Butterfly sightings for September 2019

Partly sunny 70 degree morning.

Amazing day of Monarchs. I see that Pat R. counted the top of the hill by the shelter. I primarily walked the bike paths on the southwest side. The liatris and golden rod was in bloom and the monarchs were everywhere. Didn't make note of other species.

Sunny 70's, calm

We observed for approximately two hours.

multiples of Monarchs taking nectar from the Boneset bush

Sunny and 75 degrees.

A very unpromising start, 63 deg., the rain just stopped and the skies looked threatening. Walked a little, ate lunch, and by then it had warmed and brightened up.

70 deg. very overcast, after a rain.

A huge number of butterflies were on the prairie today

Riding the bike trail north of the Beltline I noticed the Ironweed was covered with Monarchs! 2-4 per blooms!

I watched one enjoy the lantana planted along the path for about 10 minutes

It appears much of the prairie section has been sprayed to get rid of woody areas and invasives.

Saw the Giant Swallowtail fly across road. First one I’ve see in the NE this season.

I only walked the area next to the road with clover that had been mowed earlier in the year.

Not windy, sunny. My lifer Am. Snout. What a surprise! Also Holcocephala abdominalis with prey. Many butterflies seem to be very beat-up.

Sunny and 69 degrees but clouds were increasing. This is a new high for Painted Ladies.

The clouds rolled in after I butterflied the West of the Lake Gardens and it was cloudy the rest of the afternoon with a high of 68.

Riding my bike and checking the prairie blooms around 5pm. Found a spot with purple clover that had lots of Silver-spotted Skips.

Central area around pavilion walking prairie paths. Mostly sunny and 70s, light breeze. Lots of blooming plants! Monarchs look fresh and none were faded.

Monarchs and Large dragonflies (mostly Common Green Darner juvies) everywhere on hilltop prairie restoration.
Monarch on Tall Coreopsis (Coreopsis tripteris).
S.P. Skipper on Pale Indian-Plantain (Arnoglossum atriplicifolium).
Bald-faced Hornet (Dolichovespula maculata) "nectaring" on Goldenrod. Mostly carnivorous but feed nectar to larvae.

I believe the two mating butterflies are Clouded Sulphurs, whereas the other two photos of a yellow butterfly are one and the same, just two different angles, and I believe that one may be an Orange Sulphur? I did see two Pearl Crescents but could only capture the one and there are still tons of Monarchs and Silver-spotted skippers everywhere!

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on my butterfly bush this morning

The dam broke so mud flats are attracting shorebirds but walking the birm my friend Ruth Smith & I found a few butterflies there.

TPE and Audubon Field Trip

Mostly sunny 70 degree morning.

The Eastern Tiger was very faded and tattered. She deposited an egg on a wild black cherry sapling, which already had 6 early instar caterpillars on it. All the other butterflies were very fresh looking.

Perfect conditions for butterflies with so many summer and fall plants in bloom. This is a great place to see migrating monarchs this time of year.

A cool, partly cloudy mid-day that got cooler, windier, and cloudier. I walked the trails through the prairie north of the clubhouse. What a difference a week makes for Monarch numbers.

About 80 degrees, partly sunny but eventually clouded over and rain. 14 species.

I did not arrive until 4:45 pm and only walked to where the path turns to head in front of the bluff and lots of Liatris is present and back to the parking lot. This appears to be the same female I reported on Friday from looking at the open-winged pic!

Incidental while gardening but very little out today

Had just a few minutes between rain storms and appointments to catch a few butterflies at the library.

Got to the prairie in early evening. Still a lot of activity

60 degrees, 15-20mph winds and mostly cloudy. One worn Monarch was shivering while trying to warm up.

The two Monarchs kept trying to chase the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail away from the Mexican sunflowers. Mostly sunny breezy 72 degree afternoon.

Clouded Sulpher on Tithonia

During the intermission for the matinee we were attending at American Players Theater, I stepped outside and noticed a very small yellow butterfly flitting among the prairie plantings.

Noon to 2:25 p.m. We each walked 1 mile in the grassland and 1 mile along roadsides. 69-76 degrees F, 35% sun, wind N 10-15 mph. The Purplish Copper was along Archer Road 0.3 to 0.5 miles west of County Hwy W.

Painted Lady and Monarch on Tithonia

mid morning in the 70s, breezy, partly sunny

A cool, misty afternoon but a few butterflies were still flying

65 degrees, mostly cloudy with a few peeks of sun

Looked all day for a Purplish Copper but none seen. The Karner was seen on Stolte Rd in the known Karner area. Conservative count of Sulphurs.

