South Jersey Butterfly B/Log

Dave A’s computer is up and running again, and so he is now able to send along these photos (his camera never paused) and his breakdown of the amazing Butterfly Big Year he recorded in 2013.

After a careful re-count I discovered that I have actually observed 102 species in the state this year. I was able to photograph all but one. Somehow I forgot to photograph Appalachian Brown, even though I observed this species in at least two NJ locations.

Species Recorded in NJ in 2013:

Pipevine Swallowtail
Black Swallowtail
Giant Swallowtail
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Spicebush Swallowtail
Checkered White
Cabbage White
Falcate Orangetip
Clouded Sulphur
Orange Sulphur
Cloudless Sulphur
Little Yellow
Sleepy Orange
Harvester
American Copper
Bronze Copper
Bog Copper
Coral Hairstreak
Edward’s Skipper
Banded Hairstreak
Striped Hairstreak
Oak Hairstreak
Brown Elfin
Hoary Elfin
Frosted Elfin
Henry’s Elfin
Eastern Pine Elfin
Juniper Hairstreak
Hessel’s Hairstreak
White M Hairstreak
Gray Hairstreak
Red-Banded Hairstreak
Eastern Tailed-Blue
Blueberry Azure
Holly Azure
Summer Azure
American Snout
Variegated Fritillary
Great Spangled Fritillary
Meadow Fritillary
Pearl Crescent
Baltimore Checkerspot
Question Mark
Eastern Comma
Gray Comma
Mourning Cloak
American Lady
Painted Lady
Red Admiral
Common Buckeye
Red-Spotted Purple
Viceroy
Hackberry Emperor
Tawny Emperor
Northern Pearly-Eye
Eyed Brown
Appalachian Brown
Georgia Satyr
Little Wood-Satyr
Common Ringlet
Common Wood-Nymph
Monarch
Silver-Spotted Skipper
Hoary Edge
Southern Cloudywing
Northern Cloudywing
Hayhurst’s Scallopwing
Dreamy Duskywing
Sleepy Duskywing
Juvenal’s Duskywing
Horace’s Duskywing
Wild Indigo Duskywing
Common Checkered-Skipper
Common Sootywing
Swarthy Skipper
Clouded Skipper
Least Skipper
European Skipper
Fiery Skipper
Leonard’s Skipper
Cobweb Skipper
Dotted Skipper
Indian Skipper
Peck’s Skipper
Tawny-Edged Skipper
Crossline Skipper
Northern Broken-Dash
Little Glassywing
Sachem
Delaware Skipper
Rare Skipper
Mulberry Wing
Hobomok Skipper
Zabulon Skipper
Aaron’s Skipper
Broad-Winged Skipper
Dion Skipper
Black Dash
Dun Skipper
Dusted Skipper
Salt Marsh Skipper
Ocola Skipper

Sought after in NJ but missed:

Hickory Hairstreak
Northern Metalmark
Silver-Bordered Fritillary
Compton Tortoiseshell
Long-Tailed Skipper
Long Dash
Two-Spotted Skipper
Common Roadside-Skipper
Brazilian Skipper

Solo observations only

I found only one individual of these six species in NJ this year:

Little Yellow
Edward’s Hairstreak
Georgia Satyr
Meadow Fritillary
Leonard’s Skipper
Dion Skipper

In our log’s area

I observed 90 species in our southern eight counties.

Dave

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Dave Amadio achieved an amazing milestone on Saturday, October 5. He photographed his 100th and 101st butterfly species recorded in New Jersey this year. He had reached the century mark for the state when he observed an Ocola a few days earlier, but that little bug was one that managed to escape his camera. On Saturday, in Cape May Point, accompanied by Will Kerling, he photo’d an Ocola and clouded skipper, his 101st species. Has anyone ever done that before in New Jersey?

And just to add a little more drama to the day, they also found and photo’d a a sleepy orange and a checkered white, the latter apparently the first recorded in Cape May County since the late 1990s.

Dave’s computer has been on the fritz, so Will Kerling has provided his own photos here.

Congratulations, Dave!

Our most prolific contributor is celebrating a birthday today. His age must be kept a secret, of course ….unless you happen to know it exactly matches our log’s current record for butterfly species found in a single month (hint: see July 2013 Compilation).

As everyone who has ever spent a day in the field with him knows very well, Will has amazingly sharp eyes, an ever-ready camera, and a non-stop, indefatigable, contagious spirit. His energy in the field and at the computer where he logs more observations than can be counted — because he posts all his own records and also many of his friends and fellow observers who pass along their reports to him for entry — are a huge reason our log has been as successful as it has been.

Just for fun and appreciation, here are some of Will’s recent photos — all taken in just the past two weeks or so.

Keep exploring and shooting, Will!

You can see Chip Krilowicz’s photo of the hornet/giant swallowtail encounter in his yard on 9-12-13 here on the blog or by going to the http address Chip supplied on his log entry. To do as Chip & others do, see below.

Our Google spreadsheet allows participants to share their photos on our log fairly easily. All you need is an on-line url-address (a http: line).

The sequence:

1. Take some photos.
2. Download them to your PC.
3. Upload any or all to an on-line photo-sharing website.
4. Select any photo you have uploaded to the site that you want to show us and copy that photo’s url (the string of letters and numerals at the top of your screen, starting with http:) by highlight, right-click, copy.
5. Go to our log to enter data about your sighting, then scroll to the column just to the right of the observer column, and paste into that cell (right-click, paste).

That’s it. Your http: line will be lit up in blue. You can check it’s working by double-clicking on it. You and other log-users will see your photo open.

(Please do not try to paste a photo into our log directly from your PC — without a url/http address. That distorts our spreadsheet lines and makes a mess. I do this on the Welcome Page because no data goes there — and I have learned through trial and error how to re-arrange the columns and rows.)

The one step above that requires some preliminary homework is Step 3. To upload your photos to the Internet (and gain that url/http address for each of them) you need first to register on one of the dozens of photo-sharing sites available on the web. Many of these are free; some have a modest annual subscription cost. All do the same thing — give you some storage space on-line and a set of directions about how to upload to their particular site.

Scrolling through our log’s recent reports you will see that Steve Glynn uses Flicker, Chip Krilowicz uses Picassa Web, I use SmugMug, and others use other sites.

I don’t know enough about all the various sites to give anyone advice about how to choose a sharing site or how the upload sequence works in each case, etc, but here’s an article at the Social Times site that features five good free sites with links to each:

Top Five Free Photo Sharing Sites (according to Social Times)

You can also send your photos to me directly, of course: nacotejackATgmailDOTcom, and I will continue to try to feature those that would seem most interesting to our group or most relevant to recent developments.

And if you would rather not be bothered with any of this, that is fine. Chasing down butterflies and reporting them is the main objective of our log — whether you photo them or not.

Keep exploring and logging, everyone!

jc