Petersham trip

[Tomb...@aol.com]

Hi Folks:

    

     The Weather God's were not with us today and the sun really never  came out from behind all the clouds.  We saw 3 Canadian Tiger Swallowtails and 1 Spring Azure at Tom's Swamp.  We then headed over to The Trustees of Reservation property behind the center of Petersham and had 3 more Canadian Tiger Swallowtails, 2 Pearl Crescent  and 5 Harris's Checkerspot caterpillars .  A rather very quite day BUT, a fun group to be out with.  Thank you to all that came out on such a lousy day, weather wise.

 

Tom Gagnon, Florence, (Bear Country), Massachusetts

[Joshua Rose]

Howdy folks,

I stuck around Tom Swamp after Tom and the gang headed for Petersham. I added one butterfly species to the list; see attached photo. I also picked up two more Azures. At least one moth that I'm hoping to ID at some point too.

After finally leaving around 3:30, I briefly stopped at a location in Franklin County, vaguely near New Salem, and saw three Pearl Crescents. 

I also nearly walked into a massive gob of honeybees which was hanging chest-high on a pathside branch. Fortunately the buzzing was loud enough that I stopped looking up at the treetops for warblers, and looked instead where I was going, about 15 feet short of the swarm. At least one colony hasn't collapsed yet!

Josh

Joshua S. Rose, Ph.D.
Amherst, MA
http://bugguide.net/user/view/2399
http://www.facebook.com/opihi