Butterfly sightings for April 2016

FOY American Lady. Apologies for the awful iPhone photo.

My first butterflies of the year. Hooray! Low 60s, sunny, but very windy. Saw the butterflies in a wooded area at the top of the hill which was fairly well protected from the wind.

First butterfly of the season. Very windy day.

2:30 pm, sunny, 68F

They must have been hungry, as they were landing on daffodils and crocus, plants I don't normally see butterflies on.

Very windy.

3:30 pm, partly cloudy, 70F

49 degrees F. Sunny. 3:40 pm

Oak woods adjacent to an ephemeral pond.

54° Sunny Quick trip to the marsh with Doreen. Happy to see the Commas on such a cool day.

Discovered a Compton Tortoiseshell flying around our house, but was unable to snap a picture this time. First sunny day in a while too, though cool (40 to 45 degrees).

I also was happy to see my FOY bumble bees.

Compton Tortoiseshell found today near Big Eau Pleine River.

The Cabbage White was visiting crocuses.

by the lakeshore of Braun's Bay

Saw my first butterfly of the season. A red admiral.

The Red Admiral and the Comma were attracted to sap running from holes made by sapsucker on a Sugar Maple.

I also saw 5 day-flying moths, The Infant, one road-killed Compton Tortoiseshell, and one unidentified comma.

Hoping to see a Mourning Cloak, I was surprised to see the flash of bright blue on the hiking trail.

Most butterflies observed on trails just N and S of the SNA boundaries. Still a fair amount of snow patches in the woods. The Scarce Infant (Leucobrephos brephoides) as well as Infant (Archiearis infans) were common. Night mothing was fantastic with 100's and 100's of individuals attracted to banana brown sugar bait (picture is Orthosia rubescens)

[NOTE to Mike: museum vouchers for all species]

The only nectar sources were daffodils and vinca (and of course a smorgasbord of scat...)

Found two Comptons fighting to get out of the garage through a closed window so I rescued them.

Warm south winds the past two days brought up some migrants!

Chequamegon National Forest on Popple Creek Road. 2:30 - 4:30 Pm, 78 degrees, mostly cloudy with occasional sun, hot & muggy! Six sightings four different anglewings, but only able to photograph one of them, the "Satyr Comma" Wow!

My first butterflies of the season on this sunny, 50 degree day.

We spotted mourning cloaks at numerous locations. Quite amazing. Have never seen so many mourning cloaks in one day. Also saw 4 orange butterflies, one looked like a tortoiseshell, the other three looked like commas, but they were moving too fast to get a positive ID.

Also saw 3 commas that were moving too fast to ID.

My FOY butterfly. Also saw my first dragonfly, but it wouldn't stop cruising around the yard for an ID. 81 degrees this afternoon.

One of the first warm days of the season. Many butterflies were present; Mourning Cloaks were mating.

Also two species of day-flying moths, 3 Scarce Infant, and 1 The Infant. I first saw the Scarce Infant in 2010 and I hadn't seen it since.

first butterfly of the season!

4:15 pm, mostly sunny, upper 70's

Was there from 9 am to 2:30 pm. Sunny, temp ranged from 60 to 80. Olympia Marbles were at both the East and West sections, were constantly flying, but just a few, not the big numbers I experienced last year. Should be good next weekend. Also had four species of Tiger Beetles today, including the Splendid TB.

Sighted while on a walk thru the Sandberg Woods

Warm, sunny with a light breeze.

Hard to see the comma but it's there!

Both butterflies seen sunning on gravel in driveway. Compton's tortoiseshell seen well, but flew away before I could get a photo.

Yesterday it was wood ticks 1, butterflies 0.

Today it was the other way around, at least so far.

12:30 - 2, 77, mostly sunny. I also saw an unidentified comma and elfin.

It was 62 degrees and sunny. I also saw three orange butterflies that were moving too fast to ID.

Also saw dozens of Cicindela scutellaris and tranquebarica, about 1 dozen Cicindela splendida, and 1 Cicindela limbalis.

One on west end and 2 on east end of lake along the Ice Age Trail.

The Mourning Cloaks were numerous. 100 is way conservative, but I lost count.

74° Sunny 11:50-1:30 PM Satyr Comma makes 132 on my life list. 1. Satyr Comma's enjoy flying around peoples legs. 2. Satyr Comma's look like American Lady's from the top in flight.

Windy, with sunny openings in the clouded sky!
78 degrees. 1-2:30 Pm. Sixteen angle-wing sightings today. All highly sensitive to motion and don't hang around. Managed to photograph only two Eastern Commas, also three Compton's & one Morning Cloak.

Sunny, 75 degrees. Also saw another Scarce Infant, which I think is probably the southern-most site for this species in Wisconsin. The first I have seen here and I am not sure if anyone else has seen it at this location. I was looking for my first Brown Elfin of the year and was surprised by the azure instead!

Also lots of Green Darner dragonflies.

My first Cabbage Whites of the year.

FOY butterflies, 2 Red Admirals flitting around the west facing porch around 5:30 pm. Very calm, 76 degrees.

65 degrees and sun shine this morning brought out a couple of butterflies.

Incidental sighting.