Late afternoon, calm winds. Sandhill cranes and Trumpeter swans starting to form flocks. Drastically fewer Monarchs than a week ago

8:30 - 10:30 a.m., 63 degrees F, wind N to NW 12-20 mph, 0% sun. It felt like there was a wind chill factor as we did our regular roadside count of hawks, owls, and selected other birds. This Monarch count is a minimum and also our highest count in Wisconsin ever. Monarchs popped out of the south and southeast side trees as we drove past them in 2 locations along Lake Road (>1800 total Monarchs), including 0.5 miles west of Taft Road. Most of the Monarchs slowly flew back into the wind to clumps of Monarchs perched on the trees. On Town Line Road one clump of trees had at least 1500 Monarchs on it. We also saw a lot of Monarchs in 2 other areas. The two biggest and 4th biggest Monarch concentrations that we saw were directly adjacent to cattle grazing on the wildlife area. The 3rd biggest Monarch clump was close to but not directly next to grazing.

2:00 to 4:30 pm. 69-75 degrees F, half sun, wind north 5-20 mph. We each walked 2 miles in the grassland and 1/2 mile of roadside. Several hours after we counted large numbers of them primarily on trees, Monarchs were flying west and south across grassland areas now, suggesting migration was happening. Although we saw more than 500 other Monarchs while traveling around Buena Vista from 1:50 to 7:30 PM, this report only includes butterflies seen on walking surveys in areas where few or no Monarchs were counted this morning in roadside counts. The Bronze Copper was on the east side of Farmer's Road. The female and male Regal Fritillaries were on opposite sides of Griffith Road in different grassland survey plots.

Many Tree Crickets (Oecanthus spp.) - 2 similar species in WI open areas.
Banded Garden Spider (Argiope trifasciata) with cicada.

Windy, partly cloudy, 70 degree day.

Partly cloudy, breezy, and around 70. The butterflies were enjoying it and so was I. Many Common Green Darners in the air.

4pm, overcast

Nice walk in a beautiful place, but not as many Monarchs as I would have liked. Lots of grasshoppers though.

745-1145am, sunny mild and breezy. I was out looking for warblers, which I found 16 species of. There were so many butterflies out, so I started keeping a list. According to my eBird track, I walked 3.6 miles.

14:21 - 15:44, 1.68 miles, 70 - 68 F, N wind 15 mph, partly cloudy. The tiger swallowtail was a black female, not surprising given the pipevine swallowtails at nearby Olbrich Gardens.

When the Monarchs are migrating through this area, the numbers have been much higher. I wanted to get a baseline count before they started migration.

Our final Monarchs are eclosing and will be departing this week; for the summer our total releases were about 150. These most recent ones needed a thermal boost before flying, and we released them from the south side of the house to give them a shorter route to Mexico.

12:44 - 13:27, overcast, sometimes drizzling, 63 F, 0.8 miles. The Monarchs were roosting in the small trees and shrubs surrounded by prairies. As my dog and I walked past a roost tree, monarchs took off in multiple directions, many taking time to nectar after flying. None were noticed in the large oak trees or in wooded sections of the trail. Although I was surveying, no other butterflies were sighted. The weather was not insect friendly.

Numerous monarchs in my garden and a Green Stink Bug nymph (Chinavia hilaris) which I have not encountered before.

A couple short stops. Mid seventies, light wind.

Counted monarchs crossing the road as I was driving 3 miles from Pflaum to Siggelkow, along Agriculture Drive and Marsh Road. They all seemed to be migrators, flying toward the southwest. There are many nectar sources along this route--Goldenrods and Silphiums, among other blooming plants.

Monarchs were trying to get nectar from the rain soaked flowers. Cloudy, 75 degrees, and very humid.

3-4pm Hot, humid, sunny and breezy. Stumbled across the fritillary, while looking at shorebirds. A real nice bonus! Sorry for the cell phone pictures, but I don't have time to go through them and edit.

A dogwood tree in our neighbor's yard was covered with over 100 roosting Monarchs this morning (a small portion of which are shown in the accompanying photo). It was a quiet spot, sheltered from the breeze off of Lake Monona. When I checked later, and the branches were moving in the wind, they had dispersed.

sunny, hot, and humid, after morning thunderstorms. Saw several Chickweed Geometer Moths as well as the butterflies. The trees in the old asylum cemetery were filled with Monarchs.

