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Post by luehdorf on May 19, 2019 2:10:50 GMT -8
Same is happening here in Germany! I went to a mountain valley 16th of May (800m asl) and it was just 15 degrees Celsius and exactly the same butterflies as on the 16th of April this year. Only Anthocharis and Gonepteryx. Last year on the 18th of May 2018, the weather was much warmer, vegetation at least four times as high, and many butterflies on the wing, from Parnassius mnemosyne, to many Lycaenidae, and early summer species.
And also the same observation from Beijing China right now. It is cold and grey, a lot of rain, all species at least two weeks to three weeks behind normal schedule, and far less butterflies than last year.
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Post by Adam Cotton on May 19, 2019 3:47:36 GMT -8
I was told that there were no spring species at all flying in Guangdong (S. China) too, even commoner ones, when there should have been.
Adam.
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Post by exoticimports on May 19, 2019 4:27:49 GMT -8
Upstate NY: first Didaemia inscriptum came to the porch light. A month later than normal.
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Post by eurytides on May 19, 2019 9:08:41 GMT -8
May 18, 10°C, clouds, showers or rain every day, still no butterflies. Very depressing spring or I should say warmer winter. There was a joke about Canadian seasons: in Canada there are two seasons: winter and July. It looks like this joke is becoming reality. Lots of red admiral ova on the nettle in my back yard! You should go egg hunting Paul.
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Post by Paul K on May 19, 2019 10:35:12 GMT -8
May 18, 10°C, clouds, showers or rain every day, still no butterflies. Very depressing spring or I should say warmer winter. There was a joke about Canadian seasons: in Canada there are two seasons: winter and July. It looks like this joke is becoming reality. Lots of red admiral ova on the nettle in my back yard! You should go egg hunting Paul. Indeed there are many V.atalanta this year. I went today to a local conservation area but I only found V.atalanta and one P.rapae, no Lycaenidae or other spring species. Very strange. The weather is quite warm and sunny.
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leptraps
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Post by leptraps on May 26, 2019 9:31:11 GMT -8
Well spring is almost gone and summer is upon us. Visited several locations in Harrison County, Indiana. I collected two form or species of Celastrina depending on what you think what is. Celastrina are seasonally variable and sexually dimorphic. I think the larger bright blue individuals are Celastrina ladon and the smaller blue with a dark black wing edge are Celastrina ladon neglecta and the larger light blue in Celastrina Celastrina ladon neglecta_major.
I am not an expert on Celastrina. There are 12 different described names for this group of blues. Celastrina argiolus is the early spring species, or subspecies. And then the is Celastrina ebenina or is it Celastrina ebenina nigra.
I also collected three specimen of Feniseca tarquinius. There is an absence of Colias this spring here in Kentucky. However, the weather gets hot this weekend.
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Post by boghaunter1 on Jun 11, 2019 18:09:36 GMT -8
Hello fellow Collectors,
A quick update from central, NE Sask., Canada. Conditions have improved, although it still remains very dry having received only 3/10" (7-8mm) of rain since snow melted early-mid April. To date I have observed/collected only 30 spp. of butterflies... Half a dozen winter hibernators, 3 migrants, & the rest spring emergents. Very low numbers of butterflies in general. Huge swings in temperatures... The last 4 days, daytime temps. were barely 14C (57F) with night temps. 2-4C (37-39F). We also had a few days when temp. reached 31C (88F)!
Lilacs are in full bloom & are swarming with dozens of migrant Painted Ladies (V. cardui) & Red Admirals (V. atalanta). The Painted Ladies started showing up in small numbers in the last week of May & have steadily increased in numbers to date. The Red Admirals only started showing up last Friday the 7th of June & are still increasing in numbers. Another interesting migrant that also showed up briefly on the 7th was a single, beautiful female Monarch (D. plexippus) nectaring on the Lilacs. The Monarch is a rare sighting this far north & this particular specimen (observed it only.. did not collect) is the 1st one I have observed here in more than 5 years. I'm interested in hearing reports of migrant spp. (especially the Monarch) in your area of the U.S. & Canada.
John K.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2019 18:26:57 GMT -8
I saw and failed to catch a monarch today. First one I've seen this year.