High 70's, filtered sunlight. The azures were busy today. Finally got a few pictures when three settled on the ground in the parking lot.

Sunny, 60, no wind.

E Commas, a FOY Azure and several FOY Tiger Beetles.

Surprised to see the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail as a First of Year Wisconsin butterfly.

Several Olympia Marbles were nectaring on Peppergrass in the middle of a corn field. Saw a Barred Owl.

FOY elfin and Olympia Marble! The Solitary Sandpiper was in the standing water along Brockway Rd. where the new pipeline was put in last year. The grass hasn't grown up much and it has created a nice little area of mudflats.

High in a old tree, some small woodpecker holes weeping sap, a pair of Red Admirals seek nourishment in the afternoon sun!

Partly Cloudy to Mostly Cloudy, temperature around 60 degrees. Saw an Eastern Comma too but was unable to get a picture.

High 60's, 1-2 pm. The bright flashes of blue along the leaf strewn hiking trail made the azures very easy to locate.

FOY trip to Fish Lake SWA. Saw a few prairie buttercups in bloom, and the Arabis lyrata is just starting. Olympia Marbles were seen in flight or nectaring on the A. lyrata. Nice to be out butterflying again, except for the Simuliidae.

This was a very worn and battered individual.

Sighting was by my sister.

Watched an Eastern Phoebe try to catch the Cabbage White. He tried twice and was unsuccessful. The white must have retreated into the long grass to hide as I did not see it after the second miss.

The sighting was on private property in the woods. It was spotted on the edge of a puddle near a dirt road.

75° Mostly Sunny. Doreen and I took a ride around the field and along the end of the marsh

Saw my first Cabbage White of the year while cleaning the garage.

Also saw one other elfin.

4 sites. 1.5 hours 62-67 degrees F, 85% sun. El Nino years are associated with more Painted Ladies being seen in summer. Maybe the Painted Ladies will join the American Ladies in being above average in abundance later this year.

Mix of sun and clouds with temperatures around 60. Luckily these butterflies posed beautifully for some pictures!

10:53 AM-5:06 PM; 57-72 degrees F, 50% sun. Ann Swengel's climatic analysis of lupine feeders found that warmer drier winters and early springs are associated with higher Karner Blue Counts. The larger than usual number of Karner caterpillars we found today combined with the early date are consistent with that analysis and suggest an early (adults by May 20 or before) Karner flight here and a larger flight than in Spring 2015. The Henry's Elfin was on the "South Brockway West" track 0.1 miles west of Brockway Road. We saw 1 Brown Elfin on the bog. We also saw at 5-6 unidentified elfins today.

First damselflies of the year for me in Wisconsin - teneral Eastern Forktails.

I went to check on the Pasque Flowers and there were a lot still in flower but definitely past their peak. First buds of Prairie Smoke!

70° Sunny. Swallowtail passed us on our way to the clothesline.

1-2pm, 57 degrees and sunny. Saw my FOY male black swallowtail.

Always a pleasure to see Olympia marbles. FOY.

The Milwaukee Audubon Society - Kolterman Property
12:30-1:30 Pm Sunny, Windy, 58 degrees
Three butterflies at farm field woodland edge.

Bombus ternarius working on the Trailing Arbutus.

4:30-5:30 pm, sunny and 58 degrees. Amazing array of spring blooms and several Great Blue Herons, but only 1 Red Admiral

Warm sunny afternoon. Lots of Bloodroot blooming and a few Jack-in-the-pulpit.

The milkweed in our garden emerged on April 21 - the earliest date we have recorded (except for that aberrant year of 2012).

10 am - 1 pm, mostly sunny. Finally got my lifer Compton's Tortoiseshell, first Six-spotted Tiger Beetle of 2016, and a heavily dark-marked "Spring" Spring Azure.

The two American Ladies were laying eggs on my Pearly Everlasting plants in my garden.

This butterfly was resting on my driveway beneath some Red and White Pines.
Have also seen a number of Grapevine Epimenis moths the last few days.

I also saw an unknown duskywing and the teneral Bog Haunter.

Nice to see so many cabbage whites that I had to stop counting. They were everywhere.

Very windy! Think this one was hanging on tight!
Never saw the wing markings while open

Mostly sunny, 72 degrees around 4:30pm

Early morning near drainage pond
Spotted a few other species but couldn't get pics

79° Partly Sunny. The Elfin and Hairstreak were at the home farm.

Around 1:30, mid-50s and overcast. One lone red admiral. When I first spotted him he was sitting with his wings open, then flew into some tall grass. (Maybe he knew rain was on the way?)

Might be the same one I saw a couple of days ago but it was ready for the rain that was about to start!

Sighted at Noon along lakeshore.

Also a White and a Sulphur that didn't get close enough to ID.

Cool at 50 degrees or so and not much flying. My first azures of the year. No commas.

Temp: 47F, mostly cloudy

Cold and windy near the lake but sunny and warm in the woods. Patches of Spring beauty and Marsh marigold.

Overcast and cold, but one butterfly was clinging to a grass stalk.

Chequamegon National Forest, Spruce Lane just off of Cty Tk H. 1:30-3:30 Pm. Twenty-four sightings for four species. & four unidentified angle wings that flew away!