Ocola Skipper in Moodus

[Clay Taylor]

Note - I sent this Wed evening, but used the wrong address, so it bounced. Here's Try # 2

Hi all -

    Stayed home from work today and was cutting up a tree in the backyard when the cellphone rang.  As I talked to the caller, I noticed that there was an Ocola Skipper on the Goldenrod about 15 feet away!    That patch was one of my un-mowed "weed patches" a few weeks ago, but now it is the only nectar source in the yard save for the white Buddleia.   After finishing the call, I went for the CoolPix 4500, but the Ocola was VERY skittish, and blasted away on only my second try to photograph it.  Bummer.   I watched those blooms for a few hours, jumping at every dark wasp and bumblebee that I spotted.   No luck.

    If I remember correctly, it was almost EXACTLY 10 years ago when I found an Ocola in my yard, and I didn't have a clue as to what it was, so I netted it and took it into the house to identify it.   I remember I was shaking when I realized what it was, since we had just recently published the CBA Checklist, and Panoquina ocola was NOT on the list!    While I don't collect for my own use, I figured that this one was pretty important, so I euthanized it.   The next CBA Board Meeting was immediately after that, so I took the specimen in to show everybody.   Well, Jeff Young had also had an Ocola at his house, I think the day before mine, but he couldn't get a photograph of his.  I still remember the look on his face when I said that I had collected mine (he was ready to collect ME), but the look of relief on Carol Lemmon's face (that I got the specimen) told me that I had done the right thing.    Later on, we found out that Noble Proctor had collected one the previous year and had sent it to someone in Mass. for curation, so mine was technically the second specimen for CT.    Now I need a Sachem for the Yard List!

    Later in the day, Gracie and I watched 630 BW Hawks, 5 Osprey, 4 TVs, a Red-tail, and TWO Bald Eagles fly over the yard from 3pm to 5pm!    WAY COOL!!!    Debbie got home in time to see the last big stream of 109 BWs pass overhead.   We also saw 12 Monarchs migrating SW above the treetops.

Clay Taylor
Moodus, CT
ctaylor at att.net 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/private/ctleps-l/attachments/20050922/c166686f/attachment.html