South Jersey Butterfly B/Log

New Jersey Butterflies Website Takes Off

Posted on July 14, 2013 by connorj

Baltimore checkerspot, Springdale NABA Count, 2009.

NABA’s North Jersey Butterfly Club has launched a wonderful new website, packed with info about butterflies throughout the state. Go to the link below to see. The site is already extremely impressive, even with other sections still to be added. Try out the NJ Species Accounts, for example — with beautiful photos, lots of information on flight periods and host plants (and other info), and easy to understand maps — illustrating each species’ current status for every county throughout the state.

The county records for South Jersey incorporated our SJBF Project data — as well as reports and photos from other observers. The data for each map are sorted into four categories: photo documentation since 2000, visual observations since 2000, photo documentation before 2000, and sightings before 2000. This means the website is the most up-to-date source of New Jersey butterfly distribution you can find anywhere.

Looking for a challenge on your next field trip to, let’s say, Salem County? Scroll through the maps for the species that haven’t been yet photographed there. Do you know, for example, that (at least since 2000) there seems to be no photographs of pipevine swallowtail from that county?

Congratulations and thank you to Sharon Wander, Wade Wander, Jim Springer, and all other contributors who worked so hard to give us something all butterflyers throughout the state can use, learn from, and be inspired by.

The site’s “About Us” notes:

“The North American Butterfly Association (NABA)-North Jersey Butterfly Club was founded in 1995. It is the oldest of the 26 NABA chapters in the United States. NABA’s purpose is to promote the non-consumptive study, conservation, appreciation, and enjoyment of butterflies.

“New members and guests including young ones are always welcome. We meet at 7:30 P.M. the first Tuesday of most months at the Haggerty Education Center of the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morristown, Morris County.”

Go here for more:

New Jersey Butterflies

Posted in Out-of-Area Reports, Uncategorized | Comments Off

July Opens With a Flurry

Posted on July 8, 2013 by connorj

Dave Amadio found our first (and so far only) Georgia satyr of the year -- at Lakehurst on 7-4-13.

Dave Amadio found our first (and so far only) Georgia satyr for 2013 — at Lakehurst on 7-4-13 (Ocean County).

We’ve had some good finds and cool photos over the last week or so. Above and below, a small sampling:

Brian Johnson found and photo'd this Edward's hairstreak posed on its host plant (scrub oak, Quercus ilicifolia) along the Hesstown powerline on 7-3-13.

Brian Johnson found this Edward’s hairstreak posed on its host plant (scrub oak, Quercus ilicifolia) along the Hesstown powerline on 7-2-13 (Cumberland County).

One of the half dozen coral hairstreaks Will Kerling photo’d on orange milkweed on 7-3-13 (Cape May County).

Steve Glynn photo'd this common wood nymph in Lawrence Corner Road (Salem Co) on 7-3-13.

Steve Glynn photo’d this common wood nymph in Lawrence Corner Road on 7-3-13 (Salem Co).

Pat Sutton photo'd this rare skipper in her garden on 7-4-13.

Pat Sutton found this rare skipper on milkweed in her garden on 7-4-13 (Cape May County).

Dave Amadio found and photo'd this mulberry wing in Lakehurst on 7-4-13.

Dave Amadio photo’d this mulberry wing on knapweed along the Lakehurst RR tracks on 7-4-13 (Ocean County).

Thanks to each of these photographers for sharing their shots.

Keep ’em coming!

Posted in First Emergences, Lycaenids, Nymphalids, Skippers | Comments Off

June 2013 Compilation

Posted on July 2, 2013 by connorj

Banded hairstreak at Audubon (Camden County), photo’d by Chrus Herz, 6-12-13.

Twenty-eight observers contributed to a total of 2041 reports last month, our highest total of June records in our six years of logging, breaking our record June total of 1844 observations compiled last year.

From our last lingering pine elfin and sleepy duskywing on June 1 to our most-recently-emerging species, mulberry wing on June 25 and hoary-edge skipper on June 28, we found 66* species during the month. That’s our second highest total for species diversity in June, topped only by last year’s 69 species. (All earlier counts for the month were in the 50s.)

