Butterfly sightings for August 2021

Two sightings within a mile of each other. One on purple cone flowers, the other on marsh milkweed. Wings on both appeared very fresh and undamaged.

It was in the yard on my Dwarf Butterfly Bush.

76 Deg., full sun, calm

Lots of activity this afternoon bees, butterflies, and a hummer all enjoying the flowers.

Late afternoon. So disappointing to see all of the mowing in the town of Summit. Pioneer Trail was the only road I found that wasn't mowed.

Sunny day, upper 70s. Spotted both while walking in the woods near my home.

Late morning, warm, partly cloudy, windy. Blazing star is blooming.

Sunny and 73 degrees. The ETS was a Black form female.

Scouting for the SWBA field trip on August 7. I also got a lifer Eurasian Collered-Dove singing.

Suny, 60s-70s, slight breeze

We walked about 4 miles to survey 6 grassland plots and found Regal Fritillaries in 4 plots we hadn't surveyed in 2021 before today. Eight of the 14 Regals (11 males, 2 females, 1 unknown) were south of Lake Road in one plot grazed using specialized strategies the last 5+ years. Our observed Gray Copper flight period reached 41 days counting the start and end dates.

Mostly sunny, 70s, slight breeze

For the past week we have had unusual north westerly winds bring in smoke from Western Canada and USA. With it, multiple days of seeing Giant Swallowtails! Lots of prickly ash.

Seen while cleaning up storm damage.

Sunny, slight breeze, oregano in bloom.

As seen on a Button bush

Beautiful sunny 72 degree morning.

There is a small rain garden between the parking lot and the lake that was just buzzing with butterflies and all sorts of other insects. The Viceroy was so worn, it was almost transparent--and still flying!

9:31-10:50, 1.29 miles mostly wooded, 68-73 F, variable wind direction and speed

This butterfly was feeding on Butterfly weed in my perennial garden in a calm, sunny evening.

Seen on a Bergamot flower.

Sightings in our home yard, pasture and garden

Temperature was 73 to 77. Mostly sunny. 12 species.

About 90 minutes before the storms started. On EST was another a black form.

Partly sunny, 78 degree afternoon.

Quarry Rd, 110th St, 130th St, & Townline

Another good day in our backyard

mostly sunny, slight breeze, upper 70s

Yarrow Plume Moth Gillmeria pallidactyla;
Canada Darner Aeshna canadensis.

Incidental while berry picking.

0.9 miles through mostly wooded area, 10:30 - 11:15, 1.8 miles

First time I’ve seen ETSs in the neighborhood.

mostly sunny, 70s, slight breeze

Butterflies seen while trimming & weeding.

Sunny, 80 degrees, 11 am. Spotted a Giant Swallowtail in my garden again; it favors the zinnias.

The Monarchs were on about a 4 acre field covered with milkweed and ferns on a warm sunny morning.

1/4 mile of walking along the west and east edges of the dike north of the gate that closes Harvey Road .

Sunny, hazy, 82 degree day.

Incidental while gardening

Late afternoon visitors to my flower garden. Sunny, 85 degrees, calm.

Early, 8:30-10am. Sunny, 75 degrees.

The Checkered skipper was hit by a car but it lived!

83 degrees. Mostly sunny. Scouting out part of the Avoca NABA Count Area. Dainty Sulphur is a scarce migrant. 14 species.

Many ET Blues on red clover along mowed paths.

Very surprised that the only skipper I saw was a Tawny-edged Skipper.

This was mostly a robber fly trip; looking for Dasylechia atrox which was seen there last year at this site.

84F, humid light breeze, prairie planting lots in flower.

Hazy sun, temp in low 80's, almost no wind.

Of the seven Tiger Swallowtails, 2 were black females. Two Hummingbird Moths as well. Butterfly bushes were loaded with Pecks Skippers. The only other Grass-Skippers seen were two which I think are Tawny-edged Skippers.

I saw five monarchs, but that was it. The park appears to be under a bit of construction, so maybe that's why. Beautiful blooming plants, but very few butterflies. Around 80 degrees, slightly breezy, 11 a.m. to noon.

Female laying eggs, multiple feeding

Partly cloudy and 82 degrees.

A nice variety of butterflies today, but they visited my gardens one at a time. Breezy, partly sunny, 80 degree day.

9:00 - 10:55, 1.64 miles, 74 - 80, SSW wind 6 - 12 mph. One of the male Monarchs was displaying on a sunny leaf at the edge of a field. One of the Clouded Sulphur females was white. The two Viceroys were swirling around each other concerning territory.

Sunny, 80s, breezy

Incidental while doing bumblebee surveys.

This is the first one I've seen since October of 2017.

This one was on the window screen in our garage.

Buttery was on a blue vervain plant amongst a small wild flower plot of lobelia, vervain and black eyed Susan

Incidental quick check of the flowers by the driveway. 86F, mostly cloudy, 62.2% RH 2 mph.

