And the beat goes on….

Posted on January 9, 2012 by connorj

Male and female orange sulphurs nectaring on self-heal, Rt 9 and Avalon Blvd, by Will Kerling, January 6, 2012.

Maybe the title here should be, “And the heat goes on…”

As our warm weather pushes deeper into winter, butterflies continue to fly. One week into January, we have had 22 reports of flying adults, totaling 59 individuals. Orange sulphurs comprise the majority — 13 reports, totaling 49 individuals. The remaining 10 reports involve single individuals: mourning cloak (1 report), red admiral (3 reports), monarch (3 reports), question mark (1 report), and anglewing, sp. (2 reports).

Although almost all sightings come from southern Cape May County, we also have reports from Cumberland, Ocean, and Salem Counties.

Ten observers have seen butterflies in 2012 so far: Will Kerling, Chris Tonkinson, Cynthia Allen, Bill Schuhl, Dave Amadio, Jim Dowdell, Rick Radis, Vince Elia, John Roberts, and Ellen Creveling.

While celebrating our tough flyers and our sharp-eyed observers, it’s hard to ignore an awkward question: Is this warm weather all-in-all a good thing?

Anyone who reads this blog or chips in on our log wants to see more butterflies, the more the better — and it’s going to be fun to see how many weeks of 2012 will have butterflies for us to see. (Can we find butterflies in February and so extend our monthly streak still farther?) Nevertheless, any conscientious New Jersey naturalist must also have mixed thoughts about what has been a very mild winter so far. Our butterflies’ continued presence suggests other insects are also surviving in higher numbers — some of them harmful. Southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) is the most obvious example:

NJ DEP info on southern pine beetle

That’s a downbeat way to end this post, I realize, but both birders and butterflyers have made this point in conversations, and I didn’t want to let it seem that we celebrate our finds blindly, unaware of what our data might suggest about wider and larger issues.

Keep at it, everyone! And if a sudden arctic blast sends all of southern NJ into a deep freeze for a few weeks, let’s remember that might not be such a bad turn of events.

jc

Posted in Late Dates, Looking At Our Data | 3 Comments

As the year turns….

Posted on January 3, 2012 by connorj

Monarch at Cape May State Park, photo’d by Sam Galick mid-day, January 1, 2012.

…. Cape May still has butterflies on the wing.

Our first butterflies of 2012 follow immediately on the tracks of our last butterflies of 2011, as warm weather continues in the southernmost extension of the state.

Sam Galick and others spotted the monarch above in Cape May State Park on New Year’s Day less than 24 hours after Will Kerling photo’d a sulphur late on New Year’s Eve afternoon at the Rea Farm. But Will himself had an even earlier butterfly for 2012 — a sulphur at 9:34 a.m., one of two he found at Cape Island Creek Preserve on Jan 1 morning.

See our log for other reports of last/first butterflies by other observers. We have several reports from both sides of New Year’s Eve midnight. On December 31, Megan and Mike Crewe found a red admiral on Bayshore Road in Cape May, Bill Schuhl had a monarch in a Cape May Point garden, and Jim Dowdell recorded a dozen orange sulphurs in Green Creek.

On New Year’s Day Cynthia Allen spotted an anglewing at the Cape Island Creek Preserve, and Jim Dowdell had a red admiral at the state park and two orange sulphurs at Cape Island Creek.

Orange sulphur, photo’d by Will Kerling, Cape May, 3:18 pm on December 31, 2011.

Posted in Late Dates, Nymphalids, Pierids | Comments Off on As the year turns….

Yes, Virginia….

Posted on December 26, 2011 by connorj

Photo by Will Kerling, 12-25-11, Rt 9 and Avalon Boulevard, Cape May.

… you can find butterflies flying on Christmas in New Jersey. At least you can this year, if you chase them diligently in Cape May, as Will Kerling has been doing so successfully in 2011.

What’s next? Butterflies in January? Year-round butterflying??

Stay tuned and we will see!

Posted in Late Dates | Comments Off on Yes, Virginia….

