Buttefly sightings- Northwest Park, Windsor

[Epmanshell at aol.com]

Since Roy Zartarian had to cancel last week's scheduled field trip to  
Northwest Park because of rain, I visited the Park on Saturday, June 18th  and 
was able to find a total of 21 species of butterflies.
 
The list for the day is as follows:
 
Black Swallowtail (3)
Tiger Swallowtail (2)
Spicebush Swallowtail (2)
Cabbage White (70)
Clouded Sulphur (1)
 
Orange Sulphur (7)
Summer Azure (1) (my first of the year)
Great Spangled Fritillary (32)
Question Mark (1)
Common Buckeye (3)
Red-spotted Purple (1)
Viceroy (1)
Common Ringlet (1)
Monarch (1)
Silver-spotted Skipper (15)
Hoary Edge (1)
Southern Cloudywing (1) (my first of the year)
Northern Cloudywing (10)
European Skipper (160)
Peck's Skipper (1)
Tawny-edged Skipper (1) 
 
I also spent a good deal of time chasing a possible Silvery  Blue. The 
insect was light blue above and was a very active,  extremely strong flier that 
spent all its time flying just above ground  level.  It was so active, 
despite my best efforts, I was never able to get  a good look at the underside to 
confirm the identification.
 
Because there are extensive patches of the vetches at this site (vetches  
are the larval food plant for this species), in future years, this site 
should  be searched in late May and the first three weeks of June.  It's possible 
 Silvery Blue has established a colony at this site. 
 
Speaking of vegetation, it was interesting to see how advanced the  season 
was at this site, probably 1-2 weeks more advanced than it is in the  Walli
ngford area.
 
Lenny Brown
Wallingford

 
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