Late afternoon , warm hazy light wind. The three Dainty Sulphurs were by the low spot.

mostly cloudy, 80s, slight breeze

9 to 11 am. Mostly cloudy

Mostly cloudy, 80F, 60%RH; light breeze 5mph

Late afternoon/evening, warm hazy light wind. Mainly checking blazing star for Leonard's Skippers on Murphy rd. I saw a lot of sulphurs but didn't spend a lot of time identifying them beyond the numbers listed as it was getting late.

Mostly sunny. Saw a huge Bumblebee but I could not identify it.

This skipper was feeding on Joe Pye Weed in my pollinator garden. Is is a Dun or Broadwing Skipper?

It’s been a strange year for Vanessa butterflies and Buckeyes. The only Vanessa butterflies I’ve seen lately are Red Admirals. I saw one battered P. Lady in May and I saw about 5 A. Ladies in May. Every year I usually see quite a few early on and through the whole season. I haven’t seen a single Buckeye were as last year I saw one in Late May. I have always seen quite a few by this time.

Showers on and off all day. Cloudy, humid, 75 degrees.

Observed this afternoon on an aster flower in my yard.

near pier about midway around before the bridge

Hazy, humid, low 80s. Lots of activity in my garden and yard between the storms. The Compton Tortoiseshell didn't stay long.

79 deg., very humid, overcast

10-12 Silver-spotted Skipper on lavender hyssop and tree hydrangea.

Fiery and Peck's all on purple coneflowers.

Warm, humid, sunny afternoon after big storms. Joe Pye Weed is a big attraction.

mostly cloudy, mid-80s, and humid

A two-hour walk between thunderstorms.

Evening, hot and humid, light winds

Hot and breezy with a milky sky. Swallows are really working the grass-tops, and some butterflies look like they've had narrow escapes.

Early afternoon moving through the white Flocks. It did not rest. Constant fluttering to compensate for the strong wind.

Very few butterflies around my property right now, despite large numbers of nectar sources and other pollinators

Numerous sightings of both of these species for several days. The swallowtail seemed to like the rain-soaked Impatiens, spending at least an hour on the potted plants.

10:30 a.m.to 1 p.m. Mostly cloudy, after heavy rain previous days.

4 patches, 35 minutes. This is a relatively high Leonard's Skipper count (1 male and 9 where we couldn't tell the gender today) in this set of barrens since before our counts of the species began rapidly declining in NW Wisconsin more than 5 years ago.

Four Barrens patches and 50 minutes. This is our highest NW Wisconsin Leonard's Skipper count (4 males, 2 females, and 28 where we couldn't tell the gender today) in one set of barrens since before our counts of the species began rapidly declining in this region more than 5 years ago.

It was in the middle of one of the pathways in the Oak Savanna at Wehr Nature Center. Seeing the curled abdomen made me think this butterfly was laying an egg.

Incidental sightings through the course of a humid, calm 85 degree day. The Joe Pye is reaching peak bloom and has replaced monarda as tops for nectaring.

After a very windy day yesterday and heavy rain this morning, it was nice to see a few butterflies. Cloudy, breezy, 75 degree afternoon.

76 degrees and mostly cloudy while I was there, between noon and 1pm. Looking for my FOY Leonard's Skipper and found one. The blazing star are just beginning to bloom. It was an interesting critter day. A Hog-nosed snake took exception to my efforts to shoo it off the road. I spotted a sunning Six-lined Racerunner (pretty sure I've never seen one before) and a couple of Tiger beetles.

I saw also 2 huge Cicada Killers, 4 Sandhill Cranes, and 100s of Killdeer. The comma was very battered.

Same 4 sites as July 25. Two Purplish Fritillaries ties our highest daily total during 2017-21; one of them was on the west ROW of County Hwy A opposite North Bear Lake Bog. The other was 300 meters east of county A in Bear Lake Bog.

About an hour before the storms started.

Traveling survey; Duration: 2 hr, 55 min; Distance: 4.83 miles; 90F, partly sunny and humid almost 70%RH, light breeze. Comma never got good look 1; carpenter 1 female; lots of bee diversity seen!, lots of robber flies plus mating most same species (Promachus vertebratus) but saw 1 smaller never got photos; mostly spotted knapweed in flower, some goldenrod, woodland sunflowers, crown vetch, whorled milkweed, honey bees present in moderate amounts, also took photos of grasshoppers (nymph Melanoplus differentialis & most likely M. sanguinipes but hard to rule out M. confusus from photos according to Matt Brust) and velvet ants, tiger beetles, festive 2; punctured TB 2; six spotted TB 1; underwing moth 1.

Walked along the backside of Lutheran Pond along paved path out to Taylor Dr and Indiana Ave. Cloudy, 85F, light breeze very humid 70%RH
hummingbird moth 1, snowberry clear wings 3 (really small)

Mostly cloudy and t-storms coming; 80F, humid 70% RH; prairie planting along the Sheboygan river.

Incidental while walking and doing a bumblebee survey

Mainly looking for robber flies. I saw 68 Holcocephala calva.

