More coastal migrants

[Dale Roberts/Bill Yule]

Hi lep people.
   It seems the season of the migrants is upon us. Just this past week and a half we've had Sachems up and down the coast from New Haven to Old Lyme and before that many of us had never seen a Sachem in Connecticut before.  Fiery Skippers are putting in a good appearance too. The garden centers and nurseries along the shoreline are turning into hotspots for some of these and all are worth checking out. Today I did a little local rambling and here's what I saw.

Variegated Fritillary. Common Buckeye:  Braemore Property, North Guilford.
American Snout. Jared Elliot Preserve. Guilford.
Pipevine Swallowtail:  Zinnia patch at Bishop's Orchard, Guilford. Also 30++ Monarchs.
Fiery Skipper (2), Sachem Skipper (3), Silver-spotted Skipper, Peck's Skipper, Monarch (40+):  These were all at the Buddleas at Van Wilgrens Nursery, Branford CT.

       Last week I reported on a behavioral interaction between a male and female Fiery skipper.  The male bumped the tip of the abdomen of the female repeatedly with his head. I eventually got some good responses to my question about this and the one that makes the most sense is that he was trying to get her to fly so he could check her out for potential mating.  Today I saw exactly the same behavior between a male and female Sachem at Van Wilgren's Nursery.  The male landed behind her as she nectared and bumped her twice. She flew and he pursued.  This probably happens all the time but I'd just never noticed before.  Now I'll probably see this everytime I go out and have to think to myself " How could I have been so dense to not have noticed that before.'" Oh well, live and learn...sometimes!

     One more thing for the record.  I saw about thirty or forty Clouded/Orange Sulfurs today.  Two females were the "white" form (no idea which Sulfur they were) and a third was the dusty green fall form that Alex G described for us yesterday. That's all folks.

                                           Bill Yule
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