And now we have ten…

Posted on December 10, 2011 by connorj

Photo by Mike Crewe, 12-4-11, at the Beanery in Cape May

That last blog entry (“Double-Digit December?” below) proved obsolete almost as soon as it was posted. Mike Crewe has reported a tenth species for December — a clouded sulphur (C. philodice) that he found and photographed at the Beanery in Cape May on December 4th.

That gives us double-digits for December, a first for our log.

I think most observers would agree that our two local Colias species — C. philodice and C. eurytheme — combine to create one of the toughest of identification puzzles among South Jersey butterflies.

When a sulphur flies by, most of us (it seems) look first for orange in the wings. If we see that color, we call it an orange sulphur (C. eurytheme). Other ID cues are harder to apply. Because of wear and individual variations, not all orange sulphurs show orange — especially in flight; some individual females of both species are white (and can be mistaken for cabbage whites, as well as each other); other coloring and patterning varies in the two species; and finally they hybridize with one another. Jeff Glassberg notes in his Butterflies Through Binoculars (1993) that hybridization is so frequent that “calling all individuals with any orange above orange sulphurs is only an operational definition.”

Mike determined his ID by an entirely different field mark: the position of the dark, sub-apical spot on the forewing.

“It looks like a clouded to me based on the position of the black spot which I have circled. The spot falls right on the border of the black and yellow that shows through from the upper wing. Using Ron Gatrelle’s comments (pasted below) which Cech and Tudor follow, this would make it a clouded I reckon.”

Ron Gatrelle on C. philodice vs. C. eurytheme on the Carolina Butterfly Society website (2001)

Thanks to Mike for the photo, the link to Gatrelle’s article, and for the identification.

Ok, all you lep-chasers down there in the Cape May tropics, the new question is inevitable: are eleven species possible in December??!

Keep at it!

jc

Posted in ID Challenges & Tips, Late Dates, Pierids | Comments Off on And now we have ten…

Double-Digit December?

Posted on December 8, 2011 by connorj

Buckeyes at the Cape Island Creek Preserve, photo by Sam Galick, 12-4-11

Butterflies are flying later this year than they have in any of our previous three years of logging.

Observers have found nine species in the first week of the year’s twelfth month. In order of the number of reports (as of December 7), they are:

monarch: 14 reports (of adults)
common buckeye: 13 reports
orange sulphur: 11 reports
sachem: 9 reports
fiery skipper: 8 reports
cabbage white: 4 reports
American lady: 2 reports
red admiral: 2 reports
mourning cloak: 1 report

The most numerous butterfly, by far, is the orange sulphur, with more than 100 individuals totaled (as of December 7).

Tagged monarch (PLA 852) at a Cape May Point garden, photo by Sam Galick, 12-2-11

Cape May County’s enviable combination of gung-ho observers and continuing warm temperatures seem to be the key. Of our 67 reports so far, only two (Dave Amadio’s find of an orange sulphur on Riverwinds Trail in Gloucester Co on Dec 2, and Chip Krilowicz’s cabbage white on Cherry Hill Brace Rd in Camden Co on Dec 5) come from north of Cape May County. In fact, all 65 other reports seem to come from the southernmost ten or twelve miles (or so) of the peninsula.

Can you guys & gals down there in the NJ tropics find our log one more species?

We are rooting for you and will toast you with a Pina Colada if you succeed!

One of the four orange sulphurs near Rt 9 in Avalon, photo by Will Kerling, 12-6-11. Could these be the last butterflies of 2011? Stay tuned!

Posted in Late Dates, Looking At Our Data | Comments Off on Double-Digit December?

November Says Good-bye

Posted on December 2, 2011 by connorj

A questionmark on migration, photographed on-the-wing by Sam Galick at Stone Harbor Point, 11-26-11

As the month closed yesterday, butterflies are still flying in southern New Jersey. We gathered reports of flying adults from seven of the eight southern counties (all but Cumberland) and found nineteen species overall:

black swallowtail
cabbage white
cloudless sulphur
orange sulphur
white-m hairstreak
summer azure
American snout
variegated fritillary
pearl crescent
question mark
eastern comma
mourning cloak
American lady
red admiral
common buckeye
monarch
common checkered skipper
fiery skipper
sachem.