Hot and Humid.

Very stormy.

Temps in the low 80s, not as oppressively humid as past few days. A pair of fighter jets zipping overhead added a little extra interest to the day.

Upper 70's, very windy, around noon. First Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and Silver-bordered Fritillary of the year for me. Saw many more Swallowtails last year. This one was a beauty!

Rain in the morning gave way to sun but 20 mph NW winds must have blown all the Monarchs into the patches of Rough Blazing Star. A very conservative count on the Monarchs. The Variegated Frit was only the 3rd one I've ever seen in this area.

The Meadow Fritillary (the first I've seen here in weeks) had more pronounced black spots on the upper forewing than I'm used to seeing. Below it seemed to be typical for the species.

None of the butterflies stayed around long enough today for a photo, but I did get several of a goldfinch eating coneflower seeds. As I snapped the photo below, a hummingbird flew into the frame. Fun! You can also see another finch in the background. Mostly sunny, humid, and very windy 88 degree day.

Sunny, beautiful weather, 72F, light breeze.

Traveling Survey; Duration: 2 hr, 12 min; Distance: 2.45 miles; With Terrell, 80.6F, light breeze 5 mph; 78RH at start, warmer when finished. Eastern tiger swallowtail dark morph female

Low 80’s, humid and partly cloudy. I have never seen 3 on the same plant at the same time!! Hi

80F, mostly cloudy, 5-10mph, 60%RH; some honeybees.

Partly sunny, 5-10 mph, 80F, RH 63%; Virginia ctenucha moth present, robber fly mating (Machimus sp); American Pelecinid Wasp (female); megachile sp bee;

Hummingbird was back this morning. Mostly sunny 85 degree day.

Many butterflies enjoying our large patch of wild Joe-pye weed. Very windy, sunny, 75 degree afternoon.

80s, slight breeze, mostly cloudy

Six management units in 5 patches. 1:40 hours. This is a relatively high Leonard's Skipper count in the Moquah Barrens area since before our counts of the species began rapidly declining in NW Wisconsin more than 5 years ago. Few Rough Blazingstars were flowering here this year, and we found at least 3 Leonard's Skippers nectaring on Smooth Aster or a plant that looks just like it.

Also saw many Sandhill Cranes, 1 Black and Yellow Garden Spider, and several Pepsis spp. Wasp.

Dwarf blazing star was in bloom and attracting many butterflies. Across the street from the prairie was a field of crown vetch with 100s of clouded sulphur butterflies moving around.

Pleasant 77 degrees.

Loving the verbena in my growing home botanical garden.

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I've been seeing monarchs and swallowtails just about every day for a while, so I thought I'd do a survey at home. Nope, no swallowtails or monarchs today, but I did see a few other species. It was warm--high 80s--partly cloudy, light breeze. Pleasant day for butterflies.

1:30 to 2:45pm

We surveyed the same two sites as on July 29 and found 36 Common Branded Skippers today, compared to 88 on July 29. We also saw 4 Common Brandeds while surveying both sides of the road for 1.1 miles (roads not surveyed July 29). Today's total Common Branded Skipper count was 9 males, 7 females, and 24 where we couldn't tell the gender.

8:45 - 10:00. Clouded Sulfur was in my yard and I think it's a new species for my house.

It was on my Dwarf Butterfly Bush the same time as the Red-Spotted Purple.

Sunny, warm and humid. Occasional breeze. Lots of clover in bloom.

It alighted on the screen of my second floor window that faces east and is quite sunny in the early to mid part of the day.

Struggling to find White Admirals. No hybrids found.

It was a pleasant sunny 82 degrees day. I stopped from
3-4 p.m. The water was high so will have to stop another day to see more!

The meadow and Watts Lake trails atthe north end of the Bog, off of Hwy 33.

Alone up in a tree

This was the 15th annual Avoca NABA Butterfly Count. It includes parts of the Lower Wisconsin Riverway. 4 observers in 2 parties observed with close-focusing binoculars for 12 party-hours. We found 274 butterflies of 23 species. This was one of the 3 years with the lowest diversity. (Presumably drought and recent severe storms played a role.) We found 3 migrants from the South: Common Sootywing (10), Red Admiral (2) and Sleepy Orange (14). We searched diligently for Little Yellow and Leonard's Skipper but could not find any. We saw a Hog-nosed Snake pretending to be a viper. Thanks to counters Fred Dike, Mike Reese, Karl and Dorothy Legler.

Normally see many Monarchs. Many common milkweeds and flowering plants but very few Liatris.

Windy, sunny, 75 degree day.

Prairie, ephemeral pond, and swamp boardwalk. Beautiful day! Riveredge installed a new traffic bond surface on one trail, and the crescents and Eastern Tailed-Blues were all over it.

Incidental while attempting to do a bumblebee study. Great numbers of large robber flies and a few Festive Tiger Beetles

First time for this species at this site. Also at this site is a surge in sedge grasses both in size and number

I took a walk around and in the prairie on a sunny 80 degree day with low wind.