Butterfly Outing

Butterfly Outing – Saturday June 15

Burnt Lands National Park – Our Leader: Rick Cavasin

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It was a warm, sunny but windy day.  An absolutely gorgeous day to be outside chasing butterflies.  Our leader, Rick Cavasin mentioned that if it is a windy day, there are not as many butterflies to be found however I think that we did pretty well despite the wind.  We captured the butterflies by net and then transferred them to to a glass jar so that 15 of us got a good look at them.
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Here is a list of the butterflies that we found:
At Burnt Lands and March Road:
Tawny Edged Skipper
Canadian Tiger Swallowtail
Silvery Blue
Pearl Crescent
White Admiral
Viceroy
Little Wood Satyr
Common Ringlet
Red Admiral
At Golden Line:
Columbine Duskywing
Hobomok Skipper
Silvery Blue
Northern Crescent
Little Wood Satyr
A Baltimore Checkerspot was found at Dwyer Hill and March Roads, which is technically not within the boundaries of the park.
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Here is a list of other things that we saw at the locations:
Gall on Oak Tree
Bearbcerry – pink/white flowers in early spring
White Cedar
Juniper (Make tea or Art says that we can make Gin from Juniper)
Pulse Pennyroyal
Buckthorn
Viburnen (Elderberry – Nannyberry)
Philadelphia Fleabane (soft pink/magenta flowers)
Herby Robert
Cornus
Self Heal
Hawkweed (pretty yellow/orange flowers)
Orange Wood Lilies
Daisies
Wild Strawberries
Wild Rose
Viper’s Bugloss
Columbine
Milkweed
Cowvetch
Seniga Polygala
Tent Caterpillar
Kestrel
Northern Flicker
Princeps Baskettail Dragonfly
Ovenbird and Grasshopper Sparrow (only heard)
Savannah Sparrow
Field sparrow
Upright Bind-weed – white
New Jersey Tea
Honeysuckle
Bladder Campion
Poison Ivy
Self Heal
Spurge Euphorbia
Wood Frog Tadpoles (in shallow water)
Coyote Scat
Spittal Bug Larvae – leaf hopper
Did you know that 90 percent of butterflies die from parasitoids who lay their eggs on the caterpillars?
By Suzanne Monnon