Butterflies and Weather and counts

[Clay Taylor]

All -

    Sorry about the geographical imprecision.  I should have said Southern
New England.  Of course, if you are from CA or TX or The Midwest, that's
still "The East".

    Also sorry to hear that Michael's count was low. My Madison / Old Lyme
SBC on 6/19 set a new record for species and the total number of individuals
was greater than the last three years' counts combined.  In the past few
days, the next generation of whites and sulphurs have popped out, summer
skippers and satyrs are emerging, and the butterflying is good.

Clay

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Gochfeld" <gochfeld at EOHSI.RUTGERS.EDU>
To: <leps-l at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2001 6:11 AM
Subject: Re: Butterflies and Weather and counts


> Clay Taylor wrote (re Moodus CT):
>     "In the East, we have had pretty favorable weather for leps, so the
> year seems to be above average and slightly ahead of schedule (with the
> exception of Monarchs - they are few and far between)."
>
> We in New Jersey are apparently not in the same "East" since butterflies
> have not been particularly numerous this year (except for the Vanessas,
>  Red Admiral and American Lady).  Even Pierids (Cabbage, sulphurs) have
> been low).
>
> Yesterday (June 30) we held the seventh Lakehurst 4jc with essentially
> identical coverage as last year.  The species count of 42 was the same
> as last year but there were fewer than half the number of individuals.
> More importantly every observer commented on the dearth of butterflies.
> It was a hot, miserable day. We thought the heat may have influenced
> activity, but when we checked spots in the afternoon there wasn't much
> improvement. Nectar sources, particularly Common Milkweed (A. vulgaris)
> were abundant.
>
> We'll see what the other New Jersey counts show.
>
> Mike Gochfeld
>
>
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