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.

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.

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