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Post by exoticimports on Jul 15, 2021 12:51:47 GMT -8
Finger Lakes region, NY: snow twice in May; June cold. July...one day 30C, then 10 days cold and rain.
Actias luna finally showed up last week, usually first appears late May.
One polyphemus. One cecropia. One io. Zero promethea, zero angulifera.
Zero Tigers spotted during June, and not for lack of field or windshield time.
Everything is so wet I'm fighting to keep indoors humidity below 50%, that's with A/C and dehumidifiers running...and I live on top of a sand hill.
On a positive note, E. phaeton population is high. S. cybele is out very early, and in record numbers- they're everywhere.
Chuck
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Post by gaspipe on Jul 15, 2021 13:47:14 GMT -8
Yes I was out this past weekend in a favorite mountain site . I literally saw several hundred of Speyeria; mainly
cybele and Aphrodite . I walked several miles of dirt roads and every small milkweed patch had a bunch . I netted a few and concentrated on finding cybele with unusual patterns . It was fun to see.
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Post by bandrow on Jul 15, 2021 17:26:18 GMT -8
Well, I guess us beetle guys and you lep guys think somewhat alike. Last week, I spent an hour or so scanning a milkweed patch for red milkweed longhorns (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus) with weird color patterns. Saw several hundred easily, but collected only 7 that had strange markings...
Weather has sucked here too - trains of late afternoon/evening thunderstorms over the last two weeks have destroyed my chances to get the lights out...
Cheers!
Bandrow
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Post by Paul K on Jul 15, 2021 17:42:54 GMT -8
Same here in Toronto area, sucks big time!
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Post by exoticimports on Jul 16, 2021 3:56:02 GMT -8
Last night was the "perfect" night...low about 22C, cloud cover, no rain. All I got were Catocala. And gypsy moths; they ate about 25% of the leaves 20 minutes south of here, next year is our turn.
This weekend back to horrible weather; cold & rain. Thanks, Canada!
Chuck
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Post by exoticimports on Jul 16, 2021 3:57:06 GMT -8
Well, I guess us beetle guys and you lep guys think somewhat alike. Last week, I spent an hour or so scanning a milkweed patch for red milkweed longhorns ( Tetraopes tetrophthalmus) with weird color patterns. Saw several hundred easily, but collected only 7 that had strange markings... Weather has sucked here too - trains of late afternoon/evening thunderstorms over the last two weeks have destroyed my chances to get the lights out... Cheers! Bandrow Ah, OK. What are we looking for? Extra black spots, bigger spots? And why? Chuck |
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Post by livingplanet3 on Jul 16, 2021 5:58:58 GMT -8
Finger Lakes region, NY: snow twice in May; June cold. July...one day 30C, then 10 days cold and rain... Everything is so wet I'm fighting to keep indoors humidity below 50%, that's with A/C and dehumidifiers running...and I live on top of a sand hill... Chuck The weather this year seems quite strange, at least in North America. It all appears to have started with that blast of Arctic cold back in Feb. It's now the middle of summer, but here in TX at least, it does NOT really feel like summer. We've had some "hot" afternoons, but there's been frequent rain, much lower than average night time temperatures, and the whole atmosphere is just saturated with extra moisture - it feels tropical. The plants have gone berserk with growth and increased pollen output, and I've never seen the grass so green and dense before in July. Ordinarily, lawns here would have been scorched to a crisp by now from heat and dryness. My seasonal allergies are worse than they've ever been - constant sinusitis, sneezing, and ringing in the ears! |
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Post by bandrow on Jul 16, 2021 16:09:03 GMT -8
Well, I guess us beetle guys and you lep guys think somewhat alike. Last week, I spent an hour or so scanning a milkweed patch for red milkweed longhorns ( Tetraopes tetrophthalmus) with weird color patterns. Saw several hundred easily, but collected only 7 that had strange markings... Weather has sucked here too - trains of late afternoon/evening thunderstorms over the last two weeks have destroyed my chances to get the lights out... Cheers! Bandrow Ah, OK. What are we looking for? Extra black spots, bigger spots? And why? Chuck Well - the 'why' is easy - there was nothing else in the area more interesting! I was actually out fishing and just stopped to check the milkweed as we left. And the "weird" ones were specimens that had the two basal spots variably merged into large black blotches. They were the unlucky specimens that got between me and an empty killing jar...  Cheers! Bandrow |
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Post by nomihoudai on Jul 17, 2021 20:26:46 GMT -8
I can confirm what livingplanet3 is saying. It has been a much cooler (not a single day above 100F yet) and wetter in Texas than usual. I am in Abilene, TX right now and everything is lush green and there is tons of grasshoppers around. I am on my way to West Texas to see Jeff Bezos escaping Earth. |
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Post by exoticimports on Jul 18, 2021 3:31:36 GMT -8
We are at the tail end of 24 hours and 2.5”’of rain.
The golf course is a lake. We were going to hike the old growth of Zoar Valley today, but the flats are now 3 meters under water. We thought about Ithaca instead, but the high there is to be 61F. Might go anyway since there is a guy in Ithaca advertising a Porsche 944 for sale, but not sure where we would put it.
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Post by kevinkk on Jul 18, 2021 9:41:29 GMT -8
Except for the freak heat wave- of temperature, our weather here in Oregon seems pretty normal, everything seems to be on fire, but
the weather is normal enough.
It just depends on where you live.
I've never known a golf course that didn't flood, maybe those fancy ones for PGA don't, but they're usually just lowland unsuitable for
anything else.
Doing more collecting around the local area, we only have to wait for the marine layer to burn off to make it worthwhile. My net technique
has had to adapt to emphysema, so many things manage to escape my "sit and wait" approach.
Just putting things on the drying board now, time for ID later.
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Post by berg2036 on Jul 18, 2021 16:20:44 GMT -8
This year totally sucks our lake is 10 inches lower than normal at this time, and we have had an inch of rain in two months. Worst drought ive seen ever in Minnesota.
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Post by exoticimports on Jul 18, 2021 16:54:31 GMT -8
Well it finally cleared. 6pm on Sunday. Never hit 70F
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Post by exoticimports on Aug 4, 2021 7:40:23 GMT -8
With nearly continuous hits from severe weather in Upstate NY, mothing was a wash, and the butterfly population keeps crashing.
Following storms I've found numerous butterflies (particularly large papilio) with great sections of wing missing.
Related (or not?) I've also encountered a number of disfigured butterflies, including a Speyeria cybele with a reduced FW, and a Papilio glaucus with shriveled HWs which, due to lack of color, I thought was a male until I inspected it.
There are studies on the impact of cold on species, and of observed daylight (which would be truncated under continuous cloud). Has anyone heard of studies on butterfly populations as impacted by powerful storms? I do remember a cold front with strong winds coming over Lake Ontario during monarch migration, and the south shore was littered with thousands of dead and dying.
Chuck
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