Butterfly sightings for June 2017

Many unidentified duskywings and tiger swallowtails also seen.

First Monarch of the year! Also saw a sulfur but no id.

Three sites in the park and one nearby. 2 hours, 68-77 degrees F, 100% sun. 2nd year in a row with Ringlets along the right-of-way just west of Hastings Road and along the trail running parallel to this road.

Seen on Iris border at home east of Baraboo

I just photographed this butterfly in my backyard.

Plus one Tiger Swallowtail

78 degrees and Sunny! It was a Swallowtail kinda day.

A warm, sunny day brought out the skippers. There were two more Tiger Swallowtails and I found my first Monarch eggs.

Incidental sightings while atlasing for birds. First time that I have seen more than one Giant Swallowtail in a day in Waushara County. Also two Canadian/Eastern Tiger Swallowtails.

9am, bright and early on a warm, sunny day.

Yup, they've ruined the wetland area near the road for butterflying. Must have cost a fortune too.

Hobomok Butterfly at Sandhill Wildlife Area, 77 degrees with little wind.

12:30-1:30

This bog is massive but doesn't have the species diversity of Glocke. No Juttas!

10:30 am to noon.
Still no Juttas.

My first Monarch of the year

Lone female looking for milkweed in my backyard at 2:10. Temperature was 84 degrees, sunny, very little wind. First one of the season.

Two monarchs, at least one female, appeared to be looking for a roosting place high in the maple trees just before sunset.

Surprised to see my first Viceroy of the year.

Just a few butterflies noted while kayaking.

I go many years between sightings of White Admirals, so was pretty excited to see this one trying to collect moisture on our dried up driveway. I saw lots of other butterflies but I don't count them. Red-spotted Purples are common here.

One of the few sunny day I've experienced here since March. Big Sand Tiger Beetles numerous and very active. A few Six-spotted as well.

10:30 am to Noon, temp in low 80s.

Late afternoon walk after a rainy morning. Tiger swallowtail puddling in the parking lot. The dragonfly season is heating up - Emeralds and Common Whitetails basking on west-facing basswood leaves, Dusky Clubtails on the ground.

w/Paul. A few duskywings I couldn't identify, as well as some fritillaries and some blues that flew by quickly

Late Afternoon, sunny, mid-80's, very windy.
Lots of Six-spotted Tiger Beetles hunting the Preim Road boardwalk, where I also found a large weevil called a Clay-colored Billbug (Sphenophorus aequalis).

Still looking for Jutta. Lot of that cottongrass around.

Sunny, low 80s, little wind.

Lots of very confusing duskywings! And a disabled skipper I don't dare ID. And a Pocohantas in there too.

Mid-day, sunny, calm, mid-high 80's

Over the course of a whole day. I finally caught up with the pesky duskywing that I'd had glimpses of.

American Lady on Walkers Low Catmint

Mid-late afternoon, Sunny, Mid-high 80's. Saw several Tiger swallowtails, but they were on the move and could not get an exact ID as to "Eastern" or "Canadian"

While boating, observed an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail fly across the entire length of open water of Upper Phantom Lake in a north to south direction.

SWBA Field Trip
86° Sunny. 2 hrs at Page Creek and 2 at "The Hill". Tim Fenske stayed at Page Creek and saw the Buckeye and Eastern Tailed Blues after we left. Almost all of the swallowtails, Red Spotted Purples and Hobomoks were at "The Hill" where only 2 of the butterflies were not at the top. Page had most of the Little Wood Satyrs and Coppers.

Muddling, and landing on snapdragon flowers.

Photo quite a ways from butterfly

We walked 3 miles in the grassland. All the coppers were in the formerly grazed patch south of Archer Drive between 3/8 and 0.5 miles west of County W.

Many Little Wood Satyrs flying at mid-day; I stopped counting at 25. The Northern Cloudywing is a life butterfly for me. Also saw and photographed a Chickweed Geometer moth.

FOY monarch, she left some eggs on the common milkweed

The Red Admiral, Monarch, and Little Wood-Satyrs were along Blue Goose Rd near the UWM Field Station; the skippers were along the Cedarburg Bog public trails off of Hwy 33. Hobomok Skippers at both locations.

I was surprised to see not one, but two, Giant Swallowtails while out today. I was under the impression they were a late-summer stray, but evidently I was incorrect. Both specimens were in excellent shape. I will upload a picture of them when I return home.

There were a number of other species flitting about, including lots of recently emerged ringlets.

Finally! I have been looking for Common Ringlet for about 10 years in Waushara County and hadn't found it until today. This species has been spreading south into WI slowly over the last 50 years. It was made worse when I found the first one in Marquette Co. at Comstock Bog while leading a field trip there in 2009! Found while doing surveys for the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas. Also several tiger swallowtail sp.

8:52 - 12:00

The lupine was in full bloom; KBs were frequent, but not abundant.

86° Sunny. Saw many while mowing the yard. Stopped to move the hose and the Pecks kept landing on it as I coiled it up. Pecks and Blk Swallowtail were taken with a cell phone.

