How is the butterfly year going so far?
Very well, thank you!
Spring last year (2010) was a good one, everyone seems to agree, and we had collected 870 individual reports of 38 species by the end of April. By the same date this year we were even a little ahead of 2010’s good pace — with 983 individual reports of 39 species (of 4078 individual butterflies).
Is it the butterflies or our ever-increasing dedication to the task?
The pdf below shows all 2011 butterfly reports sorted by species and date (as of April 30). The first report for each species is highlighted in green.
Comparing the species lists April 30, 2010 vs. April 30, 2011:
Only three species recorded by April 30 last year were not seen by that date in 2011: white-m hairstreak, common sootywing, and cobweb skipper (and the latter two species have now been added in the first week of May).
Four species recorded by April 30 this year were not seen until later last year: variegated fritillary, common buckeye, red-spotted purple, and common checkered skipper.
For the full report, click on the pdf below (you will probably need to hit the + sign to enlarge the text — I wanted to upload it so all columns could be read on a single width from left to right.)
Contributing observers so far (as of 4/30/11) include: Cynthia Allen, Dave Amadio, Denise Bittle, Marcus Christodoro, Jesse & Jack Connor, Mike Crewe, Glen Davis, Jim Dowdell, Sam Galick, Jon Gelhaus, Jean Gutsmith, Chris Herz, Brian Johnson, Doug Johnson, Sandra Keller, Will Kerling, Chris Kisiel, Chip Krilowicz, Kathleen Lapergola, Tony Leukering, Angela Marzi, Stephen Mason, Tom Reed, Eric Reuter, Bret Roberts, Dale Schweitzer, Barb Sendelbach, Jim Springer, Pat & Clay Sutton, Harvey Tomlinson, Chris Tonkinson, and Jessica & Shawn Wainright. That’s thirty-five of us — and please let me know if I skipped someone in the list.
Thanks to all of you who are entering the NABA codes as you post your observations. That makes sorting by taxonomic sequence much, much easier.
Keep at it, everyone!
jc