Butterfly sightings for June 2023

Incidental while removing Dames Rocket from SNA

Mid-morning, low 80s, calm day. I thought I would see more butterflies, but it was nice to see a few.

11:00-12:00, 87 degrees, sunny, and dry with little nectar sources

Disappointing lack of butterflies. Many dragonfly species found.

77 degrees and sunny. I got a rather blurry photo of a Monarch laying an egg on a milkweed, and another of the egg after she had left to go on to find other milkweeds.

I visited Borah Creek one year ago today with the Monarch being the only butterfly seen both years. Lots of Red Clover and Cream False Indigo blooming beautifully, with some White Clover, too, but not an abundance of pollinators.

Sunny, hot, no wind, from 10-12 with temps between 76-84F

12:15-2:15. 88 degrees and sunny at the start but clouds were starting to form around me and there were just a few sprinkles when I eneded.

Showers threatened this afternoon, but never got in our way. Strong winds took many butterfly opportunities away. An upland forest edge with a large patch of Clintonia-Blue-Bead-Lily and Cornus-Bunchberry Dogwood drew our attention when we saw a Canadian Tiger land to nectar from The Beed-Lilies. Over time Spring Azure, Arctic & Peck Skippers joined in the feast! 3-3:45 Pm

Late morning, hot, muggy, sunny. It rained the night before filling the puddles in and around the parking lot with water and butterflies. At one point there were seven Giant swallowtails and three tiger swallowtails puddling together as if it wasn't confusing enough. There were also two dark form eastern tigers flying around at the same time. I went with Eastern tigers for an ID. although at the time I saw at least one smaller one that I thought was a Canadian that I evidently did not get a pic of.

9:30-11:30 Am mid 70's some wind gusts, mostly sunny
an angle wing & dusky wing gets away without being identified.
I ignored the numerous azure blue butterflies. photos of seven species and a Baltimore Checkerspot larva on turtlehead plant!

8:02 - 9:45, 1.8 mi

At this site the Gorgones were fresh, down the road 10 miles to the east at Oshkosh Larsen Prairie SNA the Gorgones are pretty well done. The Hobomok came in flying very slowly, I suspect that it was freshly emerged

Found in the dunes, not much in bloom there.

The Mustard Whites were a lifer for me!

Only noticed butterflies flying today. Sunny hot 85 degree early afternoon.

Sunny, upper 80s. 1:30-2:45. It was so warm and I didn't carry my camera with me, but I wish I would have to get a photo of the Common Roadside-Skipper. This is only the fourth record from Dane County , the first from Swamplovers, and no photo record yet for Dane County.

86 degrees and sunny, west wind 7mph. Lots of Gorgone Checkerspots and Northern Crescents observed in courting dances. 2 Monarchs were seen but I was unable to photograph them. Also saw a Common Ringlet for the first time on the property!

Part of these Bee and Butterfly Blitz sightings was near the bunker used by Operation Migration to observe the Whooping Cranes.

Late afternoon, sunny, hot, light wind.

Lots of dragonflies!

Bumble Bee and Butterfly Blitz Survey. Hot day with little air movement.

Hot, muggy, cloudy, calm to extremely windy as small thunderstorms passed through. Looking for Karners and found quite a few considering the weather.

The first shot of the Dusted was really bad, but you can see the white eye brow on that picture. After I drove by irrigation rigs and checked the water. I am not enthralled with the new irrigation systems, they place the water way too accurately for my needs. On the older systems there were butterflies but nothing unique

These butterflies were all on my flowers in my pollinator gardens.

7:22-9:03 a.m.--started early to get our 3 counties of surveys done earlier to reduce the butterfly inactivity due to dryness later today. Purplish Coppers and other butterflies were very active from the very start. All Purplish Coppers were along Archer (mainly) or Apache roadsides, and all fritillaries were in part of a pasture newly acquired for the wildlife area.

91-93 degrees F, 12:48 to 3:01 pm. 4 patches along Wood County Hwy X and one inside Sandhill Wildlife Area. Includes 3 sites where we have monitored Karner Blues in at least 60 different broods. The heat and dryness seemed to reduce butterfly activity, but Karner Blue (89 males, 32 females, 7 unknown gender) activity during this surveying was reduced less by the dryness than for other butterflies, whose counts were an outlier amount below usual.

