Butterfly sightings for October 2017

How fun to find a Mourning Cloak sunning itself on our sidewalk today.

Same Painted Lady (with damaged hind wing) has been hanging around for several days. Mild day; high of 70; no wind.

Zinnias are a butterfly magnet.Sometimes 2 Painted Ladys were drinking from the same flower. 15:00 - 16:00 1.9 miles

male bronze copper - my first this year

Lots of Painted Ladies in La Crosse for the last three weeks

I think I need a bumper sticker that says "I Stop for Zinnias". On my way home, I noticed that there were two patches of zinnias at the entrance to Quivey's Grove Restaurant. I had to stop. Not only did I see lots of painted ladies (a small perentage of which were looking pretty worn or had chunks missing from their wings), but there were grass skippers galore, both fiery skippers and sachem. They were darting around like crazy. Occasionally a pair would land on the same flower for a short amount of time. There was one fiery skipper however who was content to sit on a rock the entire time I was there.

female Sachem

I expected to see more butterflies here. I only saw two Monarchs and a couple of Cabbage Whites. The season is winding down and the wildflowers are drying out, but still enough nectar sources for the stragglers.

The Pipevine Swallowtail was absolutely stunning! It only nectared on Superpetunias. It wasn't interested in the Butterfly Bush or Zinnias which attract most of the butterflies in our yard.

in the 80s and breezy

Lunch time walk

Seen while birding (before noon). Sunny, but barely 50 degrees.

Large numbers of painted ladies in all of the flower beds but one was actually an American lady (I saw the underside well), showing signs of a life richly lived!

Several (6-8) fiery skippers active in the flower garden south of the Academic Building over the noon hour. One male landed on the sidewalk and climbed up my finger when I offered it.

Monarch flying about 20' off the ground at about 2:30pm.

Checkered White was a female.

65 degrees and cloudy.

72 degrees, cloudy and very breezy. We also saw over 2,100 Canada Geese.

Just a PERFECT day for a walk! Lots of fall color, lots of birds and a few butterflies.

A few more commas were seen in flight, but I was unable to distinguish between Eastern and Gray.

Found in the perennial garden around 4:30.

Stopped by Badger Prairie briefly around 2:30, hoping to see Black Swallowtails up on the hill. There were two. Very few nectar sources around, a few asters and a little bit of goldenrod, but not much else. No photos.

Lots of garden flowers still in bloom (no zinnias!). The skippers nectared on several types of flowers, but marigolds were there favorite.

There were many Painted Ladies on a very small patch of lavender.

high 70s and light breeze

We released our last Monarch of the year that we raised from a caterpillar.

Beautiful sunny, 78 degree day. We saw lots of butterflies nectaring on patches of Red Clover between the rows of apple trees and along a field of strawberry plants.

high 70s and light breeze

high 70s and light breeze

75° Sunny. 30+% of the Clouded Sulphurs have been white females in the last 2 weeks. Didn't add the BFs from my sister inlaw's across the corn field, but I will mention the 50 cent size snapping turtle seen there. Big influx of Monarchs after the rain.

This is the only one I've seen all season in my local outings. It circled my garage for over 2 hours. I think it was trying to find a crevice to overwinter as it kept going to a birdhouse nailed to the side of the garage.

Sunny, mid-70s. I saw two butterflies flying near the eaves of the cottage. One landed under the eaves but eventually flew down and landed on my arm. It seemed to be searching for warmth in the sunlight and lingered long enough for me to snap photos of both the top and underside.

Sunny, light breeze 60s

64 degrees and sunny.

Discovered this on my patio window...

After an errand in Fitchburg, I stopped at the Monarch Way Station (and the adjacent zinnia patch) in McKee Park to see if the Painted Ladies were still around. They were. But the main event of the day was the skippers--lots of skippers. My numbers may be on the conservative side because the skippers were everywhere. Who'd have thought I'd ever say "oh, it's just another Sachem"? Besides the zinnias, there were Mexican sunflowers, plus red and white clover. There were many skippers alighting on the white clover, so counting (and identifying) those was hard. The other unusual thing was a painted lady landed on red clover and stayed there for quite awhile.

