Michigan Butterfly Observations

Robert Kriegel kriegelr at msu.edu
Mon Jun 4 11:48:20 EDT 2001


Hello all,

I just returned from four days (5/29-6/1) of sampling Lepidoptera in the
eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan with Mogens Nielsen, Owen Perkins and
Martin Andree.  We observed the following species:

Papilio canadensis -- present in large numbers, lots of tippling observed
Colias philodice
Pieris napi
Colias eurytheme -- a few females
Callophrys augustinus -- still common, but on the decline
Callophrys niphon
Callophrys eryphon -- observed at several locations
Erora laetus - I was very fortunate to take one male on a sunny two-track
in beech maple forest -- W O W !
Celastrina lucia - large numbers, many individuals are worn
Glaucopsyche lygdamus -- two individuals nectaring on lilacs, Luce county
record
Boloria frigga - beginning of emergence in the eastern UP
Boloria freija -- tail end of flight, a significant number of individuals
were observed at one of our reference localities but they are very worn and
will be gone soon
Polygonia interrogationis
Polygonia faunus
Polygonia satyrus
Vanessa virginiensis -- still very common
Vanessa atalanta
Oeneis jutta -- flight has just begun but they are not uncommon in patches
of black spruce in/near bogs
Danaus plexippus -- common, in very good condition; mating, oviposition and
eggs observed in Mackinac, Chippewa and Luce counties
Erynnis icelus -- common
Erynnis juvenalis
Carterocephalus palaemon -- common, observed along sandy trails at many
localities
Poanes hobomok -- common
Amblyscirtes hegon -- common at one beech maple forest locality
Amblyscirtes vialis

The following moths of note were also observed: 

Actias luna -- common in northern hardwoods
Hemaris thysbe -- nectaring at lilacs
Hemaris diffinis -- nectaring at lilacs
Heliothis borealis -- Mo Nielsen finally took an individual of this species
on a sandy two-track through sphagnum heath bog.  Mo has been stalking this
ellusive creature for 50 years.  Congratulations Mo!

I have never seen such large numbers of male canadian tiger swallowtails
tippling in Michigan before.  Perhaps this has something to do with the
weather.  Six days of cold rainy weather coincided with the emergence of
large numbers of P. canadensis adults.  We were fortunate to time our trip
during the first warm sunny weather following the departure of this stalled
low pressure over the Great Lakes.  We observed as many as 100 males
tippling together on sandy roads.  In general, we observed an unusually
high level of butterfly activity for all species.  Perhaps this is also
related to the weather pattern.

The early hairstreak (E. laetus) was flying with large numbers of
Celastrina lucia, Amblyscirtes hegon and a few hobomok skippers in beech
maple forest in Chippewa County.  It was a nice day, but not unusually hot.
 Strawberry was in bloom and there was a copious amount of honeydew, source
unknown, on understory trees and shrubs.  Rubus was not yet in flower.  The
individual was taken sitting on a sunny, sandy two-track.  Mo Nielsen
observed E. laetus at a different location the following day in Luce
County.  This appears to be an outstanding year for the early hairstreak in
Michigan.  Four individuals have been observed in three counties (all
county records) by four different lepidopterists, including Owen Perkins 10
year old grandson, since May 19th.

Lilacs are in bloom throughout the eastern UP and fashion conscious
lepidopterists are sporting long handled, extendible nets as they are on
the lookout for sightings of the yellow-banded day sphinx, Proserpenis
flavofasciata.  First emergence of Boloria selene atrocostalis and Boloria
eunomia dawsoni is expected in the next 7-10 days.

So far, this is a VERY good year for Michigan Lepidoptera!

Bob Kriegel
Bath, MI



 
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