9:44 to 11:41 a.m. 85-88 degrees F, sunny. We surveyed 1.5 miles of grassland transects and did a Karner Blue monitoring survey 0.4-0.5 miles long in one barrens. The Karner Blue count (43 males, 5 females) was our highest ever here out of 45+ broods starting in the year 2000 or earlier, beating last year's summer count record high of 35. Three Karner broods in a row have been in the top 5-6 counts here ever. The staff excluded the lupine barrens from a neighboring 2023 planned grassland fire, instead of burning the whole rectangle that included the barrens, which was a wonderful management decision for the barrens butterflies.

I found several Red Admiral caterpillars on Stinging Nettle in my yard today.

A Karner Blue landed on my wife Maggie's finger during the Bumble Bee and Butterfly Blitz Survey. (Maggie's thumb used with permission.) The picture without the thumb is of a different individual. There were lots of them where we were surveying - I wasn't keeping track of numbers, so 12 is a rough guesstimate from 9-day-old memory being extremely conservation - could have been many more as those with more experience were commenting on the high numbers.

Part of the Bumblebee and Butterfly Blitz

13:15 - 14:53, 1.6 miles. Saw four additional tiger swallowtails but didn't get a detailed look at them.

I have started seeing Giant Swallowtails annually in Dunn County, but I've never seen one this early before. Makes me wonder if we aren't getting a local hatch some years now. It was nectaring on blackberry blossoms. The Red-spotted Purple was also the first I've seen this year, but I've been expecting them to show up.

Hot, sunny, Late afternoon. I was hoping to find a Frigga in the Bear Creek bog. I did flush one possible (it flew like one) but didn't get a good look at it. The freijas at Milchesky rd. were not as numerous or active as they were a week ago

All Silver-spotted Skippers nectaring at Southern Blue Flag Irises.

These butterflies were all on my flowers in my pollinator gardens. There is also a picture of a Snowberry Clearwing moth.

A male Black Swallowtail emerged from its chrysalis and was released today after being in diapause since last August.

This is the Jutta Arctic bog that Dean Hansen has shared in the past. It is a beautiful open black spruce bog with a stunning amount of cotton grass. Hot, sunny, early afternoon, light wind. Jutta Arctics and elfins were in the bog the other species were puddling on the road.

Lack of flowers except dandelions. Very dry. Lots of ticks and mosquitos.

Quick stop early morning I Just checked the parking lot. Sunny light wind. White admirals, red spotted purples, Viceroys all very fresh.

At 6:45 AM on my walk, I saw the Silver-spotted sitting in the middle of the sidewalk warming up in the sun.

I found a poor Red-spotted Purple female that was grazed by a car. It unfortunately didn’t make it after a few hours.

One Tiger was a black female which was the FOY.

11:30 am to 2 p.m. 75°, hazy sunshine. Quite a few flowers on the 2 prairie bluffs: spreading dogbane, harebell, ninebank, scarlet indian paintbrush.

Momma Monarch maybe needed to choose another location with two ants on the milkweed already. Including photos for the Oak Apple Gall and Wool Sower Gall that I found while butterflying.

5:30-6:30 p.m. Hot, sunny and calm.

Grassy areas in sun are turning brown. Very little rain here in the last 30 days. Watched a pair of Sandhill cranes right off the trail and Ospreys were at their nest by the river. Sunny, 78 degree late morning.

Started slow but turned into a good day for butterflying!

9:00-10:00 am.

Warm (low 80s), light wind, sunny. Not many butterflies along the trails, but we saw one Monarch (among others) and plentiful evidence of Monarch caterpillars consuming milkweed.

Sunny and mild

Sunny, low 70s, calm and very dry. Took a short walk about 9 am along our driveway and in the woods. While looking for wildflowers, I spotted many butterflies and even a tiger beetle along the path. The Little Wood-Satyrs are numerous and fresh right now. Also included pictures of a Red Spotted Purple on our grill last Friday (6/2).

mostly sunny, 70s

Sunny, upper 70s

Nectaring on balsam ragwort

The Red-spotted Purples were in, and to the south of, the parking lot on Hastings Road where we went to listen for summering Nashville Warblers (and heard one).

Sunny and calm with temps between 67-82 from 9:30-2:30

Low 70s. Sunny with smoky haze. All before noon. Also, several flyby Tiger Swallowtails.

First time to this location. It is a beautiful location with some very fine flora. Was surprised to see the white, never saw the yellow marking. I had worked the edge of the Barrens looking for a late Cobweb when this came out of the Barrens and posed for several shots just inside the woods. Fifteen Six Spotted Tiger Beetles

3.27 miles, 12:20 - 14:30. 3 Snapping Turtles were digging their nests at the sides of the road. One previously made nest had been opens and only the leathery egg shells remained. Both sides for the black swallowtail.

