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| Field Trip Report: Richard and
Susan Day's Property July 9, 2006 Eleven club members
visited the Day's beautiful property on a sunny and warm Sunday
afternoon. We tromped around their prairie, marsh, woods, and yard
looking for butterflies and other insects - and we saw a bunch!
By the end of our visit, we had recorded 34 different species of
butterflies and 9 species of dragonflies. Highlights of this
amazing day included large numbers of checkered whites, some friendly
snout butterflies (which, as snouts often do, were perching on arms,
backpacks, and nets), and a wasp-mimicking moth. Many thanks to
the Days for allowing us to enjoy the wonderful habitats they have
created/managed on their property.
*If anyone wants to provide more
complete identification or corrections for any of the below items, Our confirmed butterfly list was: pipevine swallowtail, black swallowtail, eastern tiger swallowtail (yellow and black morphs), spicebush swallowtail, checkered white, cabbage white, clouded sulphur, orange sulphur, cloudless sulphur, little yellow, gray hairstreak, eastern tailed-blue, summer azure, american snout, variegated fritillary, pearl crescent, red admiral, common buckeye, red-spotted purple, viceroy, hackberry emperor, little wood-satyr, monarch, silver-spotted skipper, wild indigo duskywing, common checkered skipper, least skipper, fiery skipper, Peck's skipper, northern broken-dash, little glassywing, sachem, Delaware skipper, Zabulon skipper. feel free to contact the club by email* |
 Checkered white
Checkered white females are similar
in appearance to the much more common cabbage white, but differ in
their spot patterns and the overall bright white wings (as compared to
the yellow/olive cast that cabbage whites often have, especially on
their hindwings).
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 Checkered
white
You
can see the distinctive spot pattern in this action shot of a female
checkered white in flight.
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 Cloudless sulphur
I was happy to get this shot of a
cloudless sulphur nectaring. Typically, these butterflies are just seen
as a quick fly-by.
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 American snout |
 Gray hairstreak
This pretty gray hairstreak was
perched head down on some grass.
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 Fiery skipper
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 Little glassy-wing
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 Least skipper
These tiny skippers were abundant
in the Day's marsh. This individual has an interesting "V" shaped
mark on its wing, which makes me wonder if a bird maybe briefly grabbed
it (probably not, but it makes for an interesting story!).
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 Sachem
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 Peck's skipper
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 Clearwing moth
(Hemaris diffinis) This moth, like the beeflies we saw on last month's trip, mimic the warning coloration of bumblebees (this species is sometimes called the bumblebee moth). Presumably, this color pattern protects them from predation as they hover in front of flowers to gather nectar. |
 Clearwing moth
Same species, different individual and flower species. We saw quite a few of these interesting sphinx moths on our trip. Unlike most of their fellow Lepidoptera ("Scale wings": the insect order that includes butterflies and moths), these moths have few scales on their wings. This clear wing-pattern helps complete their bumblebee disguise. |
 Ash and lilac borer (moth!)
Most of us were fooled by this moth's clever disguise; luckily for us, we had moth expert Terry Harrison along on our trip! Like the clearwing moth above, this moth is disguising itself as an insect that most animals are wary of - in this case a wasp (perhaps a paper wasp). |
 Chrysomelid beetle (species unknown)
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 Jumping spider (species unknown) This cool little spider paused just long enough to pose for a single picture. |
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