2021 October Derby Sightnings List for Ocober1

[fsm...@aol.com]

Greetings,

As you can see below, we're off to a very good start and have a good chance of matching or exceeding last year's count. This weekend will be crucial because earlier is always better in October. We are still missing a lot of skippers and all the anglewings, among others. And the first 20 are a lot easier than the next 10. Good luck Saturday and Sunday.

Cheers,

Frank

 October 2021 Sightings List

[Through October 21]

Massachusetts Butterfly Club

Composite Listing [21 adults +1 subadult = 22 species]

 

American Copper

American Lady

Black Swallowtail

Cabbage White

Clouded Sulphur

Cloudless Sulphur

Common Buckeye

Common Ringlet

Eastern Tailed Blue

Fiery Skipper

Great Spangled Fritillary

Long-Tailed Skipper

Monarch

Ocola Skipper

Orange Sulphur

Pearl Crescent

Red Admiral

Red-Banded Hairstreak

Sachem

Spicebush Swallowtail [Larva]

Variegated Fritillary

Viceroy

[fsm...@aol.com]

I am sending this again because I don't think the first attempt went thru. Apologies if you get two copies.

[fsm...@aol.com]

Greetings,

Hopefully there will be more additions today, but we added seven new species on Saturday, bringing our total to 29, including one subadult. Looking at previous years, there are still a good number of additional species out there, but finding them will become more and more of a challenge. Good luck today, except for the Red Sox.

Cheers,

Frank

 October 2021 Sightings List

[Through October 2]

Massachusetts Butterfly Club

Composite Listing [28 adults +1 subadult = 29 species]

 

American Copper

American Lady

Black Swallowtail

Bronze Copper

Cabbage White

Clouded Sulphur

Cloudless Sulphur

Common Buckeye

Common Ringlet

Eastern Tailed Blue

Fiery Skipper

Gray Hairstreak

Great Spangled Fritillary

Horace's Duskywing

Least Skipper

Long-Tailed Skipper

Monarch

Ocola Skipper

Orange Sulphur

Painted Lady

Pearl Crescent

Question Mark

Red Admiral

Red-Banded Hairstreak

Sachem

Silver-Bordered Fritillary

[fsm...@aol.com]

Good Evening.

Things have been rather slow the last two days, the only addition to our list being a Harvester larva. Hopefully, things will pick up. Here are some species not yet reported that could easily still be around: White M HS, Eastern Comma, Gray Comma, Green Comma, Mourning Cloak, Zabulon Skipper, Silver-Spotted Skipper, Eastern Tiger ST, Peck's Skipper, Tawny-Edged Skipper, Little Yellow, Compton Tortoiseshell, Broad-Winged Skipper, Baltimore Checkerspot. Some of these are longshots, but this not a comprehensive list.

Go get 'em.

Cheers,

Frank

 October 2021 Sightings List

[Through October 4]

Massachusetts Butterfly Club

Composite Listing [28 adults +2 subadults = 30 species]

 

American Copper

American Lady

Black Swallowtail

Bronze Copper

Cabbage White

Clouded Sulphur

Cloudless Sulphur

Common Buckeye

Common Ringlet

Eastern Tailed Blue

Fiery Skipper

Gray Hairstreak

Great Spangled Fritillary

Harvester [Larva]

[fsm...@aol.com]

Date on subject line corrected.

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[fsm...@aol.com]

Greetings,

Here is an update through Friday, October 8. We've added three anglewings, bringing our total to 31 + 2 = 33, which is very respectable. Hopefully this weekend will enable us to expand the list. Things get progressively tougher as the month wears on. happy hunting.

Cheers,

Frank

 October 2021 Sightings List

[Through October 8]

Massachusetts Butterfly Club

Composite Listing [31 adults +2 subadults = 33 species]

 

American Copper

American Lady

Black Swallowtail

Bronze Copper

Cabbage White

Clouded Sulphur

Cloudless Sulphur

Common Buckeye

Common Ringlet

Compton Tortoiseshell

Eastern Tailed Blue

Eastern Comma

Fiery Skipper

Gray Hairstreak

Great Spangled Fritillary

Harvester [Larva]

Horace's Duskywing

Least Skipper

Long-Tailed Skipper

Monarch

Mourning Cloak

Ocola Skipper

Orange Sulphur

Painted Lady

Pearl Crescent

Question Mark

Red Admiral

Red-Banded Hairstreak

Sachem

Silver-Bordered Fritillary

Spicebush Swallowtail [Larva]

Variegated Fritillary

Viceroy

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[fsm...@aol.com]

Hi again.

