[Ctleps-l] Berkshires Trip 5/31

Raymond Simpson raymond.simpson at yale.edu
Sun May 31 18:39:56 EDT 2015


Hey all,

Went up to western Mass. as this was my "now or never" attempt because work
load is only going to get worse in the next month.  I wanted to check out
Moran WMA for the Arctic Skipper which I had never seen before.  It was a
nice habitat and I would have put out a sheet there at night if it wasn't
so windy and in the open Sat.  There was a lot of poplar, willow, and
cherry and my moth sampling spots usually do not sample such habitats.

I also dropped by Mt. Greylock at around 2:30pm where I saw Early
Hairstreak with a Massachusetts photographer last year.  Surprisingly I
didn't see anyone out there looking for it but I never did see any this
day.  Very strange.  I was a bit late for the Early last year, but it
doesn't seem the Early lived up to it's name this year.  All the other
species are the same as last year, almost to the exact list!

Did some moth collecting in Beartown St. Forest but a burst of rain ruined
what was building to a decent sheet.  The sheet was sparse on new arrivals
after that I guess because of wet conditions.  I got a late *Feralia
comstocki, Bellura obliqua, Leuconycta diptheroides, and Maliattha
concinnimacula*.  A nice green trifecta!  It was very geo heavy, like
always in the late spring.

*Moran WMA*:
Tiger Swallowtail (Canadian?) - 2 (one very pale like a Pale Swallowtail) -
I think Canadian is the species up here but I did not catch any to confirm.
Black Swallowtail - 2 (M/F)
Clouded Sulphur - 12+ (many whites all turned out to be white female
*Colias*)
Orange Sulphur - 2 (beat females, one flirting with a male *philodice*)
Spring Azure - 5 (very worn out)
Cherry Gall Azure - 1 (fresher male with *neglecta* underside, collected)
Pearl Cresent - 6+ (these were fast fliers but my vouchers look like
typical Pearl Crescent and not the Northern Crescent)
Common Ringlet - 2
Gray Comma - 1 (first outside NH for me, buzzed by while my net was
occupied with a non-lep)
Dreamy Duskywing - 6+
Arctic Skipper - 20+ (these things were all over the place in twos and
threes)

*Mt. Greylock*:
West Virginia White - 5 (one tiny one that I thought was a Orangetip)
White Admiral/Redspotted Purple - 2 (one with full bands and one
intermediate with blue)
Red Admiral - 1 (on summit)
Mourning Cloak - 7 (top of Stony Ledge Trail)
Common Ringlet - 2 (Jones Nose Trailhead)
Hobomok Skipper  - 3 (males)
Pepper & Salt Skipper - 3
NO Early Hairstreak!

Greylock is a great spot to hike, and the view from the top is awesome.

Odes were quite poor in diversity:
Common Baskettail - 10+
Common Whitetail - 2
Clubtail sp. (prob. Lancet) - 1

Also saw Hummingbird Clearwing (2)

Ray Simpson
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