight mile stretch -
72 degrees, mostly sunny, gusty winds
Spent most my time counting ridiculous #s for four species: Total sightings 524 for twenty-two species!

Cloudy light rain turning to partly sunny. The butterflies all came out. It was the first good butterfly day I have had this Spring.

After a couple days of rain and clouds, the sun came out this afternoon and so did the butterflies! The Red admirals were very active. One was very worn and another faded. Saw my first Black swallowtail of the season and found 1 monarch egg.

As I turned the trail, I came upon a flutter of about a dozen red admirals, flying playfully with one another. It was an unexpected, beautiful surprise. A couple butterflies even landed on me briefly. The best picture I could get was of this one sitting on a log.

4 pm, light rain. The Emperors were attracted to my floral t-shirt.

8am Monarch

I watched the Monarch deposit four eggs - three of them on unopened flowers of milkweed, not under the leaves. This is the third Monarch I've seen this month ovipositing in this rather atypical location.

100% Cloud cover. Took my son to see Emperors. 20 minutes was all we stayed. We really weren't looking for any other species. Brought home a number of road kills. (We didn't count them.) A few landed on both of us.

Cool and cloudy, so activity was light, but most of those I did find posed nicely. A highlight was watching a Northern Crescent courting an Arctic Skipper. The Ringlet was seen early this morning at Peninsula State Park

No Northern blues yet. Ferns are just coming up so the dwarf bilberry is open to the sun.

Just after a strong rain. Most of the roads iwere under water which made for risky driving.

seemed attracted to amber turn-signal cover

Gravel parking lot sightings.

Sunny and high sixties. I walked the loop between 2:00 and 3:00. The Hoary Puccoon was in full bloom although the butterflies did not seem to care.

also one tiger swallowtail

Sunny day. We always enjoy seeing Baltimores and Harris'.

68 degrees, sunny & windy: 10:30am - 1:30 Pm: Hank Aaren State Trail: Area between Milwaukee Co. Stadium and east parallel to the Menomone River, opposite the 3-Bridges Park, Eighty-three sightings for Eleven species. Also saw three Clear Wing Sphinx Day Moths: 2-Common, 1-Snowberry

Started at 8:30 am, went to noon. Bit chilly but sunny. Breezy in spots.