Red Admirals

[BrianRFG at aol.com]

Hi Everyone,
    I thought I might offer a little clarification (to the extent that I 
know) about what is going on with Red Admirals here in the Northeast. In a 
nutshell, Red Admirals are migrating and most of the individuals we are 
seeing are on the move. If you happen to have a great garden or a nettle 
patch, many are stopping to feed or lay eggs. However, most are being seen on 
the wing, flying in some sort of northerly direction. They are moving north 
from some undetermined area south of the snow line (or at least where winter 
temps are more moderate than in New England and inland New York). They are 
moving across a wide area of the Mid-Atlantic and New England, with the 
highest concentrations along the coastlines and in the mountains. All of this 
behavior is absolutely typical of this species - the atypical part is the 
magnitude of the flight. Not since 1990 (before most of you guys were 
bothering with butterflies) have we had such a flight. Back in 1990, when you 
were all just plain ol' birders, Red Admirals had a huge flight here (and in 
many parts of the globe) but no one took much notice because few people cared 
about such things. Today it is different and we have lots of butterfly 
watchers and so we're all excited about this migration, which we should be 
'cause it's fantastic. But it isn't the first one and it won't be the last. 
The more documentation we get, the better will be our understanding of the 
phenomena, so I encourage everyone to keep track of their Red Admiral 
sightings. And also to do the same for American Ladies, whose atypically 
large flight was earlier but is still lingering. And watch for other species 
as the season progresses, including Painted Ladies, Common Buckeyes, 
Variegated Fritillaries, and Monarchs. Then there are the return flights in 
the fall, but that's for another day.
    Brian