Contributing Observers in June 2013:

Amy Gaberlien
Barb Wiley
Brian Johnson
Bridget O’Connor
Chip Krilowicz
Chris Herz
Chris Tonkinson
Clay Sutton
Chris Williams
Cynthia Allen
Dave Amadio
Gibson Reynolds
Glen Davis
Jesse Connor
Jack Connor
Jean Gutsmuth
Jim Dowdell
Jim Springer
Mike Bisignano
Mike Crewe
Pat Amadio
Pat Sutton
Paula Williams
Sam Galick
Sandra Keller
Steven Glynn
Sylvia Armstrong
Will Kerling

June FOYs:

Twenty-two species were new for the year in June. In order of emergence, they were:

Aaron’s skipper 6/1/2013
hackberry emperor 6/2/2013
Hayhurst’s scallopwing 6/2/2013
swarthy skipper 6/2/2013
banded hairstreak 6/3/2013
European skipper 6/5/2013
Appalachian brown 6/6/2013
Delaware skipper 6/6/2013
northern broken-dash 6/8/2013
salt marsh skipper 6/12/2013
coral hairstreak 6/14/2013
striped hairstreak 6/16/2013
great spangled fritillary 6/16/2013
oak hairstreak 6/17/2013
bog copper 6/18/2013
meadow fritillary 6/18/2013
broad-winged skipper 6/18/2013
tawny emperor 6/21/2013
dotted skipper 6/21/2013
common wood-nymph 6/22/2013
mulberry wing 6/25/2013
hoary edge 6/28/2013

Dotted skipper at Collier’s Mills on 6-21-13, photo’d by Dave Amadio.

New County Records:

We had at least two new county records for our log:

Harvester for Burlington County on June 16. We have now recorded that species in three counties: Gloucester (2012 and 2013), Camden (2012) and Burlington (2013).

Banded hairstreak for Salem County on June 22, our first Satyrium of any species for Salem.

More sorting may find other new county records. Let me know if you are aware of any others.

Harvester in Medford Leas, Burlington County, 6-16-13, photo’d by Jack Connor.

Notable Low Counts:

Species uncharacteristically hard to find this month included:

Monarch. We didn’t record our first monarch until May 30th and we compiled only seven reports and a total of eight adults in the month. In June 2012, by contrast, we had 36 reports for the month and totaled 87 individuals; in June 2011 we had 40 reports and 206 individuals.

Horace’s duskywing. We had only single record and a single individual — on June 2. This is a species usually common in June in southern NJ. In June 2012 we had 34 records and a total of 119 individuals; in June 2011 we had 35 records and a total of 184 individuals.

A few other “common” species have been scarce compared to last year, but these have been scarce in some other past years at this time of the season. We found only a single painted lady, for example, contrasting with the last June’s 28 reports, totaling 46 individuals. But painted lady, as everyone knows, is a cyclical (“feast or famine”) species and we also had only one report of one individual Vanessa cardui the June before last, in 2011. Similarly, this June’s low counts for juniper hairstreak (4 reports; 4 individuals) and mourning cloak (4 and 4) also seem in keeping with their scarcity in some other past years in June.

Overdue For 2013:

Three mid-summer, single-brooded species that we have usually seen by the end of June have yet to be recorded:

Edward’s hairstreak, two-spotted skipper, and rare skipper.

Rare skipper is generally the last of these three to fly and so is the least-overdue at the moment. The other two should be on everyone’s “go-get-’em” list!

Missing But Not Yet Overdue:

We are also apparently missing cloudless sulphur at the moment, but that species hasn’t shown up until at least July in three of our previous five years — and as I am typing this up Will Kerling has left a message about a possible report from a North Jersey butterflyer. Details to follow.*

Fiery skipper, another expected summer species, is also still absent, but this too is a butterfly that we have not seen before July in three of our previous five years. In 2009 we didn’t record our first fiery until August 23.

Full Report:

For all reports go here. Click the + sign for easier viewing. Yellow = first sighting of the month. Green = first sighting for the year.

Spreadsheet for June 2013

To Compare To Last June:

Last June’s compilation report is available here:

June 2012 Report

Keep chasing and reporting, everyone!

Little glassywing in Cape May County, photo'd by Will Kerling on 6-6-13.

Crossline skipper in Cape May County, photo’d by Will Kerling on 6-6-13.

*July 3 Update: Will Kerling has confirmed that NABA President Jeffrey Glassberg saw cloudless sulphur (two individuals) on Hickman Avenue in Cumberland County on June 30. That gives us 67 species for June and 80 species in South Jersey in 2013.

Posted in First Emergences, Looking At Our Data | Comments Off

Where Have You Gone, Hoary Edge?

Posted on June 27, 2013 by connorj

Hoary edge, Wildcat Ridge, Sussex Co, 6-27-07 (J. Connor)

What’s happening with hoary edge skippers? Not so long ago — fifteen years ago or so — Achalarus lyciades seemed to be a species South Jersey butterflyers could hope to spot somewhere during the year, given just a little luck. On the Checklist of Cape May County Butterflies compiled by Pat Sutton and David Wright in 1993, twenty years ago, hoary edge was listed as common in the county.