A very nice walk along Blue Goose Rd near the UWM Field Station

10-11 am. Scoured the spruce! No juttas yet.

I stopped counting Wood-Satyrs at 35 - could not determine which ones already counted as many were swirling around me.

More water in the road than I'd ever seen. In parts, water stetched all the way across. More Viceroys than I'd ever seen, too.

80° Sunny. Setting Transect Poles for Karner Blue surveys. Wasn't actively searching for butterflies. The real surprise was the Marble while opening the gate to Karner Prairie.

80° Sunny. Total Species between both posts = 30! GOOD DAY! 24 at Summerton alone in 2 hours. Took the path less traveled and walked down a shallow drainage ditch. Came home and knew I could add the Giant, Arctic Skipper and Am. Lady in less than an hour. Couldn't find a Red Spotted Purple. Northern Crescents had no pearl spot.

Wooded neighborhood

Dragonflies were numerous at this location. I also saw 3 Eastern Garter Snakes.

After 7 pm...only butterflies seen today. Most were resting on leaves in the last sunlight along the wooded edge of the trail.

All butterflies in areas with larger trees nearby. 2 of the E. Tigers of black form in the forested area. All Giants nectaring on puccoon.

Dry--only one spot, a road through a bog north of the Namekagon River, had damp road gravel. Great weather, but butterfly numbers were low. Karners were the only blues seen. A few Hoary Elfins still at bearberry on the Barrens.

Showed up on my balcony

I've already seen more Black Swallowtails this year than I do in most years. Jutta Arctic and Brown Elfins were in black spruce bog.

Six grassland bird plots and a lupine barrens. 75 of the 95 (85 males and 10 females) Karner Blues were in a grassland plot that has had lupines since it was re-planted about 15 years ago. I also saw an unidentified Tiger Swallowtail.

Seen over the course of five hours while running around town. I also saw what I think was a Lady but couldn't get close enough for a positive ID.

Around Noon mostly sunny, wind 1.3 mph avg (6.4 max), 76F, 50.8%RH
Flowering: Ninebark, Yellow pimpernel, Geranium, Hawkweed, bastard toadflax, Blue-eyed grass & Yellow star grass

8:20 am to 12:45 pm, temp--64-75 degrees F, light wind, no clouds.

Jutta was in bog east of FR 137 1.4 miles south of HWY 70. This was the last bog I walked and was by far the easiest to travel through.

Also at least 10 skippers all appearing the same: somewhat bright orangish with no obvious markings on underside; didn't get a great look at the above side but bright orange and deep black with a jagged rather wide black posterior margin somewhat like the Crossline.

83 degrees and sunny. First time on this property. Lots of habitats.

Sunny, calm day.79° On lilacs by driveway. Sister Karen Schmidt helped get the photo.
Tiger Swallowtail.

Seen from the tower.

Weather taken at 1pm 1.1mph avg (6.5max), 78.9F, RH 45%
Hobomok skipper- (really like tinkerweed)
Plants in flower: Tinkerweed or horse gentian (bumble bees loved), Black snakeroot Sanicula sp. (solitary bees loved), Viccia americanis? (bees used a little), shooting star almost done, some bees using wild geranium, False Solomones seal, woodland phlox (no bees), bastard toadflax (full bloom some solitary bees)

A very fresh Red-spotted Purple that nectared for 5 minutes on a barely-opened medick flower.

The Monarch was laying eggs. I also saw the most interesting insect climbing up the side of our house. It looked like it had its own house of twigs on its back.

Warm, sunny with clouds off and on

The woods were full of very active Common Ringlets, didn't have a camera so no picture

80° Mostly Sunny. So I am trying to rest after being dehydrated yesterday . . .
While helping my inlaws gather some Daisys the Juniper Hairstreak we have been looking to find for years just happened to be on one of the Daisys in the patch. Nearly all the rest of the butterflies seen were also in the patch of Daisys.

Five bogs east of Three Lakes in Nicolet National Forest along Forest Roads 2182 (4 bogs) and 2174 (1 bog), and 2 other bogs. Incredibly high mosquito density at North Wolf Lake bog. Based on phenology observed this week and next, Bog Fritillaries were in main flight but we still saw none of them here.

10 minutes--windy and cloudy so we stopped. County Highway I powerline and ATV right-of-way (ROW) about 7 miles south of U.S. Highway 8, and 1/2 to 1 mile south of where County Forest Road 602 crosses the ROW.

Late Freija, good # of Juttas

This edges our highest previous Bog Fritillary count on any bog of 99 set at on Glocke Lake last year.

86° Sunny & winds up to 40 MPH. First time walking this property with the owners. "The Frit, did sit, on the wedge meant, to split."

Two paired bogs west and east of Highway 35 north of Moose Junction, a bog 2 miles west of Hwy 35 north of Foxboro-Chafee Road, Bogs south of Milchesky Road 1.9 (we named it "1.75" though) and 1.15 miles west of County Highway A, North Bear, Bear, and Bear Southwest bogs along County A, and a big bog south of Lyman Lake. The Bog Fritillary count was very low for these sites. The Meadow Fritillary was nectaring on Labrador Tea at Foxboro-Chaffee bog, near a Silver-bordered and a Bog Fritillary.

