I attended a birding festival (Canaan Valley) over the past weekend and butterflies were also on the agendga as part of a few field trips. Despite some showers on Friday the rest of the weekend was partly cloudy with temps mostly in the mid 60’s to lower 70’s. At Spruce Knob Lake we found a Sleepy Orange which was my first in the Appalachians. Other notables included a late Northern Azure (C. lucia – marginata form), many Harris’s Checkerspots, Common Ringlets, Silver-bordered Fritillary and the first of year European Skippers (at Sceneca Rocks). Appalachian Tiger Swallowtails were putting on a good show. The “Appy’s” flight will be winding down by the end of June. Don Casavecchia took a photo of a Harris’s Checkerspot mining minerals from my hand which is included here. Things are a poppin now!
