North American Butterfly Count

Tomorrow, I participate in the North American Butterfly Count. I believe yesterday I wrongly named it the Sullivan County Butterfly Count. I will be covering the same area I did last year which is mainly the area along Route 42 from outside of Monticello to the Orange County border. I cover other areas in the surrounding area as well. Last year I tallied 24 species during the count, so I hope to better that mark tomorrow. The count circle is the same 15-mile radius count circle that is used for the Christmas Bird Count. Of course, my section is only a portion of this circle.

I plan to start around 8:00 since it is finally supposed to be sunny and warm tomorrow. By 8:00 it is supposed to already be pushing 70 degrees. With all this wet weather the hope is the butterflies will be out in full force tomorrow. My biggest hope is that the milkweeds (Common, Swamp or Butterfly Weed) are in bloom as they are a huge nectar source for many species of butterflies, especially the Hairstreaks. Depending on how the day goes I will probably go until about 5:00 P.M. I don’t know if I will have time to post my results tomorrow night, but I will do my best to post them by Thursday night. I can’t wait to get out and enjoy the sun and the butterflies. I’ll let you know how I make out!

A Nice Day But No Bog Coppers

On Friday morning I, once again, took the 2-1/2 mile hike to the sphagnum bog where I had hoped to find Bog Copper butterflies. Once again, I came up empty. I really thought I was going to find them on this trip, so needless to say I was disappointed. They are either not present in this bog or they just haven’t hatched yet. In a normal year I would opt for the former, but due to the crazy weather we have experienced this year it seems everything is late so I’m hoping that is the case. I will try once more either the end of this week or the following weekend.

Even though I missed the Coppers I still had a nice hike and enjoyed my two hours at the bog itself. I saw two new plants while I was there. The first is Rose Pogonia which is in the orchid family. The other was Horned Bladderwort which wasn’t fully opened yet. I also got some poor pictures of a Crimson-ringed Whiteface (dragonfly). Pictures of all of these species are below.

Rose Pogonia

Horned Bladderwort

Crimson-ringed Whiteface

Tomorrow was supposed to be the Sullivan County Butterfly Count. I did this count last year and really enjoyed it. Due to the weather, it has been postponed until Wednesday. The weather is supposed to be sunny and much warmer. Hopefully the forecast doesn’t change between now and then. Like almost everyone else I’m sick of the rain at this point. It would be nice to have a few days of sun. I probably won’t post until after the count, so I hope you all have a great July 4th! Talk to you soon.

A Little Free Time in My Yard

The past two days I have been able to check the butterflies in my yard out when the weather has cooperated. I have added three new species of butterflies to my yard life list. The first was European Skipper. I have had 2-3 present the past few days. I have also added Viceroy and Silver-spotted Skipper. Due to the weather, most of my best flowers for attracting butterflies are not even in bloom yet. The area in which I am seeing most of the butterflies, along with many other pollinators, is the garden in which I planted a native wildflower seed mix last year. First the Lupine was in bloom but most of those flowers are beginning to go to seed. Currently I have many daisies, Coreopsis, Red Clover and a few other species in bloom.

The current list of butterflies coming into my yard on a regular basis include Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Red-spotted Admiral (both White Admiral and Red-spotted Purple), European Skipper, Hobomok Skipper and Cabbage White. More uncommon recent visitors include Eastern Tailed-Blue, Common Ringlet, Eastern Comma, Pearl Crescent, Viceroy and Silver-spotted Skipper.

Below are a few pictures of my wildflower garden grown from seed. There are also many Foxgloves growing behind that garden. The bumble bees love this plant, and surprisingly, the Eastern Tiger Swallowtails will crawl up the blooms to nectar and I saw the Silver-spotted Skipper do that today as well!

Foxgloves

European Skipper

Tomorrow morning, I plan to head up to northern Delaware County to hike back to the bog in which I believe I have an excellent chance of finding Bog Copper. My plan is to leave my house no later than 8:00 so I can reach the bog between 10:00 and 10:30. The only thing that would stop me is if the air quality is very bad tomorrow. I’m not going to have many opportunities between spending time with my son and his family visiting from Illinois and the lousy weather we have been having. The habitat is right, the time of year is right, and it is finally supposed to be sunny, at least in the morning. If I’m going to make this happen it is pretty much now or never. I’ll let you know how I make out.

Little Time for Getting Out

With my son and granddaughter visiting I have had very little time to take in the birds or butterflies. One exception was on Sunday when I was able to drive to Green Flats Road in Hancock for a few hours to look for butterflies. I found ten species, one of which was new for the year, Sliver-spotted Skipper. I also saw Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (2), Great Spangled Fritillary (9), Little Wood Saytr (2), Red-spotted Admiral (both White Admiral and Red-spotted Purple), Least Skipper (3), Common Ringlet (2), Red Admiral (1) and Eastern Comma (2). Below are pictures of a Great Spangled Fritillary on Common Milkweed and one of the most beautiful, Red-spotted Purples (Admiral) I have ever seen.

I don’t know when I’ll be back out again, but I’ll keep you posted of any interesting sightings I have should I get out.