93 degrees! Strong southerly winds. 3 Buckeyes!

76 degrees at 7 am, sunny, and a nice cooling breeze. No photos today.

1 dark form Tiger. 6 "Blues" but only 2 landed for ID. The 17 Hobomoks, all sitting for positive ID, represent only about 1/3 of all orange/black skipper type butterflies I saw - the rest were flitting about. Many Virginia Ctenucha moths in areas.

Also saw a Lady sp.

Went to Spruce Lake Bog to look for Odonata, but also found an Arctic Skipper. Also saw 1 Arctic Skipper at Cedarburg Bog in Ozaukee County, but no photo of that one.

Saw few butterflies,2 skippers?, no mosquitos, dozens of dragonflies, and 4 robberflies but all different species

Hot (91F) and windy. Butterflies were close to the ground.

Working on WBBA II from 8:54 - 11:42 in several locations. The Red-spotted Purple was hit by a truck. The Painted Ladies were displaying on the yellow stripes in the center of the road.

Front yard lilac bush

Field with large areas of common milkweed. Mowing was stopped in 2015. Pearl crescents mating.

11:00pm to 1:00pm. On Ice Age Trail. My first Taiga Bluet in several years.

Hot day; 90 degrees; calm. Tiger Swallowtail flew into the Mock Orange tree, which is at peak bloom, and nectared on multiple blooms. Silver-Spotted Skipper repeatedly nectared on Lamium groundcover.

Hot, humid, windy and sunny

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail was a black female. There were at least 6 more Tiger Swallowtails. I also found 4 Monarch cats.

10 miles walked to survey 8 miles of transects in one continuous route. We have very few few previous Indian Skipper sightings here.

8:30 am - 10:30 am, partly cloudy changing to sunny, 80 - 86 F.

Also Cecropia moths mating

Hot humid windy and sunny

Out on my back yard deck! One lone butterfly fluttered around for a good 15 minutes, sunning on the deck rails.

a cool low 60s and mostly cloudy skies

I always look at this road beneath a hill covered with red cedar. Finally stopped and found two ragged Junipers.

Only species seen on Goat Prairie was a Black Swallowtail.

Numerous butterflies spotted before storm clouds moved in around 2pm. After the sky darkened, only two sightings in 30 minutes.

The Little Yellow is new for me! 80 degrees by noon and humid with storms moving in. There were two Tiger Swallowtails.

Overcast, high seventies. I have seen relatively few Monarchs this year. Good year for Milkweed, but have not seen any eggs or larvae here to date.

Single Little Wood-Satyr

1:30pm 86F, sunny, light breeze

We have tons of these flying around our backyard and woods right now. So beautiful to see them all fluttering around throughout the woods.

Along the roadside in a grassy area. Going through old photos, didn't realize I had this one, before I was trying to ID butterflies.

Spotted three Monarchs just prior to sunset, and at least two were males.

Dimorphic Eastern Tiger Swallowtails "dancing" with each other.

87° Sunny not humid. Most of the species were found in the yard. Red Admiral landed on the window while we were watching Jeopardy.
The Giant Swallowtail Caterpillar was from yesterday before the monsoon hit. It had just eclosed. Today it was nowhere to be found.

Amazing amount of buckeyes for this early in the year.

Same bogs as June 10 except that today we did not survey the Bear Southwest Frigga Fritillary bog. The Bog Fritillary count remains very low for these sites, as we now know that the species was in main flight on both June 10 and 16 and is, or soon will be, past peak based on other bog results in the region.

These are usually premier Bog Fritillary sites. Port Wing Bibon Lake bog and 3 State Natural Areas: Port Wing Boreal Forest west unit, Bark Bay Slough, and Lost Creek Bog.

During and after participating in a bird survey, I did a little butterflying on this sunny day. There were many Ctenucha virginica moths about and we saw an interesting mystery fly and a tiny Spring Peeper frog.

North side of Highway 77 about 8 miles east of Minong, and 1/2 mile east of where a railroad passes underneath Highway 77.

Boardwalk at the UWM Field Station was open today for "Treasures of Oz" tour. Sunny and warm. Beautiful orchids and pitcher plants too. And the mysterious song of the Veery.

All before noon. Also, three Tiger Swallowtails and I spotted at least a dozen tiny Monarch cats on trail side milkweed.

About 25 people observed 22 species on this annual field trip of the Southern Wisconsin Butterfly Association, led by Douglas Buege and Kathy and Tom Brock. We had unexpectedly sunny skies! Baltimore Checkerspots were seen (photo by Karl Legler) and a few Silvery Checkerspots (photo by Dan Sonnenberg).

Pictured butterfly is a hybrid Red-spotted Purple/White Admiral.

Two aliens from the Old Word, European skipper on bird's-foot trefoil!

We saw an unidentified large Fritillary that was either an Atlantis or Aphrodite Fritillary.

Unusual to see most of the early skippers in one place especially this late. Due probably to cold May and early June. Hobomok (including Pocohontas variety,) Indian, and Tawny-edged,