Other recent finds

I don't think I have posted a pic yet of Fiery Skipper.  I had seen one skipping around on The Grove (a rooftop terrace) at work, but could only get bad pics of it with my cell phone.  Of course, I took my good camera two days in a row and the bug was a no-show.  After the second day of no-showness I came home only to find Fiery Skipper skipping between my lantana and butterfly bush.  WhooHoo, so several ggod pics.
  Then last weekend was out painting my cargo box for the trip west and noticed something different on the butterfly bush.  After about 20 minutes of trying, was finally able to get a good pic of a Sachem.  My first of the year.  Funny thing is, the day before I had emailed a guy in Illinois  seeking his recommendation for a site there that I might see Sachem, because, at the time, I had not seen any in Ohio.  Funny how things work out.
  My next post should be from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, with a report of all the cool stuff I saw at Big Bone Lick State Park (I love that name!).

Sachem

Fiery Skipper

Record day in southeast Ohio

  As I sit here with ice on my knee, I am able to reflect on what has been without a doubt the most fun and interesting day of the butterfly year so far.  Hopefully the knee will self-repair.  THe last doc visit in February she thought I had a ligament flip in there.  She says sometimes they flip back, sometimes it takes surgery to flip them back.  Since I don't have insurance, we'll wait for it to flip back on its own!
  So anyways, I have titled today's blog Record Day.  Set the record today for most species in a day with 31.  Tied the record for most species at a site (The Ridges) with 25.  Today ties with Trimble Community Forest.  One new species for the BBY with Sleepy Orange, but several species that I was not really expecting to see.
  Started the day at The Ridges, and it started rather slowly.  Had probably walked about a quarter mile before I saw my first butterfly, a Hackberry Emperor hiding in the canopy of a cherry tree.  Couldn't see it very well, but well enough to see the diagnostic features.
  Not long after the Hackberry, I found a lifer, but not a butterfly.  I found a pot of pot!  The grower had hidden the pot behind a small clump of Wingstem.  Well of course, Mr. Butterfly nerd had to visit the clump of Wingstem because the skippers and gray hairstreaks tend to like to hang out on wingstem.  So I got pics of the container garden and UTM coordinates and will report it to my contact at Ohio University, since The Ridges is OU property.
  Some other surprises at The Ridges were the sheer number of Peck's Skippers.  In fact, I was considering titling this blog as "Peeked a Peck of Pretty Pecks", but talked myself out of it.  Tallied 51 Peck's Skippers at The Ridges.  Another surprise was a Red-banded Hairstreak nectaring on milkweed by the Dairy Lane gravel parking area.  For two years, I had seen a grand total of two of these butterflies.  I think I am now up to about ten just for this year.  Also saw Gemmed Satyr.  I have seen this at The Ridges before, but normally not this late in the season, so that was a pleasant surprise.
  After The Ridges, and my pot of pot, I swung by the bong and pipe store and got new boots.  Totally not making this up.  In uptown Athens there is a store (Import House) that has shoes and apparel on one side of the store and the other side is bongs, pipes, etc.  Was looking to get Merrell boots but their selection was very limited.  THe whole reason I go there for boots is because they are the closest Merrell dealer to where I live.  Instead got Keen boots.  First time I ever worn Keen.  We'll see how they work.

Sleepy Orange

Pot of Pot

Red-spotted Purple

Fiery Skipper

Cardinal Flower at Hope Furnace.  Not a butterfly plant, but a great hummingbird plant!