A Quick Post

Yesterday I had a little time to get out before my son and granddaughter arrived from Illinois. I searched for butterflies along Green Flats Road in Hancock where I ended up with a list of nine species which included Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Red-spotted Admiral (both White Admiral and Red-spotted Purple subspecies), Great Spangled Fritillary, Viceroy, Little Wood Satyr, Common Ringlet, Juvenal’s Duskywing, Least Skipper and Hobomok Skipper.

I also found this fresh female Widow Skimmer dragonfly pictured below. I hope to get out a little the next couple of days, even if it is just to see what is flying around my yard. I’ll get you know if I find anything interesting.

Looking Good for Bog Copper!

Yesterday I hiked back to the bog in northern Delaware County where I think I have a very good chance to find the Bog Copper Butterfly. I spent two hours there yesterday, and while I didn’t find the butterfly, I think it is just because they just haven’t begun to hatch yet. Renee Davis has seen this butterfly in the Ithaca area and both times it was in the very beginning of July. While the sun was in and out during my visit, I feel confident if the butterflies were out, I would have seen them.

The main observation that gives me so much confidence was the amount of Bog Cranberry, the butterflies host plant. I could see it everywhere. Below are some pictures of this diminutive bog plant.

As you can see from the pictures above the plants are in flower making it very easy to see how much is present in the bog. Many bees, flies and Common Ringlet butterflies were nectaring on the flowers while I was there. With my son and his family visiting for the next 3 weeks or so it is going to be hard to find the time to return, but I hope to do so the very end of this month or no later than the first week of July. If the Bog Coppers are present here, as I expect they are, I should have little trouble finding them.

During my visit there where many dragonflies. The most common by a wide margin were the Caulk-fronted Corporals.

Caulk-fronted Corporal

The 2nd most common dragonfly of the day was the Common Whitetail, even though they were outnumbered by the Caulk-fronted Corporals about 6-1.

Common Whitetail

I also saw a beautiful flower in the orchid family called a Grass-Pink. I only spotted two of these pretty plants, although I’m sure more are present throughout the bog.

Grass-Pink (Orchid)

I heard many birds during my 5-mile roundtrip hike including many Blackburnian and Black-throated Green Warblers, Scarlet Tanger (5), Blue-headed Vireo (4), Eastern Wood Pewee and others. I had a great time despite the Bog Coppers not being out yet. The ecology of a bog is fascinating to me. Hopefully one day I can talk to an expert on this type of habitat to learn more.

I hope you all have a good weekend and I’ll post as much as I can the next 3 weeks, although my time may be limited. Get outside this weekend and have some fun!

A Few New Butterflies

Yesterday I headed up to Hancock to see if I could find a few new butterfly species for the year. I started out at the intersection of Old Route 17 and Route 268. I’ve found some good butterflies here in the past, but it can be a busy road so pay attention to traffic if you ever go there. I took a leisurely 1.5-mile walk up the road and back. During my walk I found eight species of butterflies, two of which were new for the year. Both species happened to be skippers, one was a Least Skipper and the other a European Skipper (pictured below).

European Skipper

The other species seen included Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (5), Cabbage White (3), Viceroy (2), Common Ringlet (4), Little Wood Satyr (1) and Red-spotted Admiral (4 White Admiral/1 Red-spotted Purple). I next headed over to Green Flats Road, but it was relatively quiet there. I did add Red Admiral to my day list. One note of interest on Green Flats Road is that the Common Milkweed flower heads are more developed there than any others I’ve come across. The interesting thing, for me, is that there is also a lot of oak trees in the area which means there could be butterflies such as Banded, Striped, White M or Northern Oak Hairstreaks in this area. Hairstreaks love to nectar on Common Milkweed so I will be watching this area with great interest in the coming weeks.

Common Milkweed Flower Clusters

Right now, my plan for tomorrow is to return to the cranberry bog in northern Delaware County to try to confirm Bog Copper there. I might still be a little early, but I’m going to give it a shot. My son and my granddaughter are coming out for three weeks on Saturday so my time will be limited once they arrive. This species would not only be a new county butterfly for me but a lifer as well. As I mentioned in a previous post, finding Bog Copper in the county is my number one goal for the year as far as butterflying is concerned. The habitat is good, and the host plant is present, now I just have to hope the butterfly is present as well. If they haven’t started to hatch yet I hope to be able to get away to try again in another week and a half. They will only be out for about 2 weeks so my window to find them is short. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. I’ll let you know how I make out.

Lots of Butterflies!

After running a few chores this morning, I headed up to Michigan Hollow Road above Deposit to see what butterflies I could find. When I got there it was very apparent there was a hatch of White Admirals and Red-spotted Admirals in progress. These are treated as the same species but different sub-species. The White Admiral is the northern sub-species while the Red-spotted Admiral, or as some call it, the Red-spotted Purple is the southern sub-species. Both are beautiful butterflies. Below are pictures of the Red-spotted Admiral from Michigan Hollow Road and a White Admiral I found later in the day at nearby Steam Mill State Forest. I should actually say the White Admiral found me as it landed on my hand when I was hiking to drink the salt from my sweat!

