Large milkweed bug adult and nymphs on milkweed pod.

Field Trip Report: Property of Gary and Diane Cole
  September 16, 2007

We had a beautiful day - 70s and sunny - to hike around the Cole's property and look for butterflies.  And the 12 GPBC members on the trip saw a lot, with 28 butterfly and skipper species on our list for the day.  Thanks a bunch to the Coles for their hospitality on our trip!

 Our butterfly species list for the day was: pipevine swallowtail, black swallowtail, giant swallowtail, spicebush swallowtail, tiger swallowtail, cabbage white, orange sulphur, clouded sulphur, dainty sulphur, little yellow, eastern tailed-blue, gray hairstreak, American snout, pearl crescent, question mark, Eastern comma, painted lady, red admiral, common buckeye, viceroy, Northern pearly-eye, monarch, silver-spotted skipper, least skipper, fiery skipper, Peck's skipper, tawny-edged skipper, sachem.
*If anyone wants to provide more complete information or corrections for any of the below items, feel free to contact the club by email*

All photos copyright Paul V. Switzer. Please do not use without permission




Viceroy

You can distinguish the viceroy from the monarch by the black semi-circle on its hindwing (compare to the monarch, below) and by its usually smaller size.  Viceroys aren't common visitors to flowers, typically preferring sap and rotten fruit instead, but this one is enjoying some nectar.

Fiery skipper


Orange sulphur
Pipevine swallowtail

Gray hairstreak


  Eastern comma

Pearl crescent

Eastern tailed-blue
This male is giving us a rare glimpse of the pretty blue upper surface of his wings.  Eastern tailed-blues typically hold their wings closed so that you can only see their gray undersides.

Wild indigo duskywing


Monarch

Giant swallowtail caterpillar
(on wafer ash)

Yellow-collared scape moth

Ambush bugs
(Phynata spp.; mating pair)
These fearsome bugs capture visitors to flowers much like the flower spider.  They can capture insects much larger than they are; they are about half the size of a honey bee, and I've seen them sucking on the juices of painted lady butterflies.
Katydid nymph
You can tell that this individual is not full grown by the fact that its wings aren't functional yet - they are simply wing pads.

Slaty skimmer
Slaty skimmer
Same individual as the photo on the left.

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