Sunny , 60’s , lslight breeze. Bees, Beetles, & butterfly were on my flowers by my porch.

55° Mostly Cloudy. Buckeye was on the field road at noon. Photo is from 5" away with cell phone. Lady's were on the Zinnias.

Tied for 3rd latest Bronze Copper! Cell phone pic attached.

Sunny and 57 degrees.

A few additional Polygonia sp. were seen

Seen while birding. Bird of the day- several Red Crossbills! Sunny and a bit windy.

Sunny and 56 degrees.

60° Sunny

I walked the trail around the Clubhouse Pond.

Sunny, very windy and 69 degrees.

70 degrees brought out a bazillion Asian Lady Beetles that put the crimp on walking the roads.

Sunny, very windy and 57 degrees.

Mild and sunny. The butterflies had lots of purple clover to feed on in the mowed areas. It has certainly been a year for Painted Ladies.

high 60's with wind off the lake. The Fiery Skippers were two separate pairs in different gardens.

Beautiful day! Temps in the 60's.

70+ degrees - many insects active

Mild day (70s), brisk winds. Very few flowers at the park, but butterflies were sighted on Zinnias and Mexican Sunflowers. There were other skippers, but I didn't get close enough to photograph them.

I saw several butterflies but was not able to identify any till this one landed in a maple tree. Sunny, calm, high 60s.

Sunny, very windy and 69 degrees.

Sunny and about 65 degrees, 9am.

Upper sixties, sunny and breezy.

Sunny, very windy and 74 degrees.

Found in disburbed area adjacent to restored prairie...

It was warm today--quite a few pollinators in the sunny garden among the zinnias and the cosmos. The skippers were fast, and left and came back when I was attempting to photograph them.

Along pathway adjacent to restored prairie

Glad to still be seeing Painted Ladies and Sachem.

70° Sunny. Viceroy, Red Admiral and Gray Hairstreak were in Doreen's sister's small orchard.
Viceroy gave us all a good look at <6 feet away.

Sunny, slight breeze, 60°,on annuals by porch of house

Sunny and 72 degrees.

Sunny and 68 degrees.

First Fiery Skipper in Waushara Co. since 2012 (female).

The Sachem were half male and half female.

Sunny and low 70's.

Warm sunny day. Not many butterflies; forbs are all dried up. Surprised to see several Buckeyes.

70+ degrees.

The painted lady was depositing eggs on thistles

Was not expecting a Monarch this late in the year!

mild, about 69 and sunny.

Sunny and 58 degrees to start and then warming into the 70's.

Sunny and 74 degrees.

Only one butterfly today, but some cool birds. Four juvenile Double-crested Cormorants at Strickers, one swimming, 3 sitting on a log--I've never seen cormorants at Strickers before. Also lots of kinglets over at the neighboring pond, Tiedeman Pond. Couldn't tell if they were ruby-crowned or golden-crowned but there were LOTS of them.

Sunny, 62°,slight breeze. On annuals near porch

52° Sunny. Was pleased to see them after last nights freezing temp. Zinnias seemed unaffected.

Sunny and 47 degrees

Partly sunny and 48 degrees.

In the prairie.

Reilly Rd High 50s , sunny

52 degrees with winds at near 20mph. The Monarch was flying south over Memorial Dr. (Hwy 42) about 50 ft. above the road. It was mostly cloudy but some sunshine made me look up and I saw it flying.

55 degrees and sunny.

Sunny, breezy, temp in 50s

55 degrees and sunny.

34 degrees, overcast and breezy.

Sunny and 46 degrees.

Surprised to see a Painted Lady this afternoon since it froze heavily overnight and it's only in the low-mid 40's this afternoon and breezy. But it is sunny.