Butterfly sightings for May 2019

My first Wisconsin butterflies of the year!! The azure was the only one of this form.

7:18-10:43 at Big Hill and 15:44-16:56 at Culver Springs while birding De Forest CE block. Swallowtail looked very fresh. One of the anglewings flew past me but didn't give me time to ID it.

Despite there still be some snow at four places along this gravel road, there were plenty of butterflies. My previous record for Green Commas in a day was 15 but today I had 36! I also saw two moths, The Infant (10)(Archiearis infans) and Scarce Infant (2)(Leucobrephos brephoides).

Sunny, about 60 degrees, light breeze. Marsh marigolds and fiddleheads. Beautiful!

Brockway Road, Stanton Road, Hunter Haven Road, and near Hwy 54. 9.5 miles of transects in our long-term elfin monitoring sites that have produced the most sightings of each kind of elfin when they are early in their flights. 65-75 degrees F, sunny. We saw 1 unidentified elfin and 5 unidentified ladies. The Olympia Marble count is more than 90% below the average for these sites at this stage of the flight. Our seeing no Hoary Elfins when visiting all our best sites for seeing them in central Wisconsin suggests a low year for them in that area.

75 degrees, sunny. 2 miles of transects in elfin long-term monitoring sites. One site inside Sandhill and 3 sites just outside Sandhill. We skipped the remaining monitoring site after finding only one butterfly during our walks--wait a week on that. The Red Admiral was along the road inside Sandhill.

Also saw a Woolly Bear caterpillar (Isabella Tiger Moth) caterpillar that I rescued from some attacking ants.

This year has been incredible for Red Admirals and American Lady's. They are everywhere, at least in Milwaukee county!

I went looking for Hoary Elfins along the lake. Although they have never been found there the host plant is abundant and they are found elsewhere in this habitat. No luck today.

58 degrees with scattered showers. Pasque flowers are blooming.

Rock cress blooming. Many marbles seen. One marble seen newly emerged still getting 'pumped up' while clinging to a pasqueflower.

Sunny after a light rain, 4:30, 65 degrees

Never before seen on Moely Prairie. It flew up into an old cedar tree on the edge of the property.

Red Admirals were flying over trail and sunning themselves on side of trail.

around 5 PM

Red Admiral was sunning itself in a spruce tree along our driveway. Mustard White was flying along road then landed near Bloodroot wildflower on side of road. Late afternoon, sunny and 50 degrees.

2:45 p.m. sunny, 57 degrees F
Sighting of two Red Admirals making contact while flying about

In a large open area (reclaimed gravel pit)

Saw a Red Admiral on the south side of the beach house building.

Windy, cold, mostly cloudy - all butterflies were flushed from forest floor. Beautiful spring ephemerals display.

3 sites along Brockway Road and two stops along Bauer Road. 61-73 degrees F, half sun. 2.5 hours. We also saw 3 unidentified elfins.

Seen while birding

I didn't see any of the arctic butterflies.

On a dirt road through woods, near a sphagnum bog and slow-moving, shallow flowage.

This was a scouting trip for the May 19th SWBA field trip. Over 50 of the azures were seen puddling along Brockway Rd. south of the ATV trail. 18 of the Eastern Pine Elfins were seen nectaring on blueberry sp. along a 50 yard section of trail.

Besides the butterfly also saw many spring wildflowers: White and Yellow Trout Lily, Violets, Bloodroot, Trillium, Spring Beauty, and Anemones.

4 sites inside the park and one nearby. 2 hours. 65-73 degrees F, 90% sun. 3 of the 4 sulphurs were very close to, but not in, the survey sites. All of the E. Pine Elfins were in the barrens west of Hastings Road.

Saw no butterflies along Stolte Road in Fish Lake SWA. Got to Crex Meadows SWA, saw FOY Olympia Marble just south of Crex Ridge Road. Got to north edge of Reed Lake, hiked in swale here, saw FOY "blue" in flight. Checked wet mud and saw six Silvery Blues at a time. Single Duskywing Skipper was nectaring at violet--Dreamy/Sleepy. Season is a week or more behind normal. Surprised to see no overwintering guys, and no Painted Ladies or Red Admirals.

The gusty wind day, blew most of the butterfly sightings away, before one could get a good photo, let alone ID them!

Also one tiger swallowtail sp.

I walked the short loop from the parking lot to the lake bluff to the kiosk. Nice warblers, too.