First time at this site. 1:00-4:00. Mostly cloudy with temps in the mid 70s. Northern Cloudywing egg was on bush clover. This site had more Hoary Puccoon on it than any site I have seen in Wisconsin.

partly cloudy, about 70

Odd start to the summer. Very few butterflies seem to be around here but tons of dragonfly species. Still no Orange Sulphurs and barely any Clouded. Gorgones are faded to gray by now. Swallowtails are non existent.

I found about 40+ V. atalanta caterpillars and pupae on the stinging nettle along with Comma and Question Mark cats.

New Jersey Tea in full bloom; lupines past main bloom, starting to go to seed. Very dry--no spots of damp sand on the gravel roads, so no mineralizing butterflies. Karners were seen along North Refuge Road, about a half mile to the west of Crex Ridge Road, and also along Crex Ridge Road. The goose family was an added treat.

Hazy sunshine, mid-afternoon, gentle breeze, low 80s. Still very dry in our township; no significant rain since Mother's Day. Despite dryness, there's plenty of butterfly activity and seems to be a great year for the Little Wood-Satyr and I stopped counting at 25. The common milkweed is plentiful here and the Monarch caterpillars are munching away.

Very dry up there--very few butterflies were seen mineralizing on the one or two barely damp spots on the gravel roads. Pleased to see Harris's Checkerspot on Stolte Road. The single Karner seen was also among the lupine stands (now going to seed) along Stolte Road.

On Pearly Everlasting

About 15 Karner Blue monitoring sites and several Phlox Moth/Karner combo sites. 8:00 am to 3:15 pm. Started early to reduce the time surveying after the air became dry in pm and butterflies reduced activity. This includes the Hwy 54 bog, at which we found no butterflies. We also went to Dike 17, numerous Bauer-Brockway sites, two forested Karner sites areas on Castle Mound Road, and several patches along Stanton Creek Road. We found 2 Phlox Moths. The Karner Blues we saw were 39 males, 20 females, and 4 unknown. The Harris' Checkerspots were in a traditional area along the service road going straight from the Dike 17 parking, where wet patches border the road 250-300 meters west of the parking (and sometimes barely further west right after it becomes dry again)

70s

Cool and sunny. Hobomok Skippers were getting amorous.

Viceroy was observed laying eggs on cottonwood sapling. Red-spotted purple resting in gravel path. Tiger swallowtail resting on plant. Looked newly emerged.

Nice to see all the Monarchs. Some were busy laying eggs on milkweed. Sunny, 74 degree afternoon.

Very early GSF!

10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., 74°, mostly sunny. New location for me. Nice trail system from the Visitor Center into wet areas.

The prairie definitely seems affected by the drought. Far fewer blooms than I'd expect to see, and fewer butterflies.

Monarch was spotted from the road as I was leaving, just entering the prairie.

On June 18, 2022 my husband and I counted 300+ Hackberry Emperor's on Breezy Hill Road. It was fun today to find the first HE's of 2023. Hoping to find more! The Widow Skimmer Dragonfly was an interesting find, too.

Sunny and very dry. Definitely seeing butterflies near water areas more often.

Beautiful morning. Barely 70 degrees, sunny. All before noon.

Warm , sunny , Lt breeze.
Butterflies on Miss Kim Lilac and phlox .

Sunny 76 degree late afternoon.

Sunny, 72 degrees, calm wind, around 2 pm. While in the garden, I noticed several visitors. The Silver-spotted Skipper (FOY) and the Hobomok flitted between the chive flowers and catnip.

3 to 5 p.m. sunny, 78°.

quick stop to look for a robber fly

61 Monarch caterpillars were seen on Milkweed as well as numerous Red Admiral caterpillars on Stinging Nettle.

Sunny, 73 degree morning.

Breezy, sunny

70's, mostly sunny

primarily looking for robber flies

This is a newly restored area and there is abundant red clover throughout much of the area and it is the main nectar source right now and all of the ones I saw nectaring were using it.

Was hoping to find Karner Blues, but during a one-hour visit none were seen flying despite a full bloom of the lupine.

Around noon. Windy, sunny and 73 degrees.

Sunny 78 degree late afternoon.

Red-spotted purple on scat.

Saw 4 deer on our walk this morning. One of the White Admirals we saw hitched a ride on the front of my husband's tractor while he was cutting our trails. Sunny, 60 degree early morning.

The Milwaukee Public Museum staged a Bioblitz for 24 hours, June 9-10, at Havenwoods State Forest. The butterfly highlights were abundant Little Wood-satyrs (have never seen so many in my life) and several Wild Indigo Duskywings . The following checklist is for June 9. The only additional butterflies on June 10 were Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and Red-spotted Purple.