Hope Furnace

  Then lunch then a stop at the Athens/Vinton county line on OH56.  Don't normally see a lot of butterflies there, but tend to see unusual things.  Last year saw Coral Haristreak and Little Yellow around this time of year.  Sadly, the road mowing crew had gone through not long ago and mowed down all the nectar, so not hardly a butterfly in sight.  I was really hoping for Little Yellow.
  Moved on to Hope Furnace.  Normally this time of year, I would have a chance at Cloudless Sulphur and Sleepy Orange because of the large patches of Senna there.  Cloudless never showed up, but did manage to find a Sleepy.  I know in AZ I will probably see hundreds of Sleepys, but was kind of fun to get the first of the year in Ohio.
  Also at Hope Furnace I saw a couple of species that I rarely see in southeast Ohio, including American Snout and Common Checkered Skipper.  Was fun to see those.
  The complete list of today's species (in order of observation): Hackberry Emperor, Pearl Crescent, Least Skipper, Monarch, Crossline Skipper, Little Glassywing, Northern Pearly Eye, Gemmed Satyr, Peck's Skipper, Black Swallowtail, Orange Sulphur, Eastern-tailed Blue, Wild Indigo Duskywing, Common Wood Nymph, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Red-spotted Purple, Common Buckeye, Clouded Sulphur, Cabbage White, Great Spangled Fritillary, Spicebush Swallowtail, Tawny-edged Skipper, Gray Hairstreak, Fiery Skipper, Red-banded Hairstreak, Carolina Satyr, Zabulon Skipper, Silver-spotted Skipper, Sleepy Orange, Common Checkered Skipper and American Snout.

Backyard Jewels

   Last Monday decided to take a break from my many projects and my two youngest and I walked around the field behind my trailer.  Officially, the field is on Berne Union school property, and is part of the cross country team's race course.  While in the picture below it doesn't look like much, on either side of the path, its loaded with clover.  While clover is not native to the area, it certainly is one doosey of a butterfly magnet.
  One of the first butterflies that we saw was Variegated Fritillary, a new one for the BBY, and not necessarily unexpected.  I usually see a handful of these at The Ridges each summer.  And, strangely enough, the most common butterfly of the day was Common Buckeye, although there were a lot of sulphurs and I have trouble telling Clouded from Orange at a distance, so probably a few went uncounted.  But still, in nearly fourteen years of butterfly observation, this is the first time that Buckeye was the most tallied species.  I know there is a lot of Plantago in the field as well as clover.  That probably explains it.

Variegated Fritillary

The magic field behind Berne Union School.  Good mothing in here as well.

Peck's Skipper

  Ended up with 22 species and 149 individuals, both of which rank third in their respective categories for the year.  Not bad for a spontaneous trip out the back door!  Total species for the BBY stands at 68, although at work yesterday I think I saw Fiery Skipper, which would be number 69, but the photo on my phone is hard to see and I cannot figure out how to get the image off of my phone onto the computer.  Hopefully I will get time at work tomorrow to go looking for it again, this time with a real camera.