Mixed clouds and open sky, gusty winds, by noon reaching 64 degrees. Lots of butterflies out today on a privately owned prairie remnant

Monarch on a cherry tree!

What a nice afternoon with the butterflies. The Eastern tiger swallowtail was especially entertaining, flying very fast and covering lots of territory. Also enjoyable to see a red-headed woodpecker, a bird I don't see very often.

I saw two Monarch butterflies flying about Moely Prairie this morning while out doing restoration work!

74 F, calm, 10:10 - 10:59 while birding the location (probably, many butterflies and skippers were missed)

along 1.5 miles of the trail

12th annual Crex to the Barrens butterfly trek with 8 participants. Started on Crex, saw a single Olympia near Crex Ridge Road. Saw 3 more Olympias, two Spring Azures and three Silvery Blues at north end of Reed Lake. One Pine Elfin was on Springbrook Trail. A two-rut "road" to the east of Dry Landing Road just north of Clemens Creek on the Barrens yielded over 30 Hoary Elfins. Another ten were seen near bearberry on Gomulak Fire Lane. A few skittish Duskywing Skippers were seen at each site visited, but most refused to land for long and were hard to ID. Say fifteen undetermined Erynnis.

Several Spring Azures at multiple locations. Red Admirals at multiple locations. Mourning Cloak at Hay Meadow #3 horse park and marsh south of first earthen dam north of 225th Street.

At a wet spot along road.

2 Monarchs

There was plenty of Rock Cress but did not find any Olympia Marbles.

Photo by Dorothy. Appears to be laying egg.

Midday, sunny, 70s.

Cool and windy. Includes sightings from both the county forest part of Dunbar Barrens (further south along same access road) and the State Natural Area part.

This area is described in the online butterfly watching guide "Butterflies to Log, in and near Northern Wisconsin's Bogs" by Ann Swengel that is posted at https://www.naba.org/chapters/nabawba/watching.html The weather was cool and windy.

Six bogs, including 4 in the Nicolet National Forest. These three National Forest Bogs are described in the butterfly watching guide "Butterflies to Log, in and near Northern Wisconsin's Bogs" by Ann Swengel that is posted athttps://www.naba.org/chapters/nabawba/watching.html : North of Wolf Lake (Forest Road 2182), FR 2182 midway between FR 2176 and FR 2414, and northwest of the FR 2182/2414 junction. We also surveyed a bog west of FR 2414 one mile north of FR 2183, and two other bogs. The Red-disked Alpine and one of the Freijas was on the bog north of Wolf Lake most easily reached by using the snowmobile trail north of Wolf Lake. It was early in the Red-disked Alpine flight, but we think that species and Freija Fritillaries will have below-average abundance this year.

Along the shoreline of Perch Lake. A sunny windy day.

My first Monarch of 2019!

On dirt road near sphagnum bog. Sunny, upper 50s.

Sunny, upper 50s

54-59 degrees F, mostly sunny

Long-term elfin monitoring sites + a few sites I chose mainly to try for Cobweb Skippers. Areas covered were an eight-mile walking circuit west of Hunter Haven Road, and six total miles of surveying at 2 areas near Bauer Road, 2 other areas near Brockway Road, and 2 areas adjacent to Stanton Creek Road. I saw at least 10 unidentified duskywings.

Walk out into the back yard about 3Pm at a distance I see a large butterfly, fluttering around the blooming dandelions, its flight pattern makes me think that it is a Monarch. After walking toward it I get close enough, YES it my first of the year, but my camera is in the house, by the time I return it is gone!

Red admiral spotted late morning on the ground.
Monarch spotted around 7:20pm, landing briefly on my late pink tulips!

On gravel near bog.

Monarch flew by the Waunakee Farmers Market, struggling to fight the wind!

On damp sand under a deck.

One good-sized dark skipper...looked more like dusted than a duskywing, but only seen briefly.

First two Monarchs of the season for me. Both were flying at a high rate of speed going due north.

Must have been a fresh hatch of American Lady, because they were everywhere, with real bold colors! Red Admiral was abundant too, but they have been since the beginning of May. The shear number of butterflies this month, between those two, has been outstanding!

Saw just a few butterflies on the prairie today as it was pretty windy. The Monarch we observed was busy ovipositing on our common milkweed so that was exciting to see.

Mostly cloudy with temperatures in the 60s. Because of the cool weather a couple of Olympia Marbles were very photogenic and allowed us to take many, many photos. One Red Admiral hitched a ride for about 100 yards along the trail.

