Butterfly sightings for August 2016

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail taking nectar from these lilies for about 10 minutes in my backyard garden near UWM campus.

My daughter released one of our first Monarchs today that we have been raising from eggs found on our Milkweed plants. The Red Admiral was found feeding on an orange half that I had put out for a female Baltimore Oriole that has been visiting our yard recently.

I've been seeing low-moderate numbers of monarchs the past 2-3 weeks in Dane County. Much more than in June.

Also saw Laphria thoracica in two locations on the property

I watched a female Monarch lay a lot of eggs on every milkweed she could find..I Can't wait to see how that turns out. And I will be watching the Black Swallowtail caterpillars as well.

7:30am-11am Sunny

Low 80's, sunny and calm.

A mostly black, with coral and blue spots along the edge of its wings, Red-spotted Purple came and fed from our hummingbird feeder. I was not fast enough to get a photo.

Two of the Black swallowtails were caterpillars.

[This is the first and only Spicebush Swallowtail seen in Wisconsin this century. Mike Reese]

Black Swallowtail caterpillars galore! We had 8 of them on our dill weed in the garden. One of them climbed a milkweed and turned into a green chrysalis.

Mid-afternoon. Upper 80s and sunny. Nice to see a good number of monarchs.

Monarchs exclusively on rough or showy blazing stars but all very camera shy.

Seemed to prefer to sit on the driveway rather than any flower.

Walked the area doing some atlasing and also kept a list of butterflies. Started at 6:45am and went until 9:56am. Very warm and humid out, without much of a breeze. Partly cloudy and hazy all morning.

Early afternoon. Upper 80s and sunny.

Also saw many whites and sulfurs and an unknown anglewing puddling.

About 90˚F out, hanging around 70% humidity. Tons of butterflies out at the prairie at the end of Cook Arboretum. Also good numbers all along the hike.

The Common Wood-Nymph was in my native restored yard near Lake Edge Park. It flitted from the phlox in the courtyard to the cup plants then was gone by the time I had dashed out and circled back through the underbrush.

2:00-4:30pm, around 80 degrees and sunny. Near the entrance to the park there is a large area with many kinds of prairie plants in bloom. That's where I saw the majority of the butterflies for the day (and several hummingbird clearwing moths). When I went up to the top of the hill, near the main observation tower, I saw lots of Red-spotted Purples pretty high up in the trees. I'm used to seeing them on the ground, so it was interesting to see them in the trees. There were Eastern Tiger Swallowtails up in the trees too, but I saw more of them down in the prairie plants than up in the trees. The only other butterflies at the top of the hill were the Monarch and the Common Wood-Nymphs.

6 species in parking lot. Most silver-spots on red clover in adjacent old hay field lined with many locust trees - quit counting at 20.

This beautiful butterfly was in the garden in our back yard.

Finally saw monarchs mating this season

Butterfly numbers dropping the last couple of weeks but had to report this one. Only 2nd time I have found one on the meadows, this one gave me a bit more behavior. Flew much like an Eastern-tailed blue, stayed low and weaved around the grasses. It circled a small area maybe 15 foot long and 4 foot wide, returning to perch on dried up purple clover on the edge of the road. It landed and nectared on rabbits foot. There were 2 other blues with this one, but the one I was able to catch up to was a Karner.

Midday in the backyard

Didn't see the sachem that was reported at Stricker's last week. Not surprised because skippers are tiny and not always easy to find. Did see a couple of least skippers and one posed nicely for a couple of photos.

Lots of cool butterflies!

Mid-afternoon this skipper was busy on purple cone-flowers in front of our house.

Upper 70's, sunny. Lots of blooming Joe-pye weed, boneset, goldenrod, vervain, swamp and common milkweed, turtlehead, etc. I searched several yards of roadside and found over 40 Monarch cats.