Tigers Everywhere

I guess to every dark cloud there is a silver lining.  Spent my morning this morning spending money.  $24.99 to change oil in the truck.  $35 to change oil in the motorcycle (explain how that makes sense!).  $25 for supplies to build a new "saddlebag" for the back of the motorcycle, so I will have a lockable compartment for the trip west.  I was all ready to get started on the box and I could not find the tape measure.  So, the box had to wait, which gave me opportunity to go to Clear Creek Metro Park for butterfly fun.
  I had not been to Clear Creek since June 25, and I thought a new brood of Tiger Swallowtails had emerged.  I was right!  Three miles of hiking yielded a total of 147 Tiger Swallowtails.  Today was a record day as far as total butterflies.  My previous record for most butterflies at a single site had been 161 at The Ridges on July 5.  Today's total of 262 smashed that record.  Although, today's species count fell one short of tying the record of 25 set at Trimble on June 9.  Unfortunately, no new species for the BBY today.
  On the plus side, I did get a picture of Giant Swallowtail, so it can now officially count for the BBY.  I have a pic of Giant Swallowtail on my cell phone taken at my work, but I cannot figure out how to get pictures out of my phone and into the computer.  So, now I have a picture that I can work with.
  BTW, my species total for the year is 67.  If you recall, my original goal for the BBY was 200.  On my trip west I expext to add potentially another 40-50 species.  So, as you can see, my species total will fall woefully short of 200.  As I have progressed through the BBY, I have learned a few things about myself.  Among them, I prefer to experience the unexpected rather than the expected.  I get excited in not knowing what I may find.  I also get extremely disappointed in not finding what I was expecting to find.  I guess in a way, its an altered version of a quote from the movie Dodgeball on my personal facebook page.  "If you have a goal you might not reach it, but if you don't have a goal, you'll never be disappointed."  I guess for me, its more about the thrill of the unexpected rather than the drive to achieve the goal.
  BTW, today I surpassed my individual butterfly count goal of 2000.  Am now up to 2247 individual butterflies.  I have also given up on the goal of having 500 followers on facebook.  The project has not taken off among butterfly nerds like I had thought it would.  However, I am really thankful for the couple handfuls of followers that the project does have.  I am reminded of another quote from another movie.  This one by Zooey Deschanel's character in Yes Man, where, talking about her rock band makes a comment something to the effect (don't have it memorized) of, "I know we'll never make it big, but we have a handful of groupies and its fun, thats why I do it."
  So, today was fun.  And it beat digging holes in the sun all day.
  Finally, my apologies for today's photo quality.  Lots of pics came out blurry for some reason.

Lots of Tiger Swallowtails

Giant Swallowtail

Eastern Comma lurking in the bushes

Viewer discretion advised!

Southern Ohio prairies

Last Monday took a trip to extreme southern Ohio, to Lynx Prairie and Adams Lake Prairie.  I was hoping to maybe get a late Juniper Hairstreak and Giant Swallowtail.  Of course, on previous trips when I went looking for specific things, I have normally struck out.
  Started at Lynx.  Was rather surprised at the lack of butterflies.  The Liatris was blooming nicely, although not as robust as last year.  Some parts of the prairie looked rather dry.  A lot of Silvery Checkerspots, Eastern-tailed Blues and Carolina Satyrs, but nothing unexpected.  Did see Swarthy Skipper which I don't see everyday.  Last year the Liatris was covered with skippers, duskywings, and giant swallowtails.  Not this year.
  At Lynx a total of 13 species, 57 individuals.
  Moved on to Adams Lake State Park and the prairie restoration project there.  Once again, a lot of nectar (Liatris) but very few butterflies.  I had never been to Adams Lake before, although I have ridden past numerous times.  It was not as big as I was expecting.  I did pick up two new species for the BBY though.  Giant Swallowtail (one flying through pretty fast) and Gray Hairstreak (the last butterfly of the day).  The Hairstreak was a little tricky, a lot more orange than I am accustomed to seeing on Gray Hairstreak.  For awhile was debating whether it may be Northern Oak Hairstreak, but after some image searches and comparing to mine, I do believe it to be Gray.  I would rather it had been Oak, because I expect to see a lot of Grays the remainder of the season.  Oh well.
  A total of 10 species, 20 individuals.  See, very few butterflies for so much nectar there.  Probably not enough host plant diversity.  A total of 17 species for the day, which makes it pretty average.

Silvery Checkerspot @ Lynx Prairie

Tawny-edged Skipper nectaring on, of all things, wild onion.

Carolina Satyr @ Lynx Prairie

Adams Lake Prairie

Gray Hairstreak @ Adams Lake Prairie

  Rode home through the Amish country near Bainbridge.  One of these days I should stop at the farmers market and pick up something.  I enjoy riding through Amish country.  Maybe it helps put things back in perspective, even briefly.  Guess sometimes I wonder if the Amish in fact have it right and the rest of us do not.  Bikes and horses.  No stressing over gas prices.  No 82 mile round trip commutes.  I bet they don't stress about the childish behavior exhibited by our elected representatives (ha, thats a laugh) in Washington.  I think I could be Amish, except for attire, and having to take the engine off the bike!