Butterfly sightings for May 2017

First Henry's Elfins of the year.

Also, a Tiger Swallowtail.

(This was a bird atlasing trip.) I was surprised to see a monarch this early in the year. The monarch was structurally intact, but was missing lots of scales. It left before I could get my camera ready. I also saw one flitty dark (black?) skipper that would not sit still long enough to be IDed.

Each butterfly was found near patches of blooming Brassicacieae or Euphorbiaceae (species unknown)

Lots of cabbage whites, but only one other butterfly, a red admiral. Interesting birds though. FIVE great blue herons (alot for this small pond). They were very active, flying from one side of the pond to the other, fishing, etc. Plus sandpipers, terns, and a few warblers and sparrows.

Mourning Cloak landed on a tulip in my backyard. This is a first for me.

I also saw three Six-spotted Tiger Beetles.

Sunny, mid 60's and a bit too windy.

Upper 60s and Sunny. Doreen was with me. In-laws saw there first Balt. Oriole today. 8 of the Juniper Hairstreaks were tree-topping(the one in the photo was 40' up). Was surprised by the S. Blue when I got home and looked at the photos.

A lone Red Admiral kept me entertained in the early evening. Their unique behavior of twirling up and then returning to the same spot is fascinating. This one repeatedly landed on the hummingbird feeder and other sunny surfaces near it.

70 degrees, sunny, with a moderate breeze.

1/2 hour driving--saw the Mourning Cloaks. 1/2 hour walking--where we saw everything else. 67-72 degrees F, 35% sun.

6.2 hours, 59-75 degrees F, 100% sun. We saw at least 16 unidentified elfins and 10 unidentified duskywings. Ann found the Painted lady--at least 4 small spots of equal size near margin of hind wing below. I think we were fortunate to find a Persius Duskywing this early.

1 hour, 70-74 degrees F, 80% sun.

Sunny, 60, and windy.

Mid 60s and Sunny. Sighting is for both the 5th and 6th. Most of the butterflies were at the boat landing while we were launching and loading the boat.

68 F. Also saw 3 Ringed Boghaunters and 1 Ebony Boghaunter.

Mid-day, sunny, mid-low 60's

First of year American Coppers for me.

Very windy, but sunny. Saw a mating pair of Red admirals, plus single sightings x 3, might have been the same ones. All near stinging nettle. Found more eggs on stinging nettle. An Eastern Tiger swallowtail that I raised last year on wild black cherry emerged this morning!

63 F. Also saw Festive and Big Sands Tiger Beetles. My first ever Juniper Hairstreak which was my target for the day.

Most of the swallowtails were on the prairie by the observatory, as was a pale tan butterfly that I never got a good look at. I thought Eyed Brown, but seems very early.

Also, one Tiger Swallowtail and numerous Whites. First Sulphur and Fritillary of the year.

One of the Cabbage Whiites was depositing eggs on tiny mustard seedlings

One individual flying along path leading to Watts Lake

Approx. 8 mile walking loop (includes some out and back sections where we didn't double count butterflies) of sand tracks and adjacent forests west of Hunter Haven starting 1/2 mile north of Stanton Creek Road. 1 hour, 70-74 degrees F, 80% sun. 4.25 hours, 55-69 degrees F, 100% sun. We had 5 unidentified elfins and 6 unidentified duskywings.

Finally a warm day without a lake breeze!

A two-swallowtail day, with orioles in the background.

Just a reminder that if you want to see the lilac collection in max bloom, this is the week to visit.

Harvester flying close to ground at Perot State Park during the climb up to Brady's bluff and then luckily it landed for a few minutes for pictures.

Black swallowtail seen at New Amsterdam grasslands.

72° Mostly Sunny. A quick stop after boating on the Fox River on the East end of the farm. When the sun hid behind the clouds many the butterflies disappeared only to return again a minute after it reappeared. All Junipers were tree-topping.

26 minutes. 65 degrees F, 30% sunshine.

76° Mostly Sunny. Harvester Photo was with a cell phone.

Temp near 80, light-moderate winds. But dry. No puddles on roads, no butterflies seen on road gravel. Olympias, Duskywings, Blues were all very flighty and would rarely land for a photo. Possibly saw a Gorgone Checkerspot. Possibly. Violets, orange puccoon, juneberry, strawberry in bloom. Lupine barely starting to bloom on south-facing roadside of Klots Rd. Probably saw 20 or more undeterminable Erynnis.