Hiking in the goat prairie on Table Bluff north of Cross Plains

Feeding along a hiking trail in the park at 1:35pm

15 participants used binoculars to observe 264 butterflies of 33 species. 33 ties our previous record from 2013 and 264 is the 2nd highest number of individuals. Led by Mike Reese, we found 6 southern immigrants: Red Admiral, Common Buckeye, Fiery Skipper, Common Checkered-Skipper, Little Yellow and Sleepy Orange. Other species of interest were Common Roadside-Skipper, Common Sootywing, Harvester (coaxed onto Dan Sonnenberg's finger), Tawny-edged Skipper, Aphrodite Fritillary and Gray Comma. 16 male Eastern Tailed-Blues were sipping nutrients from moist sand, and Hackberry Emperors repeatedly landed on us! Photo of Emperor on car window and Little Yellow by Dan Sonnenberg. Other photos by Karl and Dorothy Legler.

Mid-seventies and sunny. Saw another pair of mating monarchs. Giant swallowtail nectaring on swamp milkweed.

Note a very faint lavender cast to the wings of this super fresh Gray Hairstreak; also, the veins are tinged with green. These are the third and fourth Gray Hairstreaks I've seen in the past week (also at Walking Iron and my garden).

After my successful butterfly outing in front of Bascom Hall, I headed over to Allen Centennial Gardens, expecting lots of butterflies since there are certainly lots of flowers there. However, there weren't many. The most interesting was a silver-spotted skipper who was sitting on a leaf with its wings open. Also nice to see several hummingbirds.

Beautiful day. Upper 70s, mostly sunny. When I arrived it was overcast and there were no butterflies to be seen. Then the sun came out and there they were. The flowers were beautiful and they had lots of nectar sources to choose from.

13:33 - 15:33 cloudy 4.1 miles

I have a very large rain garden in the township of Middleton that I have planted with native plantings. This black form Eastern Tiger Swallowtail was feeding on the pink phlox. Absolutely beautiful!

Great butterfly day.

Washington Island

Before 11:00am. This is a favorite birding location. I've not seen Bronze Coppers here before.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtails in Monarch Way Station in my backyard near UWM campus

Windy with fast-moving clouds. Temperatures in the low 80s. I also saw another sulphur, two fritillaries, and a skipper that I didn't get a good look at. Not a blueberry to be seen.

My daughter discovered the Common Checkered-Skipper in a field of Red Clover. Wow, what a beautiful skipper!

Took Doreen to see her 90th & 91st for her life list. Sootywing and Sleepy Orange were easy to find along the roads for her. Also found 2 species we didn't see on Saturday. Didn't go to the 4th stop. Each of us had an Emperor land on us at the 3rd. We went to the Cassville area afterward. Of 6 stops we had Little Yellows at 5 of them today.

Spent the afternoon and found 25 species. The best was Painted Lady which has been pretty scarce this year. It was on private property so it was rather distant as we looked over the fence.
Other highlights were Common Buckeye (Dorothy's photo), Fiery Skipper and Tawny-edged Skipper. Many swallowtails. Heard Henslow's Sparrow.

First time I've seen one here.

Also saw a Hummingbird clearwing nectaring on monarda

Nothing unusual but good variety and a nice walk.

Poor girl (black form female) was hit by a car. We rescued her from the street.

High wind speed

Enjoying a plate of blackberries I grow in my back yard!

Was a bit surprised to see the Red Admiral depositing eggs, it seems rather late?

Monarch in the Monarch Way Station in my backyard, near UWM

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail at Schlitz Audubon Center, Bayside, Wisconsin

Surprise early morning visitors.

Washington Island

Loves the butterfly bush

First time I've ever seen this skipper species!

The Northern crescents were everywhere. 50 is probably a conservative estimate. They were also the most adventuresome. A number of them were puddling along with the sulphurs. One sat next to my shoe. And several sat on various parts of my car, including the license plate.

Dark form Eastern Tiger was very worn. Monarch depositing eggs. Pearl crescents mating. A great day for butterflies!