Drove W. Madison to Rettenmund to Arena Pines and Sand Barrens SNA to Mazo Oak Barrens back to Madison. Saw many unidentified Red Admiral/American Lady type butterflies enroute and at Mazo.

70 degrees in the late afternoon. The Spring Azure chose to alight only on my finger or my boot. (The picture on my finger is courtesy of Angel Angel III.) In addition to the sightings noted here, we believe we spotted two commas of some type as well as six monarchs. They were very active today. Precise identification was difficult.

11:40, sunny 71 F. The monarch was struggling northward, coping with gusty NW wind 10 to 25 mph. FOY for me

In garden at home.

about 10 am - sunny

FOY Monarch in my yard today apparently found my foot tall Poke Milkweed and laid some eggs on one stem.

Mid-day...mostly sunny, low 80's

First Harvester that I have ever seen. Also saw a Gray Rat Snake that was well out of its normal range

4 Checkerspots in the parking lot. Only two in the field with all the flowers

Mid-day...mostly sunny, low 80's...also found a "Spotless" Six-spotted Tiger Beetle.

74 degrees, gusty winds take butterflies away when flushed, sunny mixed with passing clouds. Twenty Six identifiable sightings, most with photos. Also photographed five Blush Spring Moths!

Nancy spotted the first WI Orange Sulphur of the year.

Walking along a path next to Tri Lake Road, saw butterfly land and was able to locate and get a picture.

78 F, SW wind 22 mph with higher gusts. incidental while dog walking and birding

1 Red Admiral and 1 Monarch were depositing eggs

Henry's Elfin probably laying eggs on American Hazlenut leaves (Corylus americana) where it frequently returned after our harrassment trying to photo it. [This is an interesting observation. I never heard of this species using Corylus as a host plant and I looked through a number of books and couldn't find any that listed this species. Time for more research! MR]

Beautiful sunny morning. 'Spring' Spring Azure butterflies were on decomposed scat near the driveway. Mustard White butterflies were flying throughout the yard. Spotted first Monarch of the season too.

These Chequamegon National Forest Bogs are described in the butterfly watching guide "Butterflies to Log, in and near Northern Wisconsin's Bogs" by Ann Swengel that is posted at https://www.naba.org/chapters/nabawba/watching.html Forest Road 137 was closed so we had to walk more than 4 extra miles to reach the 4th and 5th bogs on this road on both sides at 2.3 miles south of Hwy 70. Also surveyed two bogs on FR 505, one bog on FR 136, and one bog on State Highway 70. This count includes butterflies in our 4 long-term bog roadside survey units along Forest 137 and other butterflies while we walked that road. All Red-disked Alpines, Jutta Arctics, and Frigga Fritillaries were out on bogs. Nine of the 11 Freijas were out on bogs (2 Freijas seen on FR 137). Fifteen of the Red-disked Alpines were 0.25-0.5 miles south of Forest Road 136 in the openest part of that bog.

75, partly cloudy, breezy. Also a white-form, female sulphur.

Observed while surveying for Packera plattensis.

Spotted a Painted Lady as I was weeding the flower bed next to my apartment. She perched on the brickwork and seemed to watch me at my labors.

Holy Red-disked Alpines! About 3/4 of individuals seen were puddling along the roads. Also found Cicindela limbalis, longilabris, purpurea, formosa, tranquebarica, and scutellaris. Two unidentified yellow Colias, 1 white, and 1 possible Polygonia also seen.

Sunny afternoon. Resting on tall grass.

Four species, and sixteen individuals, of blues were on a beaver/muskrat deposit at the north end of Reed Lake in Crex. Flighty, undetermined small Erynnis were out in numbers at damp road sand. Saw no Mottled or Persius Dusky Wings. FOY Gorgone Checkerspot and Monarch seen on Crex.

Spruce Road off County Trunk H. Mostly Sunny, 72 degrees, few cloud and gusty winds. Five butterfly species and one day moth!
The Blush Spring Moth

2 Monarchs dancing in Post Farm Park 4pm
1 American Lady dining on creeping Charlie in a pathway.

A small bog area just west of Poplar Creek Road on Gates Lake Road, 2:30 Pm Temperature had dropped to 68 degrees because of clouding over, few sun openings in sky, gusty winds. Two day moths Bluish Spring Moth & Black-banded Orange.

Gates Lake Road just south of Riley Lake Road intersection, a boggy area. Temperature still dropping 65 degrees, clouds break up again for forty five minutes. Some butterflies & day moths appear in great numbers, but then disappear as quickly as they shared a presence. A somewhat eerie experience!