The Juniper Hairstreak was seen nectaring at the top of the west side bluff, about 10 am, sunny, not sure of temp, but most likely in the low 70's.

Warm but cloudy and windy.

We also saw two whites.

3 of our 4 long-term survey areas were burned in 2 large fires. We skipped one of the burned sites and surveyed 3 places. 23 minutes. 70 degrees F, 100% sunshine.

2.5 hours. 26 minutes. 64-71 degrees F, 70% sunshine. We ran out of time to survey and skipped 3 bogs because it became sunny too late to leave us much time. Surveyed Lyman Lake Bog, 2 bogs along County Hwy A, and 2 bogs along Milchesky Road. One of our best Freija sites had bad weather or else we'd have had an even higher total than 110.

birding Durward's Glen CE

4 bogs along Forest Road 137, 1 bog south of Forest Road 136, and 2 bogs east of Forest Road 505. We saw Red-disked Alpines on the 4 bogs with the biggest hummocks, as well as along the road by FR 137 (and 1 Freija there) 2.3 miles south of Hwy 70. Plant seasonal development here is about 3 days slower than the Douglas County bogs, which is the opposite pattern we usually see.

Sixties, sunny, slight breeze. Beautiful day and the park was full of people enjoying it.

74° Sunny. Went to visit a grave and the Juniper Hairstreak was 10 feet behind it.

We also saw another yellow swallowtail and 10+ blues that we didn't get a close look at.

40 minutes. 55-60 degrees F, 65% sunshine.

My first coppers of the season. Clouds and rain moving in.

85° Mostly Sunny. Still on the quest for more Juniper Hairstreaks. Found them in the farthest North Juniper in the meadow.

85° Mostly Sunny > Cloudy. The thunder started rolling as soon as I stepped from the truck. A fast walk to the Blueberry patch Scott Swengel found them last year and one Brown Elfin was waiting for me. I search all the bushes while the thunder continued with no avail. Didn't look hard for Junipers. Next time.

Lot's o' ticks and black flies around. Lots of sun too broken up by brief threats of rain that never materialized. We searched diligently for cobweb skippers and Frosted elfin with no luck. We did see Scott Swengel who saw both those species.

Saw monarch briefly on wing (very windy), later found a monarch egg on 5 inch common milkweed stem at Pleasant Valley Conservancy, Dane Co. (photo included).

Sunny, very warm, strong south wind, late afternoon during baseball game

This is the first time I have seen one this early.

Milkweed has essentially taken over our front yard. We have delayed mowing and were rewarded today when the FOY Monarch arrived and battled gusty winds to oviposit. We found about a dozen eggs.

Warm and Sunny 2:30-4 pm

Mid 60's and breezy. My first Monarch of the year.

Sunny and Warm. 1-2pm

72° Sunny 10am-Noon while picking asparagus

65-75 degrees F, 75% sun. I surveyed 12 miles of barrens transects, 10.5 miles of which were to complete our Frosted Elfin long-term monitoring surveys. 30 of the Frosted Elfins were in one very large area and one medium/large survey area south of Castle Mound Road. I also saw an unidentified Tiger Swallowtail, 2+ unidentified elfins, 1 unidentified blue, and >42 unidentified duskywings. The overall number of individual butterflies was small compared to usual for these sites, suggesting that the many cloudy and rainy days are simply making there be shorter, smaller flights.

54° Cloudy with sprinkles on and off. I moved it to the flower box where Doreen could see it when she got home.

Probably 7+ black swallowtails but several subsequent sightings in same areas as previous sightings. Only 1 each white and yellow seen from about 11:30 am-1 pm with mostly sunny, light winds.

A couple of Black swallowtails flitting from dandelion dandelion on top of the hill at the dog park.

Plenty of milkweed around, but lots of poison ivy as well

It was 57 degrees with a slight wind.

Finally seeing some sunshine! I brought in 2 Hummingbird Clearwing moth caterpillars last year and over the winter kept the cocoons in the attic. They both emerged within a couple days of each other. It was fascinating to watch them as their wings dried. Hopefully I'll see them again around the yard.

