Pre-Rain Dash

Today was supposed to be motorcycle maintenance day.  Changed the oil first thing this morning, and then was shceduled for a 10AM front tire replacement at ASK Suzuki in Lancaster.  Sadly the father of the mechanic there passed away last night which means no new tire today.
  So, instead I took advantage of the short-lived sunshine and went to the Big Pine rapelling area in Hocking County.  Big Pine is NOT known as a butterfly hotspot, but I wanted to go someplace different, and didn't want to waste my limited sunshine driving, so I stayed close.
  Even though I didn't not get any new species for the BBY, I did enjoy the visit and saw some cool stuff.  The Big Pine area is known for huge puddle parties of swallowtails and today was true to form.  At the entry into the parking lot was a puddle party of roughly 20 swallowtails, all Tigers except for a lone Spicebush.  There were also several Juvenal's Duskywings puddling in the parking lot.
  Perhaps the most exciting find was when I got back to the parking lot and noticed a puddling moth!  Had never witnessed that before.  And this moth was new to me.  Obviously some sort of sphinx, but which one?  Turns out to be Nessus Sphinx.  Did some research to find it had never been reported to BAMONA from Hocking County, so a county record to boot!  In fact, very few moths have been reported to BAMONA from Fairfield or Hocking counties (we live right on the line).  I may need to go through moth lighting pics from the last two years and report some more county records.  Some folks had tried to convince me to add moths to this year's efforts and I initially poo-poo'ed it.  I may be rethinking that decision!

Swallowtail puddle party

Spicebush Swallowtail

Nessus Sphinx

  Today's species list: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Spicebush Swallowtail, Juvenal's Duskywing, Pearl Crescent, Meadow Fritillary, Eastern Tailed Blue, Comma, Question Mark, and Silver-spotted Skipper.