That status seems to have changed. For at least the last decade, spotting a hoary edge in South Jersey has been a serious challenge.

Pat Sutton’s compilation of data from her Cumberland County NABA Count shows that the species has been found on only eight counts in that Count’s twenty-two years, and seven of those dates were in the first twelve years of the count. Since 2003, the species has been found only once on the Cumberland Count — a single individual on 6-28-2009. In our five+ years of logging, our SJBF observers have compiled only a single report: a individual spotted by Glen Davis, Mike Crewe, and Tony Leukering, near Fulling Mill Road in Cape May County on 8-3-11.

Two South Jersey NABA Counts were completed this week — the Cumberland County Count and the Belleplain Count — and apparently the species went unreported once again.

As far as our log records show, not one of our SJBF observers — many of them very active field observers — has photo’d the species in southern NJ in at least the past five years.

Can we find this species this year? Does anyone out there have a photo of the species taken in southern NJ in the past ten years? And, finally, does anyone have an idea why it seems to be struggling here?

Update

Brian Johnson found a hoary edge on 6-28-13 on the Peek Preserve in Cumberland, our first report since 2011. Our year count now = 79 species. We are still looking for our first photo of the species for our log, however. Keep chasing, everyone!

Posted in Looking At Our Data, Skippers | Comments Off

Appreciating The Taken-For-Granted

Posted on June 19, 2013 by connorj

Check out those eyes! Gray hairstreak, photo’d by Will Kerling, 6-16-13.

Outliers and oddball individuals — the rare and hard-to-find, the wildly-lost strays, the early emergers, and the late, last survivors — tend to become the focus of attention in butterflyers’ conversations (and on this blog). It’s good to remember, therefore, that the creatures that drew most of us into chasing butterflies in the first place were the everyday “ordinary” ones. Aren’t they beautiful?

Thanks to Will Kerling and his close-up photography, we can appreciate this freshly-emerged gray hairstreak — as delightful and as eye-catching as any rarity.

Dorsal view of gray hairstreak, photo by Will Kerling, 6-16-13.

How close can you get? Gray hairstreak “tails” photo’d by Will Kerling, 6-16-13.

Let’s all take a good, long look at the next “ordinary” butterfly we are lucky enough to come upon!

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Staying or Straying?

Posted on June 18, 2013 by connorj

Great spangled fritillary, photo’d by Steve Glynn in Marilyn Patterson’s garden, 6-16-13.

Last weekend’s re-appearance of great spangled fritillary in Marilyn Patterson’s garden in Alloway, as documented by Steve Glynn’s lovely photos, sparks the question above.

Steve’s report makes only the 18th for the species since the log began in 2008. Ten of those reports have come from Salem County (and five from that same garden, including each of last year’s three reports). Meanwhile, no other county has had more than two reports of the species.

What is the status of this species in South Jersey? It is common in the northern and central parts of the state, but for some reason, it seems tough to find on the Coastal Plain.

Does it prefer as its host plants certain species of violets that do not grow so frequently here?

Is it a resident in Salem and only a wanderer elsewhere? And if so, what does Salem hold that the species does not find elsewhere in the southern half of the state?

Here’s the county by county breakdown for all log reports 2008-2012 (click the + sign to enlarge):

Great Spangled Fritillary by Counties 2008-2012

Here are the spreadsheet details for those reports:

All SJBF Log Reports for Great Spangled Fritillary, 2008-2012

Dorsal view of the same individual as above, photo by Steve Glynn, 6-16-13.

Posted in Host Plants, Looking At Our Data, Nymphalids | Comments Off

Five Years of Satyrium Hairstreaks By County

Posted on June 14, 2013 by connorj

Banded hairstreak, photo’d by Chris Herz in her garden in Audubon (Camden Co), 6-12-13

The reports of banded hairstreaks in Camden County in the last several days from Dave Amadio and Chris Herz announced the opening of our Satyrium season and sparked me to look back at our five years of reports of this intriguing group.

