Author Archives: connorj

Oddball Azure

What is it? Photograph by Will Kerling in Vineland on 9-14-11 Imagine you stumble on this guy nectarting on goldenrod somewhere in southern New Jersey. What is it? Could it be a butterfly from the Caribbean brought here by Hurricane … Continue reading

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Giant Swallowtail at Wheelabrator

Giant swallowtail on the wing by Dave Amadio 9/3/11 Dave Amadio documented our 89th species for the year in South Jersey by chasing down and photo’ing a giant swallowtail, Papilio cresphontes, yesterday at Wheelabrator Wildlife Refuge in Gloucester County. It’s … Continue reading

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“Pied Piper” Migration?

Fiery skipper by W. Kerling, 8/16/11 The recent reports of sleepy orange, gulf fritillary, and fiery skippers on our log sent me searching for a term. What should we call the apparently-doomed northbound flights we see most falls of those … Continue reading

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July Compilation

An old photo of cloudless sulfur at Cape May Point — has anyone photo’d one this year yet? July 2011 was the second hottest month ever in New Jersey (since records began in 1895), with an overall average of 78.8. … Continue reading

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Crippled Skipper ID Challenge

(photo by Chris Herz) Chris Herz reports (8/1/11): “Found this skipper in our stone driveway…. I thought it was a fly at first — until I looked at it with my binoculars and was surprised to see it was a … Continue reading

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July Cooking: Heat & Butterflies

Yes, it’s been hot lately and more heat is coming this weekend, but July has been our group’s best month yet for diversity. With two days to go, we are already up to 65 species for the month, apparently our … Continue reading

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What do you see here?

A mystery photo along Rt 608 (Cape May County) by Will Kerling, 7/15/11 Can you tell what’s captured in this image by Will Kerling? No, it’s not a Salvador Dali-ian cartoon of a red-bearded lizard head with one eye and … Continue reading

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Alert about mosquito spraying from Pat Sutton

Pat Sutton has given permission to post her email from this morning (July 13) here: Hi Gang, Butterflies in our garden in Goshen, NJ (Cape May County), exploded in numbers by June 30th and have been abundant – plentiful – … Continue reading

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Those D—— Skippers!

Dion skipper on redroot, photo by Will Kerling, 7/6/11 South Jersey hosts three single-brooded and tough-to-find skippers whose common names begin with d, and two of them are flying now. The dusted skipper, Atyrtonopsis hianna, flies in very limited numbers … Continue reading

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The Pipevine S-tail Story Continues….

In our previous installment, when last we left our caterpillar heroes (“Pipevine Cats Mystery” June 23), they were climbing over pipevines in several gardens in South Jersey, munching as fast as they could. In our Port Republic garden, most of … Continue reading

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