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Post by fishnbugz on Jun 15, 2019 7:01:28 GMT -8
It took a long time to get started here in Nebraska, but I've taken a few fishing trips to South Dakota where the habitat has not been so thoroughly destroyed and did pretty well up there on my bug lights. I think I've only taken about a dozen moths at home though the light has been on all spring- it's barely worth the effort to walk out there so far, though I still keep doing it.
I took the first trip to SD in April, fished below Ft Randall Dam and ran my lights at the camper a few miles upstream. Walleye bite was excellent, and I documented at least one new "lifer" species moth off the lights even though it got pretty chilly each night.
Next trip was mid-may, weather was terrible and only reason I was there was to take some family out in the boat. It was too cold for fish or bugs, but my grandkids made some memories and had fun with the other kids.
May 29-June 1 I hit a little better weather, though not hot it was nice and the bugs were coming to the light pretty well. I had several A polyphemus at the lights, and a nice list of sphinx moths- Sphinx vashti, Paonias myops, Smerinthus Jamaicensis, Deidama inscripta, Sphecodina abbottii, Hyles lineata, Ceratomia undulosa. I took some smaller moths and a nice P glaucus. The fishing was decent on the lake but the water was very high, with most boat ramps underwater.
Since that trip I've had a few Hyles Euphorbiae and a Paonias excaecata here at home, and a few H lineata and C undulosa- but it remains very slow. There are lots of red admiral and silver-spotted skippers, and a few Papilio glaucus in the yard the last couple days but I don't need to collect any so I just enjoy their presence.
Latest camping trip was the nights of June 10-11-12, and I added a new lifer and possibly a new SD record with Sphinx kalmiae- a friend gave me one he found in Sioux City Iowa last year, but I had never collected it myself. I added Darapsa myron, Paonias excaecata, and Sphinx drupiferarum to the SD 2019 sphinx list. I saw the first 2 Apantesis virgincula of the year, and a few other tiger moths- 2 cycnia species, H cunea, and A phalerata. I've caught one Plusia contexta and one Nerice bidentata each of the last 2 trips, and a few geometrids and noctuids. We saw a few Monarchs up there this time, and my granddaughter(age 7) caught a male with my net and insisted we keep it- I couldn't tell her no. I actually saw a nice uptick in migrating Monarchs here last fall. Back in the 90's there would sometimes be thousands of migrating monarchs in my yard in September though...
It's been a very eye-opening experience to be able to collect these two areas- near home it's intensively farmed and it appears most species are uncommon or have been eradicated; meanwhile in SD where the habitat isn't destroyed, I've documented a whole list of species, including many that aren't even supposed to be there according to most online sources.
I went back to the camper
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Post by bugboys3 on Jun 17, 2019 9:05:30 GMT -8
I have seen several Papilio cresphontes in my yard this past week. I caught one today. I have had several monarch caterpillars eating my butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa).
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Post by boghaunter1 on Jul 28, 2019 11:42:10 GMT -8
Update here in NE SK, Canada,
Very poor year up here overall for butterflies. Have only observed/collected 50 spp. in my immediate area to this date 28th July (usually 60-65 spp. normal yrs.). Even dragonflies are way down... all probably related to the very dry start to the season... lots of rain now though... almost every second day!
Hundreds of new, freshly emerged 2nd gen. Painted Ladies showing up everywhere on Thistles, Alfalfa & Red Clover. The most common sp. of butterfly in my immediate is the tiny, orange, European Skipper (Thymelicus lineola) whose larvae feed on Timothy grass which grows voluntarily in abundance in all the roadside ditches. The European Skipper was introduced accidentally near London, Ontario, Canada around 1910 and has since spread throughout eastern N. Am.& Canada. I 1st collected this sp. in SE Sask. about 20+ yrs. ago. Around 7-8 yrs. ago I collected 2 specimens a few miles from my farm yd. They have increased by the thousands in the intervening yrs. & especially so in the past 3 yrs. & are now found throughout my area... even many miles into bush logging roads where Timothy quickly establishes itself. This sp. is unique in overwintering in the egg form... the tiny eggs are the same size as Timothy seeds & this is how they are thought to have been introduced to N .Am... in contaminated seed from Europe. Thankfully very little cultivated fields of Timothy are grown for hay/seed in my area & larval feeding damage is not an issue... perhaps though further south in Canada & in the states?
John K.
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