See the attached for a breakdown organized by counties of our five SJ species:

Satyrium Hairstreaks by SJ Counties, 2008-2012

Some quick conclusions:

More of us need to get out to Salem County more often in June and July. Our next log report of a Satyrium of any species for that county will be our first of any species for the county.
2008 was our low year for Satyriums so far: we recorded them only in two counties and recorded no striped hairstreaks anywhere. (We also had fewer observers in that first year, so the lack of reports may be somewhat distorted in comparison to the years since).
Last year, 2012 , where we recorded high counts for many species overall, was our best year for this group as well: we recorded Satyriums in 23 of the possible 40 cells on the chart.
Over the past five years banded hairstreak has been our most reliable and widely-distributed member of the genus, checked off in 27 of the possible 40 cells. Coral hairstreak is next, checked off in 20 of the 40 cells.
Edward’s hairstreak seems the toughest find of the group, having been reported in only two of our eight counties over the period, and in only 7 of the 40 cells (five years in Atlantic and two in Cumberland).
Northern oak hairstreak, generally considered a rarity in New Jersey, has been reported surprisingly widely: we have now found it in five of our eight counties (all but Camden [but see below], Cumberland, and Salem).

For all reports of Satyrium on our log, go here:

All Satyrium Reports from SJBF Log, 2008-2012

For a post about the group from last year about this time, go here:

Satyrium Time, 2012

Update: Dave Amadio has now added Camden County to our list for northern hairstreak with a find and photo of the species in Cherry Hill on June 17, 2013.

Posted in Looking At Our Data, Lycaenids | Comments Off

But On Second Thought….

Posted on June 13, 2013 by connorj

European skipper puddling at Kennedy Farm, Stockton campus, 6-12-13

The last post below about European skippers from the other day represents the state of knowledge from last week… and now that understanding seems so obsolete!

Will Kerling’s find on June 5 sparked at least four other SJBFers to get out in the field searching for the species in the last week or so, and so we can now report — with complete confidence and absolute certainty — that either:

a) the skipper is having a very good year, or
b) it’s not as rare as we thought, or..
c) it’s easily found if you know where or when to look for it, or
d) at least some of us may have been overlooking it, or
e) something else — who knows what? — is going on, or
f) all of the above!

Three days after alerting the rest of us with his first find, Will found two more individuals in Cape May Courthouse. Then, on June 11, Brian Johnson found four individuals each at two different places in the northwestern corner of Cape May County (Sutton Land and Stimpson Island Road). Yesterday, June 12, Steve Glynn photo’d at least one of the three individuals he found on Lincoln Avenue in Vineland (Cumberland County). and Jesse and I found more than two dozen individuals in two farm fields on Stockton’s campus (Atlantic County).

European skipper, photo’d by Steve Glynn in Vineland, 6-12-13.

Stockton’s Kennedy Farm area has been a place to see the species in past years, but we never before noted it in the numbers flying yesterday. We found several puddling on the farm trail, then as we walked through the high grass across the street (checking our bluebird boxes), they flushed so numerously they were hard to count. Every skipper we caught up with was a European.

It seems a more variably patterned skipper than Jesse & I remembered. A few — the freshest individuals? — showed a surprisingly bright white on the underside of hind wing and along the abdomen. Also, the antenna clubs seemed not always as reddish as field guides sometimes suggest (or perhaps that color varies depending on the angle of the sun?). Here’s one individual showing much white on both hind wing and abdomen and without obvious red in the antennae:

White on underside of hind wing and along abdomen prominent on some individuals, 6-12-13

European skipper, Stockton Hospital Field, 6-12-13

Same individual as above, a male, showing upper-side. The prominent white trailing edge suggests it is freshly-emerged.

Several (most?) showed a little “ray” across the hind wing below that may be helpful to ID. This feature can also be seen in the puddling individual in the top photo above, in Steve G’s photo, and in the individual on page 263 in Cech & Tudor’s Butterflies Of The East Coast. That feature, as well as the contrasting colors between hind wing and fore wing, may help separate the species from Delaware — at least for some of us (such as yours truly) who need as many differences as possible to look for to try to keep skippers identities straight.

European skipper showing the "ray" across hind wing that might be a helpful ID feature, Stockton Hospital Field, 6-12-13

Could the ray across hind wing be a helpful ID feature? (Stockton Hospital Field, 6-12-13.)

So what’s the moral of this story? One week a species seems a rarity and the next it’s been found in three different counties by five different observers. Maybe there’s lot more to learn about our South Jersey Butterflies!

Posted in ID Challenges & Tips, Skippers | Comments Off

Abundant Elsewhere, Why So Rare Here?

Posted on June 11, 2013 by connorj

European skipper photo’d by Will Kerling on 6-8-13.

