Butterfly sightings for July 2020

The Monarchs were in a field with a lot of milkweed with clusters of green flower heads. The other butterflies were around our house.

9:30 -11:00 am, Sunny, Mid-80s. First hairstreaks of the year, which were all nectaring on the same patch Milkweed. Also had an Eastern Amberwing and a Mydas Fly.

76 deg. , sunny, humid, calm

Late afternoon, sunny, with temps in the mid 80's. The peak for Common Milkweed seems to be past. Many bees still visiting, but not nearly as many butterflies as previous days. I did observe a number of butterflies that had sought out shade.

Butterfly numbers at the north end of the Bog have been very low this season.

mostly sunny, high 80's, slight breeze, early afternoon

sunny, 80's slight breeze

Landed on my lawnmower to spend some time in the evening sun

I saw the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail eating on flowers in my perennial garden and the Northern Pearly-eye was on a trail in the back of our farm. it was cloudy, 83 degrees, moderate wind.

Not much flying at this site today

8 to 9 am Still dewy.

I only had 20 minutes. It was great to see a Regal! It's been a while since I've seen one here.

Breezy, hot and humid day. Milkweed and coneflowers have just started blooming this week.

9:30 am to noon. Sunny, hot, humid.

80 degrees, cloudy and very humid. All before noon.

Early morning hike out to the woods. Very warm, sunny. Cool find was a Common Eastern Velvet Ant. Lots of Robberflies today and a Punctured Tiger Beetle.

Very hot and humid afternoon.

This trail runs along the Yahara River. While hiking it we saw many wildflowers, butterflies, a Sandhill Crane, and also two Osprey by their nest atop a power pole which overlooks the river. Very muggy 80 degree morning.

The "second wave" has begun in our garden. Four Monarchs flying, 45 opalescent eggs sitting, 3 black eggs pending, 3 first instars creeping - but no partridge in a pear tree.

Edgar Spaulding helped me with the Little Glassywing ID. It seems like it's correct :) If not, please let me know if you can ID what it is based on the photo--it's the only one that I have.

Humid & hot day, partly cloudy, mild winds. first time in seven years that I have seen Copper butterflies in this area over the 4th of July weekend! None of the coppers would show the tops of their wings for me to get a photo.

Incidental while removing sweet clover

Late morning, hot, sticky, very slight breeze. Walked open prairie areas and woods. I think pic #3869 is a Hickory Hairstreak but find them confusing with Banded or Edwards.

10:00 -11:00 am, Sunny, mid-80's.

I had a FOY Gray Copper here, yesterday. So, I came back to try for better pics. All before 11am.

Across W from the Baraboo River, prairie planting in my back yard; open area surrounded by woods.

90 degrees F and partly cloudy

Milkweed and the basswood are in bloom

Photos available

Many "coppers" flitted ahead of us along sand barrens trail and all "coppers" we closely saw were American.
Beautiful Wood-nymph Moth (Eudryas grata) - Laurie's spectacular find!
Punctured Tiger Beetle?
Festive Tiger Beetle
Proctacanthus hinei and one other robber fly.

Midday, hot, sunny. The Banded Hairstreak was the biggest surprise, but I could only get one bad photo.

13 miles east of Fifield. Everything except for the coppers was counted along the roadsides.

Took a lot of pictures but they didn't turn out very good today.

Every butterfly that we saw was a Bog Copper.

Three sites: Twin Lakes Bog along Forest Road 182 three miles north of Clam Lake (we surveyed only the roadsides today); Wilderness Road 2.3 miles west of County Hwy GG ((bog and roadsides); and the western part of he bog just southwest of the junction of County Hwy M and County Hwy GG (bog and roadsides).

Surprising number of butterflies in a venue that normally does not yield much for me

This was the 32nd annual Mud Lake Count by the Southern Wisconsin Butterfly Association (a chapter of NABA). 8 observers spent much of a hot day finding nearly 350 butterflies of 32 species. Thanks to butterfly counters, Mike Reese, Dave Hogg, Fred and Kate Dike, Pam Skaar, Jim Otto, Karl and Dorothy Legler and a Madison Audubon team at Goose Pond. (The results of the latter group is not included in this report but will be included when sent to NABA.) Photo of Northern Broken-Dash is by Karl Legler. Other photos by Jim Otto.

1 mile east of Glidden along County Hwy N.

Hot, muggy, no wind. Mainly driving Rds. and stopping for butterfly milkweed along the oak stretches and swamp milkweed in lower areas. I was mainly looking for hairstreaks and was wildly successful.

Pm Forest road 136 from1.6 miles up to bridge, and DEAD END
fire lane East: Now 84 degrees, sky still clear, however winds this afternoon are stronger. Humidity low. Only three coppers this time I will let you ID them for me please! First time I have ever photographed a Green Comma!

Several Monarchs visiting my milkweed today. Two were mating. Breezy, humid and 87 degrees.

Early afternoon. High 80's. Hairstreaks very active.

Hot (88-90 F) and humid late afternoon. Butterflies had moved to shaded areas of field. Was a treat to catch two butterfly species in one shot and also great to see the Ruby throated Hummingbird at the Common Milkweed for nectar.