How to count 1/3 mile of checkerspots? I had 200 in my first 5 minutes, with some crescents mixed in. First, I counted a few samples and found 1 or 2 N Crescents per cluster of 20 butterflies. Then I counted clusters, finding an average of 20 butterflies/cluster. 53 clusters means 1060 butterflies. So, roughly 100 N Crescents and 950 Silvery Checkerspots. I used photographic evidence to find at least one Harris's, included as the picture of scat. Huge number of Silvery Checkerspots!

Hazy/smokey sun, warm light wind. It is very dry there too. I believe the skipper is a worn/faded pepper and salt, but I'm not happy with the photos.

I had only seen one Baltimore Checkerspot before, so it was delightful seeing how tolerant they were of me!

Sunny, upper 70s. Wood lilies staring to bloom along with lots of Golden Alexander.

67 F, sunny, calm. Survey conducted in the morning, between 9am and 10:30am. Butterflies observed resting on plants and in path. Northern crescents observed nectaring on golden alexanders and dandelions.

First time here and it’s sort of like a Eastern Black River State Forest!

I saw 2 unID’d Tiger Swallowtails and one possible Harris’ Checkerspot.

Took a walk in the woods between 2-3 pm. Sunny, low 80s, windy and very dry. The wood Satyrs were everywhere along the path. Every time you would stop along the way, you would immediately spot 5-6 flitting around. Also, in a dense part of our woods, I noticed multiple monarch caterpillars on poke milkweed (not the common).

9 - 10:30 a.m. 72°, sunny.

about 9-11 am, sunny and mild. Casual observations while checking the Bluebird boxes.

Although the weather conditions seem great for butterflies, spending 25 minutes looking at people's neighborhood gardens didn't turn up many flying things. Is the drought having a negative impact on the butterflies?

Incidental while planting native plants, 2 Laphria sericea

Warm, very windy, and mostly cloudy. Late afternoon

Yesterday I was looking for robber flies here and saw no robber flies nor butterflies in about an hour. This morning I went back there because somehow I left my tripod somewhere in the field there. I found it today in the middle of the dirt road along with one Little Wood-Satyr.

Mostly sunny, 62 degree morning.

Saw quite a few Northern Crescents, both male and female, near the trails. Also saw three painted turtles digging in the gravel and laying eggs. Cloudy, windy, 64 degree afternoon.

Went from twenty Hackberry Emperor's to over a 100 in two days. The majority were along Breezy Hill road with scat once again being the popular gathering location. Hope to see more yet!

Around 8:30, sunny and warm, no wind.

54 degrees and very windy to start. Warming to mid sixties by 2:30 PM. Very few butterflies flying until it warmed up a little.

Saw another painted turtle near the trail today. Quite a few butterflies despite the wind and cooler temps. Windy, mostly sunny, 57 degree afternoon.

A late try for Chryxus Arctics, even though we thought their flight was probably over. Great to see so many Pink-edged Sulphurs. They remained common along Forest Road 236 for at least the next week.

We only saw 1 butterfly. This is one of our Bog Fritillary long-term monitoring sites

West of Forest Road 236. 13 minutes on the bog. This is one of our Big Fritillary long-term monitoring sites--and it was the only kind of butterfly that we saw.

Very windy, sunny 55 degree morning.

While birding, all before noon. Mostly cloudy and cool.

Butterflies quickly disappeared after the cloud cover.

Laphria sp. robber fly feasting on a weevil - possibly Pale Green Weevil (Polydrusus impressifrons).

Same 9 bogs as on May 27. We found 26 Bog, 3 Freija, and 1 Frigga Fritillary on the Milchesky 1.75 bog, plus Meadow and Silver-bordered elsewhere for a 5-Boloria day. The Henry's Elfin was on Milchesky 1.75.

Glad to see and abundance of the new hatch of Meadow Fritillary and a single Eastern Comma. Haven't seen one since early Spring. Impressed that the Silver-spotted Skipper even was getting nectar from the potato blossoms. I thought the Red Admiral was probably a new hatch, but looking pretty tattered.

From 12-1:30, very breezy with temps around 55 F.

9:30 to 11:00 a.m. 57 to 69°, mostly sunny, chilly morning. Nice to see the Eastern tailed-Blue

55 degrees and sunny. A few butterflies spotted while removing invasive plants. There were quite a few pretty day-flying moths too: Anania funebris White-spotted Sable, Trichodezia albovittata (White-stiped Black Moth), and Zanclognatha pedipailalis (Grayish Fan-foot).