The Pipevine Swallowtail chrysalis is fresh from this morning. The caterpillar selected an oleander which will soon be going into a winter home where the temperature will be kept at 65 degrees F. I've let Olbrich people know to keep an eye out for an emerging butterfly.

Hot and humid and high overcast. I walked the prairie trails south of the building.
A solo Eastern Tailed-Blue kept harassing a tandem pair.

All the butterflies were on my patch of boneset in spite of literally hundreds of other nectar sources.

Cloudy 70 degree afternoon.

70 degrees, very windy and mostly cloudy

breezy, sunny

Windy, cool, day.

Mid to upper 60s sunny, breezy

Sunny, slight breeze

Warm, Sunny. Many Festive and Oblique-lined Tiger Beetles. Both male and female Leonard's Skipper.

Several of the other Painted Ladies were in pretty good shape compared to the one in the photo.

The butterflies were everywhere this afternoon! The majority of them were nectaring on Stiff goldenrod and New England aster

730-1230pm. Sunny and beautiful!

Two American Copper butterflies were seen nectarine on a Rigid Goldenrod blossoming in a small prairie off the shoreline of White Lake.

Sunny 70 degree day.

From 8:58 - 11:46 temperatures rose from 61 to 71 F. Paths covered 2.0 miles, mostly north of the lake. While I was in the woods, there was protection from the wind but quite a few spider webs. I rescued one Monarch and one dragonfly from webs. One of the Clouded Sulphurs south of the lake was a white female. Most of the other Clouded Sulphur hindwing undersides were green. Cabbage Whites were laying eggs on garlic mustard in the woods. During my time in the prairie south of the lake. the wind was gusting about 15 mph preventing many species from flying freely.

Beautiful day, sunny and breezy. Lots of Common Green Darners, some mosaics and Black Saddlebags.

First American Snout and Dainty Sulphurs for me this year. Bronze coppers are having a good year in this area.

Sighted along ridgetop, mixed hardwoods forest (lots of prickly Ash!)

Giant Swallowtail fluttered thru my yard, there's no doubt that's what it was, didn't run to get camera - just stood there next to the Phlox it landed on while it fluttered around me and my red shirt, nearly landing on my arm. It was gone in about 2 minutes heading south. Due to its size it caught my eye the moment it entered the yard. A great moment!

Some casual butterflying during the Lake Park Warbler Walk this morning

So many Monarchs.

70 and very overcast. This was an Audubon bird walk but not much in the way of birds.

Many Monarchs and Painted Ladies and one persistent buzzing cicada!

Several hundred if not thousands of Painted Lady butterflies. We noticed a lot of butterflies on the way into church but afterwards, everyone was in awe. I put down 300+ but it was impossible to count them. I went north about an eighth of a mile up Hilltop Road and south an eighth of a mile and counted 57 dead and dying that were hit by cars. And this is not a busy road.

overcast, 71 F, wind 9 mph SSW. It was almost impossible to count the swarms of Monarchs flying out of the trees, around the trees, nectaring in the prairie, flying high in the sky. The DNR person in the gate house told me that there had been thousands there every day this week. We surveyed only a tiny portion of the park - 1.54 miles on Oak Savannah Trail and around the entry building.

1.36 mile from 13:44 - 14:47. 73 F, wind 3 mph SSW. overcast, some drizzle. What a contrast from Governor Nelson this AM!

Warm but sprinkles of rain

Lots of butterflies nectaring all day

Cloudy 65 degree day.

I waited to go out until after the Packer game and it was cloudy and somewhat foggy at the gardens. 4:00-4:35pm

Many monarchs drifting south.

Sunny and Calm. All butterflies seen were nectaring, mostly on Stiff goldenrod and New England asters. Today there were more Painted Ladies than Monarchs

Sunny day, butterfly was nectaring on Autumn Sedum

Black Swallowtail on Tithonia

Very light breeze to still, Mid to upper seventies, sunny. The first warm dry day after several cool wet days. Lots of Monarchs, Painted Ladies, and clouded and orange sulphurs at a certain point I quit counting them.

Upper 70's, clear sky, very calm. Sighting was just what I saw from the sidewalk on an eight block walk down Main St. from home to the post office.

Many monarchs drifting south.
Yellow-collared Scape Moth (Cisseps fulvicollis) nectaring on False Boneset (Brickellia eupatorioides) - common day-flying on goldenrods. Very similar to Virginia Ctenucha Moth.
Syrphid or flower/hover fly common pollinator - this possibly Striped-back Flower Fly (Helophilus fasciatus).