Our deck has framing on its ceiling, but it is open to the sky. This Red Admiral was perched in a corner under the eaves where the frame meets the house.

AM on Spruce Lane off of county trunk H. 44 degrees at 10.30 Am, clear sky, mild winds occasionally.

The first Atlantis Fritillaries I have photographed since 2009!

Three sites: Twin Lakes Bog along Forest Road 182 three miles north of Clam Lake (we surveyed only the roadsides today); Wilderness Road 2.3 miles west of County Hwy GG ((bog and roadsides); and the western part of he bog just southwest of the junction of County Hwy M and County Hwy GG (bog and roadsides).

Crane Lake and Roger Lake south of Drummond, and two floating bogs on Wishbone Lake north of Drummond. 277 of the Bog Coppers and most of the other butterflies were at Wishbone Lake.

We surveyed both the roadside units.

8:30 AM....Had three Banded Hairstreaks engaging in an aerial "battle", landing on my car and my wife's car for a minute, then taking off again.

On a State Natural Area.

88 deg. sunny, calm.

10:30 to 11:30 am. 80s. I've never seen a Regal Fritillary here before...a nice surprise! Butterflyweed, common milkweed, lead plant, coreopsis, spurge, camas, and more all in bloom, quite a show.

calm, 70s, sunny

Besides the 50 Bog Coppers seen on the bog, every other butterfly was found on the roadside surveys. Usually we see Dorcas Coppers alongside the Bog Coppers here.

Same bogs and bog roadsides as on June 17.

Area northeast of the parking lot on County Rd N. The Clouded Sulphur was being eaten by an Asilus sericeus.

All Red Admirals laying eggs on Wood Nettles.

Tons of Monarchs ovipositing on Whorled Milkweed and more Common Wood Nymphs than I have ever seen on Moely Prairie before. It was nice to see the American Copper again as it has been several weeks since the last sighting.

Gates Lake road between Riley Lake Road & Fr 136. Hot, Humid early afternoon skies mostly clear, as time past more clouds moved in. Winds much stronger today, butterflies, if flushed had a hard time holding their positions! 11 Coppers today, but most escaped the camera. Pm 12.30 - 3.30

Humid 90 degree afternoon.

Sunny, calm, low 80's. Our best day for Monarchs so far this year.

Our first American Snout of the year, right in our yard!
It was special to see a rare butterfly with "American" in its name, on the 4th of July!

They were seen feeding on the wild flowers present.

Perched with intermittent fluttering battles with another hairstreak.

slight breeze, sunny, low 80s. one butterfly predator carrying it like it was delivering a package

Stopped counting Wood-Nymphs after 20 ID's but saw many more probables I didn't confirm; all appeared recently emerged.

7:45 til 10:00 am.

Parked at Ice Age Trail. Walked up to top of bluff. 91 sunny and felt it!

Hickerson Road had two areas with blooming common milkweed. One spot was about 0.1 mile north of Co. O and had sedge skippers at the milkweed and other butterflies on the damp road gravel. A second spot had a nice stand of common milkweed; this was just west of Daniel's flowage, and Mulberry Wing Skippers were common here. This year's "carpet bombing" approach to roadside mowing on Fish Lake SWA should be softened to allow some flowering milkweeds (common, swamp, and butterfly) to bloom, for both the butterflies and for those who want to observe them. Numerous Broken-dash/Dun skippers were flighty and went undetermined. The hairstreaks were mostly on butterfly milkweed on Grettum Pines Trail (thanks Kathy Java for alerting me to that spot!).

Gates Lake Road: from Popple Creek Rd to Sailor Lake Rd.
80 degrees, windy with a mix of clouds and open sky Only 3 Copper butterflies today, but no Kodak moment for them. Plenty of other sightings though!

Knollwood Road between Blue Goose and Birchwood.

86 deg., mostly sunny, calm, humid.

Pine Lake is about 15 miles in a straight line south-southwest of Cornucopia, south of Horseshoe Lake Road a little west of Forest Road 236. Today's Bog Copper count tops the previous high of 626 in our 35 years surveying this bog. Today's is also the highest number of Bog Coppers per hour or per mile we have seen on a bog.

Many monarchs in our fields. Found a monarch caterpillar July 1st that is now chrysalis!

Bibon Lake Bog and Port Wing Boreal Forest State Natural Area west unit bog. We think that Bibon Lake is the phenologically slowest bog that we study in Wisconsin. Because we saw 22 Bog Coppers there today, this means that Bog and Dorcas Coppers are in main flight or later than main flight throughout northern Wisconsin now.

Hot, humid, and extremely buggy, but lots of butterflies out and about too.

Gates Lake Road: from Popple Creek Rd to Sailor Lake Rd.
80 degrees, windy with mixed clouds and open sky. Only three copper butterflies today, no Kodack moment for them! Lots of other species documented!

Really good day at Necedah today, went to Boghaunter Trail, but the best spot was just south of there on 20th.

All butterflies were seen on Milkweed plants about mid-day.

