Recent sightings

12:45 to 3:00 pm. Cloudy, 77 degrees.

9:00 to 12:00 noon. Sunny to cloudy, 74 degrees when finished.

Late in the day observations. Tiger ST was high up in the trees and the Sachem was on a yellow baptisia.

Rt. 70 powerline cut northeast of Spring Lake Blvd / Rattler Rd. 1:00 to 3:15 pm. Mostly sunny, 69 degrees.

Temps were 39 degrees this early morning. First Swallowtail for the year!

3:00-3:30. Sunny 55 degrees.

Incidental sightings while weeding the pollinator garden from 1-4. The Sachems were a mating pair. The American Lady seemed to be ovipositing on Sweet Everlasting. Lots of caterpillar evidence on the Sweet Everlasting and inspected one of the webby ‘nests’ and found an American Lady caterpillar.

12:45-1:45

10:30-12:15

Rt. 70 powerline cut northeast of Spring Lake Blvd / Rattler Rd. 9:50 am to 12:30 pm. Cloudy, 67 degrees.

Incidental sightings while birding in the park.

12:50-2:20 hot and sunny. I finally found my first Cobweb Skippers after a bunch of outings in South and North Jersey!! 3 separate individuals id'd when reviewing photos. All 3 were consistently swirling / chasing and competing for one small sand patch - the one in the photo seemed to win out most of the time during my observation. I stayed with that group and didn't explore much further but there could have been many more. Pretty sure the duskywings were all Juvenal's. Spicebush Swallowtail was a male. Lady species was likely an American Lady. 2 Pearl Crescents were joined in flight which was cool to see. Potentially 1 elfin species which was very fast crossing the trail. Great day!!

[Congratulations and good work, Dave – and thanks for the details! jc]

Both Zabs were males. Silver-Spotted Skipper zipped in around 6 p.m.

Late in the day and still quite hot just a few sightings.

Everything nectaring on Sand Myrtle, which is bursting in blooms.

Observations while scouting for WSB. 8:30AM-1:00PM. Mostly sunny, with lows in the low 70s and highs close to 80. Surprised to find my first Falcate Orangetip, a beautiful male!

[Congratulations, Aidan, on that and your other good finds. jc]

Sunny, around 5pm, 80s. Nice brown elfin colony here

[Yes, good to see that count. jc]

Between 9-11:00 am.

[Nice! Our log's first red-spotted purple of 2024. jc]

Sunny, 70s. Colony of N. Cloudywings along the power line. Very likely an undercount.

Sunny afternoon. Temp 84F. Steady, gentle breeze.

[What a find! Good work, Tim! jc]

[Super find! jc]

Around 1:30-2:30 pm.

While birding in the morning, apprx 8-11 am. My FOY Silver-spotted Skippers. [FOY Silver-spotted Skipper at 2 locations today. TB]

Brief stop at private garden 12-1. Female Black ST around rue.

Obs. made from 2:30 to 4.

Obs. made from 10:30-12:15, and again from 4:40-5:30. Very little action here but did have a brief encounter with a Hessel's Hairstreak at around 5 p.m.

A most disappointing visit to this historically great location. Here from 12:35 to 2:15.

[Our log's FOY northern cloudywing. jc]

Powerline cut east of Telegraph Rd. Thundergut Pond WMA. 11:45 am to 1:45 pm. Sunny, breezy, low 80s when finished. The three duskywings I was able to get photos of or got good looks at were Juvenal's. It's likely the rest were as well. [FOY Silver-spotted Skipper at 2 locations today. TB]

Powerline cut east from Jericho Rd past Gravelly Hill Rd. NJ Conservation Foundation & Maskells Mills Pond WMA properties. 7:30 to 11:30 am. Mostly sunny, 78 degrees when finished. [FOY Dusted Skipper & Sachem. TB]

Came to the UV lights when I was taking pictures of moths.

[Very cool find. jc]