June 27th, 2012

With the bird migration a distant spring memory and those local breeders that have found mates gone quiet, June and July can often be a birders slow time. In recent years, during these months there has been a switch of interest to look at other flying creatures, such as butterflies and dragonflies.

While looking for Monarch caterpillars on a small patch of Milkweed in a field adjacent to the building, a brown blur went flying past me – Buckeye! This species of butterfly is irruptive from the U.S. With all of the strong south winds we have had lately I thought there would be a good chance of seeing a Buckeye this spring/summer. Although this is only the 4th time I have seen them on the property I imagine they have been a little more common than my findings would show.

Sometimes we can combine our hobbies of bird-watching and butterfly ID… Eastern Phoebe and Northern Crescent.