Will Kerling’s recent find of European skipper in Cape May Courthouse makes the first report for this year and only the third of the last three years. In fact, we have had so few other sightings in our 5+ years of logging that all can be listed quickly:

One each from 2012 and 2011, both in Cape May County:

6-3-12 (Goshen)
6-8-11 (Sutton Lane off Rt 47)

Three reports in 2010, one from Atlantic County and two from Cumberland County:

6-13-10 (Stockton College campus)
6-17-10 (Vineland — five individuals, our only report of more than two at one spot)
6-30-10 (Cumberland NABA Count)

Two 2009 reports, one from Cape May County and one from Cumberland:

6-4-09 (Lizard Tail Swamp Preserve)
6-28-09 (Husted Lane on Cumberland NABA Count)

And four from 2008, two from one spot in Atlantic County and two from one spot in Cape May:

6-11-08 and 6-13-08 (Kennedy Farm, Stockton campus)
6-13-08 and 6-20-08 (Sutton Lane off Rt 47)

So, we have only a dozen sightings in five years and have found the species in just a handful of spots in only three of our eight counties. Elsewhere in New Jersey and throughout its range in North America, the European skipper is generally common to abundant and even “locally hyperabundant” (Cech & Tudor).

European skippers in farmland in western New York on 6-10-10. (J. Connor)

The species was first discovered in London, Ontario, in 1910, apparently transported to North America with its host plant, Timothy grass, Phleum pratense. Lauren Brown notes in her Grasses: An Identification Guide: “From 1870-1910 [Timothy] was a big cash crop because hay was needed to feed the horses that propelled the machines of the day. As gasoline-driven engines became common, the importance of Timothy waned, but it is still widely planted.” In fact, Phleum pratense now occurs in all states of the Lower 48, and the European skipper has expanded from Ontario east to New England, north to Newfoundland, west to Minnesota (with scattered populations farther west), and south to the Carolinas along the Appalachians.

For some reason, however, it has not become numerous in South Jersey or elsewhere on the Atlantic Coastal Plain — although Timothy seems a common “weedy” plant of yards, fields and roadsides throughout our area.

Why we see so few individuals of this butterfly seems an ecological puzzle.

Anyone have a theory about the answer?

Timothy grass, Phleum pratense, from A.S. Hitchcock, Manual of the grasses of the United States (1950).

Posted in Host Plants, Looking At Our Data, Skippers | Comments Off

Our blog is up again & January-May Compilation

Posted on June 4, 2013 by connorj

Harvester, photo’d by Dave Amadio, Chestnut Branch Park in Gloucester Co, 5-26-13

Yes, the blog is live again, having migrated from our old url to this one.

Dusted skipper, photo’d by Brian Johnson on Rt 555 powerline in Cumberland County on 5-12-13.

Juniper hairstreak, photo’d by Will Kerling at Lizard Tail Swamp, Cape May Co, on 5-2-13

Between January 1 and May 31, we compiled 1900+ reports of 57 species and 5900+ individuals. (At least three species have been added so far in June.)

As of May 31, fifty-four contributors have joined in our 2013 effort:

Allysa Della Fave
Amy Gaberlien
Beth Polvino
Bill Bouton
Bill Keim
Bill Schul
Brian Johnson
Bridget O’Connor
Chase Cammorata
Chip Krilowicz
Chris Herz
Chris Marks
Chris Tonkinson
Chris Vogel
Chris Williams
Clay Sutton
Cynthia Allen
Dave Amadio
Deb Dowdell
Eric Reuter
Gabe Johnson
Gibson Reynolds
Jim Dowdell
Jesse Connor
Jack Connor
Jackie Parker
Jean Gutsmuth
Jim Springer
Joh Gelhaus
Kathy Malone
Kristen Meistrel
Lisa Ryan
Matt Webster
Mike Bisignano
Mike Crewe
Mike Hannisian
Mike Russell
Michael O’Brien
Michelle Rhinesmith
Pat Amadio
Pat Sutton
Peter Bosak
Paula Williams
Rhea Dougherty
Roger Horn
Sam Galick
Sandra Keller
Shawn Wainwright
Sylvia Armstrong
Steve Glynn
Stephen Mason
Theresa Knipper
Tom Reed
Will Kerling

Thanks to each of you for participating.

Thanks also to everyone for your patience waiting for the transfer of the blog to this new server.

For a brief pdf spreadsheet listing all FOYs for this year (up to June 2, 2013) with a comparison listing of all FOYs for the 101 species we have found, 2009-2012, go here:

First of year reports for 2013, up to June 2, and FOYs for all species, 2009-2012

For a spreadsheet in pdf format of all 1900+ 2013 reports Jan 1 to May 31, 2013, go here. Green = first of year report; yellow = first of month report. Click the plus sign for easier viewing:

All Reports, Jan to May, 2013

Other compilations and a look back at 2012 will be added soon.

Keep those reports coming, everyone!