Monarch heaven - Tithonia.

4PM
Also found fruiting Chlorociboria aeruginascens with Bisporella citrina on a mossy log.

Saw a good variety today, including my first actual photo of a Red-spotted Purple on the prairie and also what I think might be a Fiery Skipper. Sadly, I had seen over 20 Monarchs a couple days before this visit and I only saw 3 on this day. My guess is they are starting to move south toward Mexico. Also, I photo'd our very first documented Oblique-lined Tiger Beetle. Very exciting!

Sat out for a short while this aft watching my mini-prairie in the city. My reward was getting 2 new yard species, Painted Lady and Fiery Skipper.

Incidental while gardening

Nectaring on Showy goldenrod, Stiff goldenrod and New England asters

Monarchs constantly drifting south. Laurie found this Surprising jewel adorning an over-hanging rock outcrop!
Yet another marvelous Laurie find - complete snake skin head to tip of tail; about 30" (perhaps NA Racer?)

The gardens were in full bloom and the clouded sulphur butterflies were almost too numerous to mention. Spent about 2 hours walking around the gardens looking for different species. Besides the Clouded Sulphurs, Cabbage White, Painted Ladies and Monarchs were all visible in abundance, especially on the fall aster and zinnias.

1.5 miles 74 F, S wind 9 mph. 11:22 - 13:07

Many monarchs still drifting south.
All photos: Flax-leaved stiff-aster (Ionactis linariifolia).

Late afternoon walk (4:00 to 6:00). I saw Ladies, Admirals, Sulphurs, Cabbage Whites, Tailed-Blues, and Crescents, but I only counted Monarchs.

15 minute yard survey 2:30 pm.

Surprisingly low number of butterflies for such a warm day

Beautiful 75 degree breezy and sunny day.

Mostly nectaring on New England asters this afternoon

Group of about 10 Painted Ladies on flowers. One lone Monarch hanging around all summer.

I was rewarded big time with all of the Painted Ladies.

140th Avenue

We've never seen so many monarchs at one time on our property! One of the monarchs was a very small female. She looked to be in perfect condition and was smaller than the painted ladies

Good news. Good Monarch numbers, bad news, more were flying north than south

All on New England Asters.

Sunny and humid 80 degree day.

1:30 - 2:00 overcast, low 70s

Good morning in the prairie even though it was cloudy

Cloudy and windy

Monarchs nectaring in the light rain. 65 degrees, breezy, and raining.

Cloudy and rainy all day

Beautiful day - 70, mostly sunny, gusty, with hawks moving aloft and an abundance of Common Green Darners.

Mild and sunny, Painted Ladies everywhere!

Saw about 10 or so Dainty Sulphurs but didn't get a good count. They were flying around nectaring on the native plants, sky blue aster and showy goldenrod. There were regular clouded sulfurs flying around, but I was struck by now much smaller these were. First time seeing/identifying these

Sunny, breezy

Temperatures in high 60s, windy. Sightings occurred on 6 mile walk with wife between West Bend and Kewaskum. Saw a few caterpillars as well. (MR: Thanks to Kate Redmond for the moth caterpillar IDs)

Grounds and adjacent prairie. Lost my paper with my numbers on it, and I'm reporting this four days after the fact, so I am guessing on the low side on some of the numbers, especially on the Monarchs and PLs.

These butterflies were seen on the trails at the Day Use Area.

Butterflies were on a butterfly bush and asters in a neighbor's corner flower garden.

Sunny, breezy, mid seventies. Also saw two moths and an ovipositing robber fly.

Sunny, breezy, mid seventies. Also saw two moths and maybe an ovipositing robber fly? pictures included.

Early evening. The butterflies were feeding on asters growing around the ponds. The Painted Ladies completely disappeared after the sun was hidden by a cloud.

Sunny, breezy, seventies

breezy, about 70 degrees, sunny

A rather late Meadow Fritillary

Sunny, breezy, 80 degree afternoon.

We took a lunchtime walk in town around the golf course and the high school's disc golf course

While gardening

Partly sunny, 79 degrees F

About 79 degrees. Sunny. Too breezy for good photography. We found more than we expected: 18 species including 6 migrant or immigrant species (besides Monarch). But had to work for a Painted Lady, Fiery Skipper and Silver-spotted Skipper! They eluded us until 4:30 pm when we serendipitously found some plantings at Taliesin!