Monarchs were drifting N across lake. Harvester, Azure, and Duskywing enjoying recycled fish nutrients from most likely an otter - mostly fish scales and bones, some crayfish carapace.

Two patches along Forest Road 236. Although the sky was generally clear in the region, here a giant smoke cloud blocked the sun 95% of the time. Because butterflies were only active here when the sun emerged, we couldn't complete our other surveys along FR 236.

4 patches. 0.9 walking miles. 64-70 degrees F, sunny. We saw 50 unidentified elfins.

4 patches. 1.1 walking miles. Mostly sunny, 75-80 degrees F. We saw 8 unidentified elfins and 1 unidentified duskywing.

Most of these bogs are described in the butterfly watching guide "The Fascinating Butterflies of Northwestern Wisconsin Bogs" by Ann Swengel that is posted at https://www.naba.org/chapters/nabawba/watching.html Freijas Fritllary and Red-disked Alpine counts were low at most sites. Twenty of the Freijas and 2 alpines were on a bog south of Miclchesky Road that we accessed about 2 miles (article says 1.75 miles but we now enter further west) west of County Hwy A at a landing. This bog is hard to get to through the forest and brambles, and the best Red-disked Alpine area is 0.2+ miles southeast of where we step on the bog. Jutta Arctics will probably begin to be findable on the first sunny day after this.
We saw 1 unidentified white

Very calm; partly cloudy/mostly sunny; lower 60s.

Sparse butterfly activity. One Juvenal's Duskywing, one Painted Lady, a few Spring Azures and a handful of unidentified species. Mostly sunny, low 70s, moderate breeze.

3:30-5:00pm Lots of mosquitoes!!!

3.5 mile walk along the shore of Statenaker Lake. Elfin was seen in a freshly logged area.

Cloudy, Cool..high-50s, 10 am...trip ended with heavy rain.

1 six spotted tiger beetle eating ants

Our target was Chryxus, which was not found. Also 1 each of Cicindela sexguttata and longilabris. Probably additional duskywings as well.

Looking for Polygonia (specifically Green and Satyr Commas), none seen. 1 each of Cicindela limbalis and purpurea. About a dozen unidentified duskywings.

Our first BST eclosed this morning, just slightly later than the average of three previous years.

All four bog species (frigga, frieja, jutta, and red-disked) were found north of the State Natural Area along Gates Lake Rd.

Surprised that I caught a picture of a butterfly laying eggs on a white clover.

These were 4 separate and different monarch butterflies that I saw on the prairie today. They are all very busy laying eggs all over the milkweed that is present.

Looking for Jutta, no Boloria out.

FOY Monarch

3+ miles walking. One of the Dusted Skipper sites is a new place for me to see this species.

One very fresh male Dusted Skipper, at the extreme early edge of the flight period here.

Young healthy Monarch obviously excited to find our milkweeds. First eggs of the year for us. About 1-2 weeks behind schedule compared to recent years.

A very nice barrens site with good diversity. Just a tad too early for Dusted Skippers, which should be there.

Most Monarchs and American Lady's laying eggs on common milkweeds and pussytoes, respectively. No decent photos of butterflies but too many of hillsides of shooting stars!

I was looking mainly for Hoary Elfins in the abundant Bearberry which was at peak bloom. I found none, but was happy to see an Olympia Marble, the first in the eastern third of Wisconsin in the last 20 years.

Seen while driving, FOY canadensis

Very hot with limited butterfly activity.

On Lupine

Red-disked Alpines made me chase them through the bog. I could only get photos from a distance. temp in the high 80s F.

I found no reason for the road to be closed.

I was only able to capture a few in photos, but saw a wide variety on the prairie today.

roadside

Got up to 87 degrees. Limited nectar sources.

We walked about 16 miles each. We saw Frosted Elfins in 16 units, including 13 where these were our first 2019 sightings. Two other units topped their highest previous 2019 Frosted Elfin count. We searched for Frosted Elfins in the Belle Mound area and near Bauer, Brockway, Castle Mound, Hunter Haven and Stanton Creek Roads. Phlox flowers were too far pre-peak for us to find Phlox Moths. We saw at least 103 unidentified duskywings and dark spreadwing skippers.

Gorgone checkerspots are having a good year here - mostly fresh males observed. Single fresh male Dusted Skipper, still extremely early in the flight period.

Sunny warm afternoon with a mild breeze. Watched a Monarch visit several of the young milkweed plants that are just coming up in my garden.