Vanessa & Michigan Bog Butterflies

[Robert Kriegel]

Hello all,

I just returned from five days (5/11-5/15) of bog hopping with Owen Perkins
in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  We observed the following species:

- Papilio (Pterourus) canadensis: only saw one individual, flight is just
starting
- Incisalia augustinus: plentiful
- Incisalia niphon: observed several individuals with little wear at
multiple locations
- Celastrina lucia: plentiful but many have been on the wing for awhile
- Boloria freija: emergence started late last week, observed nectaring on
leatherleaf flowers
- Polygonia faunus
- Nymphalis antiopa
- Vanessa virginiensis: these were superabundant everywhere we went, even
out in the bogs.  Most individuals showed a lot of wear.  If the weather
was good enough for butterflies to be on the wing, there was usually at
least one American Painted Lady in sight.
- Vanessa atalanta: these were also unusually abundant
- Erebia discoidalis: emergence of this species also started late last week
- We did not see a single skipper the entire trip.  

This was the first trip where I seriously used a GPS device for navigation
and tracking in the field.  I also had a laptop computer with mapping
software that allowed us to upload waypoints and tracks from the GPS into
the laptop and view where we sampled overlaid on 7.5 minute topographic
maps.  All I can say is W O W.  

Also, significant pre-trip planning using soil survey information and
composite aerial photographs constructed from the TerraServer web site
really paid off, allowing us to find three new locations each for E.
discoidalis and B. freija.  The Red-Disked Alpine and Frieja Fritillary
were previously known in Michigan from 5 and 13 locations, respectively.  

Another survey party led by Mogens Nielsen is on route to the central and
western UP so we should have another report by the beginning of next week.
This party (unfortunately, still not Mo) took a Heliothis borealis on a
sand two-track in the eastern UP on 5/14.

Spring is on the wing in Michigan bogs,
Bob Kriegel
Bath, MI


 
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