In Monarch Way Station in my backyard, near UWM campus

Two Eastern Tiger Swallowtails locked in mortal, mid-air combat.

The most entertaining butterfly of the day was the common buckeye, who took turns chasing a grasshopper and then letting himself be chased by the grasshopper. This went on for quite some time, but finally the common buckeye tired of the game and stopped to rest.

80 degrees and sunny with light winds. I expected to see more butterflies than I did but overall it's been a slow butterfly season. I didn't see one skipper. One of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtails was a dark female.

one black Eastern Tiger Swallowtail female included in count. Two Silver-spotted Skippers circled around and chased each other in the trees, resembling hairstreaks.

Trails from Homestead Hollow to the butterfly garden.

Red Admiral on back of my home near UWM campus

17 species. The Partridge Pea plants are doing very well this year! Heard Carolina Wren.

We also saw lots of other skippers.

80 F, NW wind 5.8 - 4.6 mph, 52 - 60 % RH, 1.4 miles walking

Another great day for butterflies!

Brief stop at area around parking lot.

Partial list. No pic on Varigated but close enough to convince myself, yes. It just would not settle down! This is the 4th time this year I have seen what I believe to be Varigated and not one pic.

New Reakirts near the previous sighting was approx 800' north leads me to believe they may have emerged on the meadows. Orange visible on this one, not the one previously and same view so it is two different Reakirts.

Flight very similar to Eastern-tailed blue but choppy, sharp side rolls/turns that flash the underwing. Both of these guys size would be a small ETB sized, but I don't know if that is the normal size for Reakirts. So far, both perch facing down =<12" from ground, and they do seem to like the road edges.

First Dainty on Crex since aug 2013

My daughter spotted the Common Sootywing, another record sighting for her!

I was just sitting outside and she was flying around me.

Saw this fly through our backyard this afternoon.

Red-spotted Purple was on wild plum tree by driveway about noon.
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail was flitting about meadow area with coneflowers and phlox mid morning.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail in Monarch Way Station in my backyard, near UWM campus

At least 8 other small "black" butterflies flitting about with same behavior and in same habitat area (flying low, seldom landing, interacting, along mowed lane and hay field edge at bottom of the prairie along E. edge) Probably Common Sootywings.

3 of the 4 tiger swallowtails were black form females

The Female Tiger Swallowtail was in black form. This is the best summer so far for butterflies in my yard. Heading to Door county Thursday We hope to find a few butterflies.

Viceroy was laying eggs on willow. Four mated pairs of Monarchs! Two mated pairs of ETBs. One mated pair of orange sulphurs. One very speedy Southern Dogface.

Monarch Way Station in my backyard, near UWM campus. 3:00 pm very active will all these butterflies cavorting and taking in nectar!

In Monarch Way Station in my backyard, near UWM campus

Went on a combination birding/butterfly trip with a friend and explored areas of the barrens we've never been to. We just couldn't find many butterflies.

So excited to see one one the zinnias in the front of our home

91° Mostly Sunny. Ann and Dan's excellent adventure! Ann came back to find the Reakirt's Blue. We looked for more Reakirt's with no avail. Even though it was REALLY hot and humid we managed to find lots of butterflies and got lots of photos. 1:30 is when the "Dogs" got tired & hungry and stopped so we could take photos. Before that they taunted and teased us coming close to us just to race away like a school yard game of tag. Afterward Dan went to Spring Green Preserve to find Leonard's Skippers at Ann's insistence. Thanks Ann!

Have been seeing more Eastern Tiger Swallowtails this year....it has been great

Monarch and swallowtail nectaring on liatris species in garden at the northwest corner of Beaver Dam Lake.

I had a new butterfly in the backyard! I thought it was a red admiral at first, from a distance, but when I got close-up, it was clear it was not. This was the best picture I could take. He or she was initially on the common milkweeds then flew quickly to the black raspberry bush, which is where I took this picture. Amazed at how big he or she was for a skipper.