Red-spotted Admiral

White Admiral drinking salt from my perspiration on the back of my hand.

Michigan Hollow Road is one of my favorite places to visit for butterflies. It is not a very long road, only about 1.6 miles. It is a nice hike up and back and is very scenic with a brook running alongside the road most of the way up. My list of species there today were Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (4), Great Spangled Fritillary (3), White Admiral (26), Red-spotted Admiral (8), Harris’s Checkerspot (34), Pearl Crescent (7), Northern Cresent (8), Common Ringlet (7), Dreamy Duskywing (1) and Hobomok Skipper (5).

At Steam Mill State Forest, I later added Viceroy (1) and Peck’s Skipper (1) to my day’s list. Below are pictures of a Great Spangled Fritillary and an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.

Great Spangled Fritillary

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Tomorrow, I have more running around to do but hope to get back out on Tuesday. Later in the week I will probably take a hike back to the bog I visited last week with the hope of finding Bog Copper Butterflies. Until next time stay safe and enjoy your time outdoors!

In Search of the Bog Copper Butterfly

One of my main goals this year, as far as butterflies are concerned, was to try to see if the Bog Copper is present in Delaware County. This butterfly has very specific needs. Its only host plant is cranberry which is found in northern bog habitat. I have been searching for any such habitat online, but I mostly ran into dead ends as the few I found that do exist are on private property. It is extremely rare habitat south of the Adirondacks. The other day I found, what I was hoping, would be a bog with suitable habitat that is on state property. I decided to check it out.

This morning I took a ride to this location and hiked the 3 miles to the bog. Upon reaching the bog I found what I was hoping for. On the sphagnum moss mat there were many Pitcher Plants and Sundews, a sure sign of a healthy bog! Most importantly I found Bog Cranberry, the host plant for the Bog Copper. This does not guarantee the butterfly will be present, but I least I now know there is a good possibly of finding them here. Due to the cold weather, and the lack of sun due to the smoke haze from the Canadian wildfires, I didn’t expect to find any butterflies this morning. Also, I think it is still a few weeks early before this species will hatch. I will definitely be going back here in the coming weeks with the hope of find the Bog Copper.

I took a few pictures below showing the bog, Pitcher Plant, Pitcher Plant flower and the Sundews. The picture of the bog is hazy due to the smoke. Hopefully I can get better pictures in the future.

Bog with Tamarack Trees along edge

Pitcher Plant

Pitcher Plant Flower

Sundew Plant

Tamarack Tree Needles

For those who aren’t aware both the Pitcher Plant and Sundew feed on insects. The Pitcher Plant lures the bugs with the smell of rotting flesh and the Sundew attracts the with the sweet-smelling droplets which are sticky and trap the insects. The Tamarack tree has needles, which unlike other conifers, turn yellow in fall and then are dropped like leaves and then they grow new needles in spring.

Tomorrow, I have to tend to some work in Connecticut, so I won’t be out and about. I hope the weather is better on Friday. If so, I’ll be out somewhere and I’ll let you know how I make out. And, of course, I’ll keep you posted on my quest to find the Bog Copper.

A Trip to Emmon Pond Bog Preserve

This morning I headed out to see what I could find at the Emmon Pond Bog Preserve near Oneonta. The preserve is actually in Delaware County. My hope was that, since it has bog habitat, I might be able to find some new butterflies for the county, specifically Arctic Skipper. A little later in the month I will go back to search for Bog Copper. I arrived a little after 9:30 and started off on my 2-mile hike around the bog.

Years ago, the sphagnum bog came right to the forest edge. Since beavers have returned to the area, the water level has risen, and the pond has extended into the forest while the bog vegetation is now a floating ring inside the pond and is not accessible by foot. On my way to the bog (see picture below), I came upon a

very plain brown butterfly that I was having problems processing. At first, I thought it might be a very worn Eastern Pine Elfin. After going over it in my head for quite some time I’m pretty sure it is a Brown Elfin. This would be a life butterfly for me and a new addition to the Delaware County list. Since the butterfly was so worn it could also be one of the rarer Elfin’s such as Henry’s or Frosted. Since there are a lot of blueberry bushes present at the bog, I think this is a Brown Elfin since that is its host plant in the eastern United States. I have entered it as a Brown Elfin in e-Butterfly and hopefully I’ll get some feedback on it. The picture (see below) is bad, but in my opinion, there is enough there to call this a Brown Elfin.

I never did find any Arctic Skippers today. I’m not ruling them out yet at this location as they my just not have begun to hatch yet. Other finds today included Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (17), Black Swallowtail (1), Pearl Cresent (9), Northern Crescent (3), Harris’s Checkerspot (9), Silvery Blue (16), Common Ringlet (12), American Lady (1), Clouded Sulphur (2) and Hobomok Skipper (3). Pictures of the Harris’s Checkerspot and Silvery Blue are below.

Plants seen today included Wild Geranium…

and Canadian Bunchberry.

All in all, I had a very pleasant four-hour visit to the preserve. I’m not sure what is in store for me tomorrow as I have a few things to get done around the house in the morning and then have to do a favor for my son midday. If I get out later in the day and have anything to report, I will.