Bold print = single sighting only. You can see our log, of course, for the details of where and when for any of these reports.

This female black swallowtail was found and photo’d by Will Kerling at the Rea Farm in Cape May on 11-30-11

This year’s November diversity seems about average (based on our three previous years of logging). See the “Our November Flyers” post (from 11-5-11) for a summary of our first three years of records.

The “Butterfly Of The Month” award for November 2011 has to go to the white-m hairstreak found at the Triangle Garden by Cynthia Allen and Will Kerling on November 9. Not far behind as an unexpected surprise, however, was the summer azure discovered on November 11 by Jean Gutsmuth — with some bonus points for the northerly location in Haddonfield (Camden County). We have had only one summer azure report in previous Novembers (in Cape May County), and no November reports anywhere in our area for white-m.

Common buckeye was the species reported most frequently this November, with 109 reports. Monarch was the second, with 90 reports, and orange sulphur was third, with 73 reports. Sachem (45 reports) just outpaced fiery skipper (33 reports) as the most frequently-seen skipper.

As usual, and especially at this time of year, Cape May County led the way for us with the vast majority of sightings: 395 of the 496 reports. Gloucester County followed with 46 reports.

And now December has begun. How many species will fly in our final month of the year?

Every find from now until March, 2012, will be a surprise. Keep on the lookout, everyone!

American lady, by Sam Galick at Stone Harbor Point, 11-26-11

Posted in Looking At Our Data | Comments Off on November Says Good-bye

One Garden, One Day, Two Rarities

Posted on November 11, 2011 by connorj

Photo by Will Kerling, 11-09-11

Thanks to Cynthia Allen and Will Kerling, we’ve added two new species to our November list this week.

Patrolling the Triangle Garden in Cape May Point (on Lighthouse Avenue), they first found a white-m hairstreak, Parrhasius m-album, the first we have recorded in November in our four years of logging.

Photo by Will Kerling, 11-09-11

Not long after they spotted an American snout, Libytheana carinenta — new for the month, and so adding the species to our month list for the third year in a row and also giving us a chance to match or top our November 2008 count (see “Our November Flyers” below).

The Triangle Garden seems to share some features with the hawk watch platform in the State Park just down the street. It is stationed at the southernmost tip of New Jersey, it draws rarities regularly, and it attracts some of the sharpest and most dedicated observers in the state.

Photo by Will Kerling, 11-09-11

Posted in Lycaenids, Nymphalids | Comments Off on One Garden, One Day, Two Rarities

Our November Flyers

Posted on November 5, 2011 by connorj

Vanessa atalanta is among our most reliable November flyers. Photo by Will Kerling, 11-02-11 in Cape May

As November begins I thought it would be interesting to look back over our data for the past three years to list which species we can expect — or at least hope to find — in our last full month of butterflying in 2011.

We have found adults of twelve species in the first few days of the month (up to Nov 4): cabbage white, orange sulfur, clouded sulfur, question mark, eastern comma, mourning cloak, American lady, red admiral, common buckeye, monarch, fiery skipper, and sachem. All of these but clouded sulfur seem expected species, based on our three years of observation.

We have recorded twenty-seven species (in adult stage) during past Novembers:

black swallowtail: all three years (not yet 2011)
cabbage white: all three years (and 2011)
clouded sulfur: 2009 (and 2011)
orange sulfur: all years (and 2011)
cloudless sulfur: all three years (not yet 2011)
sleepy orange: 2010 only
American copper: 2008 only
gray hairstreak: 2008 only
red-banded hairstreak: 2010 only
summer azure: 2009 only
American snout: 2009 and 2010
variegated fritillary: all three years (not yet 2011)
pearl crescent: 2008 and 2010
question mark: 2009 and 2010 (and 2011)
e. comma: all three years (and 2011)
mourning cloak: 2010 (and 2011)
American lady: all three years (and 2011)
painted lady: all three years (not yet 2011)
red admiral: all three years (and 2011)
common buckeye: all three years (and 2011)
red-spotted purple: 2009 only
monarch: all three years (and 2011)
common checkered skipper: 2010 only
long-tailed skipper: 2008 only
fiery skipper: all three years (and 2011)
sachem: all three years (and 2011)
Ocola skipper: 2009 only

We found 17 species of flying adults in November 2008, 19 species in November 2009, and 20 species in November 2010.

