I missed out last year on taking a trip to New Jersey for the locally rare to uncommon Dotted Skipper, a skipper of “Special Concern” found in recovering burn areas within Pine Barren sections of the state. Barry Marts and I visited a known site in Ocean County, NJ. We arrived early (butterfly time wise) in hopes that some would be warming up for the days activities before getting into full gear during the heat of the afternoon when they are less likely to stop for any length of time. In 1 1/2 hours we found seven. They were very fond of the scattered patches of Pine Barrens Sandwort (Arenaria caroliniana). With the mission accomplished we high tailed it back to Green Ridge State Forest where Banded Hairstreaks were putting on a nice show at eye level. We even located a pair of “bonding bandeds” (image below). All in all it was a great day for butterflies. Dotted Skipper was a lifer for me.
BTW, look carefully at the Banded Hairstreak photo and see if you can find a few orange scales above the blue hind wing spot. This is something I have read about but is the first time I’ve actually seen it.
Click on any image below to enlarge
 |
 |
 |
 |