Rick Borchelt, Beth Johnson and Tom Stock reported a number of Northern Cloudywings in Green Ridge State Forest, MD on Saturday (Thanks guys!) So, I took a long lunch today and went up to Hoop Pole Rd to look. It was cloudy but warm. There was a little activity despite the cloudy conditions. A couple of Azure sp. were spotted first and then I saw the first of two Northern Cloudywings. Also had a Hoary Edge on the road trying to keep warm. I only stayed 30 mins before heading back home.
Today Barry Marts and I had a great filed trip visiting two new locations. Short Mountain WMA in Hardy county and Nathaniel Mountain WMA in Hampshire/Hardy counties. As is sometimes the case, unplanned cirumstances lead to sightings we would not have had if our orginal plan had worked out. We drove up to Short Mountain WMA first and expected to drive to the middle saddle area between the ridges where the creek wetlands are and do our sorties from there. However, the entrance gate was locked (on a weekend?) and we ended up walking about 4 miles round trip. We treked up and over the the west ridge to get to the saddle area. This paid dividends as we saw dozens of Little Wood-Satyrs and Dreamy Duskywings and several Hobomok Skippers including a female (which dwarfs the male of this species). Once in the saddle area our notables included a Common Roadside-Skipper, the first Indian Skippers of the year and a few Azure sp.’s in various stages of wear. Now is the time when the first “Summer” Azures (C. neglecta) are getting ready to emerge. Cherry Gall Azure (C. serotina) is currently is flight. After a couple of hours we started the long walk back to the car. Many very large and pale yellow Tiger Swallowtails (likely Appalachian Tiger) escorted us along the way but none ever sat down for closer examination. On the way back a large “Blue” butterfly caught our eyes in flight overhead very close to us and if I was in California I would have had a Blue Copper (that’s how noticable the size difference on this Azure was compared to the others we had seen). To me the wing surface area seemed double the previous Celastrinas. There was no doubt in my mind that it was an Appalachian Azure. It did sit down breifly for a poor, bad angle, harsh sunlight shot. I’m sure there was Black Cohosh somewhere on the vegetated hillside but common sense and Barry prevented me from charging through a bunch of Poison Ivy to get up the hill to look.
Next, we drove over to Nathaniel Mountain WMA. We searched a couple of areas where the access road crossed over one of two power line cuts going up and over the ridge. This is a large WMA (10,675 acres) with a high point just over 3,000ft. Looking east you can see North Mountain near Wardensville, WV and looking west you can look into the valley where Moorefield, WV is located and see the Alleghany Front. The view was stunning on a clear day like today! In the power line cuts our notables included another Common Roadside-Skipper, more Indian Skippers and Hobomok Skippers, a first of year American Copper, a first of year Peck’s Skipper, a fresh Painted Lady and the best butterfly of the day… a lifer Hoary Edge nectoring on Red Clover. We saw a total of 26 species.
* = FOY Pipevine Swalowtail 6 Tiger Swallowtail sp. 12 Spicebush Swallowtail 5 Zebra Swallowtail 1 Cabbage White 2 Clouded Sulphur 5 Orange Sulphur 4 *American Copper 1 Eastern Tailed-Blue 10 Azure sp. 3 Appalachian Azure 1 *Summer Azure 1 C. negelcta Silvery Checkerspot 2 Pearl Crescent 20 American Lady 1 *Painted Lady 1 Little Wood-Satyr 35+ Silver-spotted Skipper 9 *Hoary Edge 1 Dreamy Duskywing 40+ Juvenal's Duskywing 6 Wind Indigo Duskywing 2 *Indian Skipper 4 *Peck's Skipper 1 Hobomok Skipper 17 Common Roadside-Skipper 2 Zabulon Skipper 1
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While coming back from the mountains yesterday I received a ping from a butterfly buddy (Rick Borchelt – his excellent Lep Blog link is in the right hand column) that 4 Harvesters had been puddling at Indian Springs WMA in Washington county, MD. It was too late to go but when I got up this morning it was already 76 degrees an sunny. I decided to do the hour drive to go look. This off-the-charts beauty is found almost entirely in woodland habitats. It is unique among butterflies in that its larvae are carnivorous and feed upon woolly aphids. I only had to wait 15 minutes before one came to a puddle in the road where is was reported the day before. 15 minutes later a second one came in. Thanks go out to a birding friend I’ve met a couple of times (Jim Stasz) for the initial find. Thank you Jim and Rick!
Although I was still tired from the long NJ trip the day before, the great weather forecast for the WV mountains pulled my wife and I and our dog Shadow outward and upward to the 3,150ft elevation of Blackwater Falls State Park. We spent a couple of hours looking for butterflies and found 10 species. The highlight was a pair of Pepper and Salt Skippers (lifer). This rare grass skipper is a more northern species but also is seen down the spine of the Appalachians. I just love the checkered margins. Its host plants include Indian grass and Bluegrass. A number of azures were also seen on the wing. The location and time of year favors C. lucia (Northern Azure). Dreamy Duskywings (5) were in good suuply along with a couple of Meadow Fritillaries (FOY). Another FOY was the large Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail. There is only one flight for this species ending around the first of July. For more information on this recently described species go here: Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail
Barry Marts and I left the eastern panhandle in the pre-sunrise light heading for what we hoped would be a good day of lep’ing in southern New Jersey. We were searching for specific target species and we weren’t sure if we wouldn’t be too late in the season for a couple of them. As it turned out we weren’t and many lifers ensued for yours truly over the course of the day. The first stop was near Millville at Bevans WMA. This is a known location for Dusted Skipper. After searching a power line cut for 1hr 45 mins we finally located one. This uncommon skipper favors areas of Blue Stem grasses. Next we went down to Lizard Tail Swamp near Cape May Court House, NJ. This was a known location for Frosted Elfins. It only took about 5 mins to locate one once we were in the right area. We saw 6 total. Knowing the Frosted Elfin’s host plants of lupines and Wild Indigo helps you find this butterfly. Frosted looks very similar to Hoary Elfin but can be separated by a dark spot on the sub-marginal ventral hind wing (VHW). Being two for two we headed 1 hour north to the Pine Barrens area near Warren Grove, NJ. This is where there is a White Cedar Swamp, the habitat to find the uncommon to rare (in NJ) Hessel’s Hairstreak. This small (even for a hairstreak) butterfly’s host is White Cedar. We searched a known location where blooming Hign Bush Blueberry and Sand Myrtle were in close proimity to the cedars. In the afternoon the hairstreak likes to come down to nectar. The only unknown was, would we find one as the late recorded date for this species on the So. New Jersey B/Log was May 20th and this was May 25th. After 1hr 45mins we found the first of three. Jubilation! This is a new late date for NJ. Another notable find was a Red-banded Hairstreak. It was now 5pm and Barry suggested we head over to another area of Warren Grove where Hoary Elfins had been seen the week prior. Even though the Hoary’s hostplant Bearberry was no longer blooming there of course was a chance for lingering elfins. Once we arrived it took a whole 5 mins before Barry found one. It was very worn and sitting on it’s host plant. Over the next 30 mins we located two more. What can I say about the day… WOW!, four lifers. The trip home was sweet and easy.
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