Everything except the Bog Fritillary and the Jutta Arctic was found on the roadside survey.

4 bogs: County M/GG junction west end, Wilderness Road 2.3, and a muskeg bog and a Dwarf Willow bog on Forest Road 164 south of Twin Lakes. The Bog Fritillary was on the Twin Lakes muskeg bog.

Given the rainy and cloudy day, I thought it was a longshot to see much, so I was pleasantly surprised! I arrived during a break in the rain, with some sun shining through.

The bulk of species I saw were all nectaring on purple clover in the field. At one point, I counted 7 Great Spangled Fritillaries all within 6 feet of me! The Baltimore Checkerspots were down near the creek.

I also heard a fox screaming down from the woods into the valley.

We surveyed the bog too, but all of the butterflies were on the roadside count adjacent to the bog.

Three stops: We found Bog Fritillaries on Crane Lake Bog and on both floating bogs at Wishbone or "Rainbow" Lake, but not on East Roger Lake Bog.

The most butterflies I have ever seen in Wisconsin. Hackberry Emperor numbers topped 500 with most of them in a half mile stretch that began today on Breezy Hill about a half mile west of the junction between Breezy Hill and Homer Road. There must have been another hatch recently because butterflies were along the road for at least a half mile. There were definitely more butterflies than the last time I visited. Not a busy traveled road, but traffic is reducing numbers. If you can walk the stretch I would recommend it. Butterflies were everywhere and this species is happy to interact with you and check out your vehicle! Other butterflies are along this road as well. The Hummingbird Clearwing Moth was a nice surprise.

Sunny, windy, with temps around 76 F from 3:00 -3:45.

A brief stop to look for the Harris' Checkerspots. This swampy area is a reliable location for them. I also had 2 or 3 flyby Tiger Swallowtails.

These butterflies were all in my pollinator gardens. The Duskywing was on my Columbine plants.

Parking lot, road and up to top of bluff. Lots flying around like crazy and only a few landed. Hazy sun, mid-70s.

Land south of Pleasant Valley Preserve owned by Steve Anderson. Permission granted. Black Earth.

All these butterflies were in my pollinator gardens

Overcast/haze smoke; 5mph, 68F; tons of New Jersey tea in flower, puccoon, downy phlox, hawkweed, a few other species too. Out with Owen, Chelsea, Becky, Elizabeth looking at burn units and habitat.

Didn't see as many butterflies as hoped, but did see quite a few Virginia Ctenucha Moths and Whitetail Dragonflies. Also had to stop and admire the huge Northern Catalpa tree in full bloom along the trail. Sunny 84 degree late afternoon.

70s partly cloudy

There were several of these flitting among the newly blooming Yarrow leading me to wonder if there wasn't a new hatch recently.

8:45-9:45. Both ladies were newly emerged. I saw 11 Laphria of three species.

Eastern Commas were all fresh summer forms.

Cloudy, 70 F, calm. Observed resting on plants.

Sunny, 60s

43.184072, -90.383819
This is a new place that I hadn't explored before. I think this area has some good possibilities. It is a barrens area and has a lot of good plants in it. My first Butterfly Weed of the season and first Holopogon sp. (robber fly).

Sunny 76 degree late morning.

First time to this venue.

Few nectar sources here. 1:00-3:00, hazy with temps near 70. Two singing Bell's Vireo at the parking lot.

Surprised to see a fox while walking up one of the trails. Breezy, 72 degree early afternoon.

Warm, windy, sunny, late afternoon.

Warm windy, Sunny, most of the smoke finally cleared.

Late morning: It was windy and cool (high 50s/low 60s), but I was surprised I didn't see more butterflies. I saw a few moths.

79 degrees. Canadian smoke made for polluted and hazy skies. One roadkill Great Spangled Fritillary. A mating pair of Red-spotted Purples landed on our windshield! We drove slowly (5 mph) for a half hour on a dead-end road and they were still there. From inside the car, at a distance of 19 inches, the view through our Papillio ultra-close-focusing binoculars was spectacular!! Finally Dorothy got them on her finger and moved them to the vegetation on side of road.

We surveyed the two floating bogs at Wishbone or Rainbow Lake (all the Bog Frits were here), and the kettlehole at East Roger Lake.

West of Forest Road 236

Last visited in 2017. 3 Parking lots within a mile of the junction are good locations.
10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., smoky haze lifted by 1:30 when most species were seen. 61° to 73°.