We need another half dozen species to top our low count in November 2008, and it might be tough. Cloudless sulfur and painted lady have been virtually absent all year, and variegated frit has been scarce this fall (fide Will K.), so we will need to find black swallowtail and at least five unexpected species.

Keep looking, everyone! December will be closing off our chasing time soon enough!

jc

Posted in Looking At Our Data | Comments Off on Our November Flyers

Black Witch, Cape May Point

Posted on October 29, 2011 by connorj

Photograph by Clay Sutton, Cape May Point State Park, 10-28-11

A rare wanderer drew the attention of observers’ eyes yesterday at Cape May Point, but it wasn’t a migratory hawk, shorebird, or warbler….

As reported by the Cape May Bird Observatory’s Mike Crewe (see Blogroll): “A black witch (Ascalapha odorata) at Cape May Point State Park this afternoon. This species is a large tropical moth with a wingspan of up to six inches (that’s longer than a palm warbler!) and is the largest owlet moth in North America. Despite its tropical distribution, it is prone to vagrancy and has been recorded from all 50 US states and Canada. It is overall most rare in the north-east however, and this is probably the first Cape May record for a number of years. The narrow, pale pink band on this individual indicates that it is a female.”

Clay Sutton called it the “Bird Of The Day.”

Photograph by Will Kerling 10-28-11

Photograph by Rick Radis 10-28-11

I haven’t heard specifics of the find yet, but will post any that come this way. In the meantime, here are some links with info on the species:

Nature notes, photos, etc compiled by Texas entomologist, Mike Quinn: The Black Witch Moth: Its Natural & Cultural History

Eggs, caterpillars, pupa, adults of both genders: Life Cycle Photos compiled by Mike Quinn

For a map of vagrant records across North America (including Juneau, Alaska!):
Butterflies & Moths of North America website

Wikipedia entry: Black Witch on Wikipedia

Thanks to all who passed along the photos.

12-3-11 Update:

I’ve recently learned from Pat Sutton how the moth was first found and identified.

Pam Higginbotham, Katherine Peterson, and Clay Sutton were walking the State Park perimeter that morning searching for birds, when Pam spotted a big lep fly up behind them and pointed it out, “What is this large moth or butterfly?”

Clay, familiar with the species from numerous visits to the tropics (Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Venezuela, and elsewhere), identified it. In fact, he and Pat had seen the species once before in Cape May, sixteen years earlier: October 11, 1995, in a private garden.

The trio of discoverers soon were drawing others to the scene by cell phone. And the moth was photo’d by many observers.

Here’s one photo by Pam Higginbotham:

Photograph by Pam Higginbotham 10-28-11

Posted in Migration, Moths | 2 Comments

See them now or….

Posted on October 23, 2011 by connorj

Could September & October be the best season to chase butterflies in southern NJ? The diversity is down, but so is the heat — and there’s something especially rewarding about taking our last looks…

Some October 2011 photos:

A painted lady (a species down in numbers this year), photo’d by Dave Amadio in his garden in West Deptford (Gloucester Co), 10-1-11.

Ocola skipper at the Triangle Garden, Cape May Point, 10-7-11 photo’d by Will Kerling.

A late zabulon, photo’d by Dave Amadio in his garden in West Deptford, 10-15-11.

Male white-m hairstreak on aster in Avalon, 10-17-11, photo’d by Will Kerling.

Long-tailed skipper in Cynthia Allen’s garden in Cape May Courthouse, 10-19-11, photo’d by Sylvia Armstrong.

Male fiery skipper in Jesse Connor’s garden in Port Republic (Atlantic Co), 10-22-11.

Posted in Late Dates | Comments Off on See them now or….