This was the 11th annual field trip of the Southern Wisconsin Butterfly Association. The trip had to be postponed but 6 of us spent the day observing butterflies with binoculars and cameras, led by Mike Reese. 29 species were found, 2nd only to 2012. Funereal Duskywing is a stray from the South, seen by Dan Sonnenberg.

Bogs were Lyman Lake, North Bear and Bear along County Hwy A, Milchesky Road 1.15 and 1.9 miles west of Hwy A, paired bogs north of Moose Junction along Hwy 35, and a bog west of Hwy 35. We saw a Jutta Arctic on every bog but the two nearest to Moose Junction. We tried for Frigga Fritillaries on two of the three bogs where we've found them here.

3 sites, a little more than one hour searching. We saw at least 18 unidentified elfins.

A rather disappointing count for a 2-hour hike on a warm sunny afternoon.

I found one male Karner Blue Butterfly on Lupine along the Lupine Loop today. It was sunny and about 74 degrees with a slight wind.

Warm and Sunny! Family picnic along the Fox River. Butterflies seen while taking the family for rides on the ranger and teaching them about butterflies.

one clouded sulfur stayed still long enough for me to tell it was a female.

Seen incidentally while on a Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas field trip.

25 minutes. The Cabbage White was by our car. The other butterflies were on the bog.

7 Bogs: 0.25 miles east of Foret Road 148, south side of Hwy 70, 1.9 and 2.3 miles south of Hwy 70, east side of FR 137, 2.3+ mile south of Hwy 70, southwest side of FR 137, south of FR 136, and 1.7 and 5.4 mile south of Hwy 70, east side of FR 505. All four bogs where we regularly see Frigga Fritillaries produced at least one. Four of the Friggas were south of FR 136. Rain or snow on about 80% of the dates from the April 20s to May 27 (and it kept raining to May 30) seem to have depressed the overall butterfly numbers in the northland.

Too windy for most butterflies except the ground-huggers. Maybe one Least Skipper, but it blew away.

Mid-day, Sunny, mid-70's...Included in photos is a "hard to find" Goldsmith Beetle from yesterday (same location)

11 am to 12:15 pm. Sunny, mostly. Lots of odonates emerging!

Town of Wolf River

Seen while birding. My first of the year for both species.

Mostly cloudy with breaks in the clouds, 1pm.

Monarch laying eggs.

We found this Giant Swallowtail on our blueberry bushes

very gusty winds from the west. This was a white female clouded sulfur

1/2 hour or less Phlox Moth searching with the sky shutting down for butterflies, but the Gorgone Checkerspots just kept cranking. 5% sunshine, 64 degrees F, windy. 1 Phlox Moth seen.

Bullfrogs singing. Gusty winds.

More than 5 hours searching for Phlox Moths. We found 8. 50% sunshine, 61-71 degrees F, windy.

Caterpillar found on water hemlock, Baltimore Checkerspot

Also saw 3 butterflies that looked like common wood nymphs, but they were too far away to make a positive ID.

Beautiful afternoon after an inch of rain. Also seen - an eight spotted six-spotted tiger beetle and a newly-emerged damselfly teneral on a water lily leaf.

Starting 1:38 pm. Break in clouds for 10 minutes.

Mostly cloudy and breezy.

Six hours monitoring Phlox Moths at about 17 sites or subsites where we have seen them, including all of our long-term Phlox Moth sites (mostly 1994-2017). 68-77 degrees F, 90% sun. Found >12 Phlox Moths, mostly one per survey area. The Karner Blue count (4 males) was extremely low, but butterfly activity declined greatly after 12:30 PM, and I didn't get to good Karner sites till 2 PM.

74° Sunny *Field Trip Trial Run with Laurel Bennett from the Prairie Sands chapter of TPE.

74° Sunny Late afternoon.

Partly cloudy, started counting at 1pm. Lots of puddles in the road invited nectaring swallowtails and duskywings.

10 am to Noon, partly cloudy to mostly cloudy, 60-65 degrees F

No luck with Juttas.

Sunny, mid 70's, and gusty wind

My first skipper of the year, difficult to get a photo as it was very nervous

I'm pretty sure these are WV Whites, not really that far from Ada Lake as the crow flies.

Seen while atlasing for birds. My first ones of the year were all flying before 7:30! high 50s and sunny.