Incidental while searching for orchids. No luck with the orchids

I walked the Clubhouse Loop. One tandem pair of monarchs

Hackberry Emperors might have been present earlier here, but we had SO many Tawny Emperors I might not have noticed.
The Tawny Emperors have mostly gone now, but something interesting about the remaining ones is that they are all fairly dark in color.

Probably at least 50 wood-nymphs.
All hickory hairstreaks w/in 30 yds of woods in S. section of SNA; and on butterfly milkweed.

This was the 30th annual NABA count. Very hot. Temperature up to 92 degrees. 10 counters in 7 parties, counted for a record 31 party-hours and found nearly 800 butterflies of 30 species. No commas or Question Mark were found. Normally Hackberry Emperors outnumber the Tawny Emperor but this year Tawny's won 8 to 2. The commonest 6 butterflies made up 3/4 of the total count. Photos by Edgar Spalding. Thanks to all the counters who braved the heat and humidity!

hot, sunny, humid, about 9-10:30am

Hot and humid. A short visit before 10am.

Tall vegetation surrounding mowed trail. Very sunny and hot. The Tawny Emperor was licking sweat off my hand. It was very persistent and didn't want to leave.

These beautiful butterflies where fluttering everywhere on the beach.

One of the best butterfly days that I have had in years. The grass skippers were everywhere. Many more varieties than what I document here but they would not open their wings. Mike - there were two distinct skipper groupings. One was a group of Delaware. The other flew slower and more "heavy". Finally one of these opened their wings. I have included that picture. Your thoughts?

90 degrees and very humid afternoon. The Hickory Hairstreak was sitting on a leaf for some time rubbing it's wings together. In the photo you can see that something had bitten off the tips of it's hindwings.

On Bark Bay Slough State Natural Area. We found 16 Bog Coppers, 1 Eyed Brown, and 8 European Skippers on the bog. Everything else was counted along the roadsides.

Sunny, 80s, slight breeze

Two monarchs were mating, hanging from my garden fence. 90 degree humid day.

First butterfly seen at 6:58 am--European skipper. Last seen at 3pm--Green comma. Rain the night before made nearly perfect conditions for counting. Thanks to all who participated again this year. Note: Common Southern migrants--Red Admiral and Ladies--were not seen this year.

Incidental while removing sweet clover

Warm but a pleasant outing as the nature preserve may be back to normal activity as I did not see another hiker, YAY!! Although, a doe appeared to be hiding in the tall prairie grasses, I saw her.

Early and still dewy.

On hoary vervain

9:15 - 10:30 am, low 80s. One mated pair of Monarchs, and a mated pair of Banded Hairstreaks.

Very hot and humid afternoon.

Sunny, hot, humid. 9:30-10:30 am

The Eyed Brown was quite worn and missing significant pieces of wing.

I also spotted our first Red Spotted Purple of the season.

This was the 31st annual Trempealeau Butterfly Count conducted by NABA (the North American Butterfly Association.) Four observers in 2 parties observed with close-focusing binoculars for 9.1 party-hours. We found 286 butterflies of 36 species. Gorgone Checkerspots had a record high. A Regal Fritillary was only the 2nd record here. The Monarch had a high in 1994. Then there was a new high in 2018, a new high in 2019, and in 2020 another new high! Another highlight was finding 2 Gray Coppers whose small population has persisted since they were found here 30 years ago. (Thanks to counters Mike Reese, Dave Hogg, Karl and Dorothy Legler.)

Walked the riverbank from the boat launch to the east end of the drive. Hot and breezy.

I saw it eating in a stand of blooming milkweed.

Temps in the 90s and very humid after heavy rains. Lots of activity on the gravel path from parking lot to classrooms.
A couple of these are new for me, so any correction is appreciated.

28th straight year of surveying Regal Fritillary long-term monitoring sites here. 3.5 miles of transects.

Banded Hairstreak
sat on trouser knee for several minutes approx 10 am July 9, 2020
gardens full of common milk week in bloom...other herbs, flowers, vegetables....water features
many others regular/daily

Grassland southeast of Rescue point 15S.

Hot, breezy

Very breezy hot and humid day. Also watched a hummingbird nectaring along a line of my hostas.

Sunny, hot, humid 11am-1pm Besides the butterflies, 2 Ctenucha virginica moths and a Haploa reversa moth.

Zebra Swallowtail found near Beaver Creek Reserve.

Windy, 80 degree morning. Monarchs were very active this morning, circling each other and the garden area.

Sunny moderate wind

Bog on the SW side of County Road M between Day Lake Boat Landing Road and County Road GG.

Struggled to get a clear photo since they were flying fast and not landing. Photogaphed on a windy ridge.

Sunny, much less humid than past week. All seen while birding before 9:30am. No Monarchs but there were a few 1st instar caterpillars on trailside milkweed.

Sunny and windy. Lots of bee balm and coreopsis in bloom. A little bit of everything. Butterflies were especially dense in the first 50 yards from the parking lot going up the hill.

This is the first time I have observed Monarchs mating in my neighborhood. The female was flying up to tree with the male attached.

In my prairie

We also saw one unidentified Duskywing.