Here is our October list, updated with input received today. There have been some additions and it is shaping up into a nice list.

We added one species completely new to the derby - Gulf Fritillary, a very rare visitor to Massachusetts. It was reported on the Massachusetts Butterflies Facebook page. There is a photo, so this one is rock solid.

One potentially controversial entry: A "crescent-that looks-more-like-northern-than-pearl" has been reported again. This has happened once before. I am listing it as "Crescent Sp" because I think it will may well prove to be a different species , not yet described, though we may not know in my lifetime. Field marks have proven highly unreliable in the Phyciodes complex [my opinion] and it will take substantial DNA work to unravel its mysteries. I'm not holding my breath.

Meanwhile, our list stands at 34 adults + 3 larvae = 37 species. And it is definitely not too late to add more.

Cheers,

Frank

 October 2021 Sightings List

[Through October 10]

Massachusetts Butterfly Club

Composite Listing [34 adults +3 subadults = 37 species]

 

American Copper

American Lady

Baltimore Checkerspot [Larva]

Black Swallowtail

Bronze Copper

Cabbage White

Clouded Sulphur

Cloudless Sulphur

Common Buckeye

Common Ringlet

Compton Tortoiseshell

Crescent Sp

Eastern Tailed Blue

Eastern Comma

Fiery Skipper

Gray Hairstreak

Great Spangled Fritillary

Gulf Fritillary

Harvester [Larva]

Horace's Duskywing

Least Skipper

Long-Tailed Skipper

Monarch

Mourning Cloak

Ocola Skipper

Orange Sulphur

Painted Lady

Pearl Crescent

Peck's Skipper

Question Mark

Red Admiral

Red-Banded Hairstreak

Sachem

Silver-Bordered Fritillary

Spicebush Swallowtail [Larva]

Variegated Fritillary

Viceroy

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[fsm...@aol.com]

Greetings,

As we approach October's third weekend, the list remains unchanged from the one I posted on October 10. The weather looks good, but it's slim pickings as the month winds down. Happy hunting. 

I'd love to hit 40 species, but at this point, that's a stretch. But not impossible.

Cheers,

Frank

 October 2021 Sightings List

[Through October 15]

[fsm...@aol.com]

Good evening.

Two additions [so far] this weekend, bring us to 39 total species, including subadults. That's a very nice list, but do I hear 40? Surely there's a Gray Comma in Berkshire County that will pop out on the next sunny day. Or maybe a ragged Silver-Spotted Skipper or a Tawny-Edged Skipper in the eastern part of our fair state.

Cheers,

Frank

 October 2021 Sightings List

[Through October 17]

Massachusetts Butterfly Club

Composite Listing [36 adults +3 subadults = 39 species]

 

American Copper

American Lady

Baltimore Checkerspot [Larva]

Black Swallowtail

Bronze Copper

Cabbage White

Clouded Sulphur

Cloudless Sulphur

Common Buckeye

Common Ringlet

Common Sootywing

Compton Tortoiseshell

Crescent Sp

Eastern Tailed Blue

Eastern Comma

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/masslep/1284953963.1812786.1634340474003%40mail.yahoo.com

.

[fsm...@aol.com]

Happy November!

We had a very good October Derby this year. Including the subadults, we booked 41 species, as detailed below. The most noteworthy sighting was probably the Gulf Fritillary - the first example of this species reported during an October Derby and a very rare visitor to Massachusetts. 

Nice work, everyone!

Since I will be "retiring" from the derby, I hope someone will step up to take it over. I'll be glad to provide guidance. It's not hard...

Cheers,

Frank

October 2021 Sightings List

[Through October 31]

Massachusetts Butterfly Club

Composite Listing [38 adults +3 subadults = 41 species]

Monarch

Spicebush Swallowtail [Larva]

Summer Azure

Tawny-Edged Skipper

Variegated Fritillary

Viceroy

[fsm...@aol.com]

Hi again.

Also of potential interest, here is the composite list of all butterfly species seen in Massachusetts in the month of October for the years 2006 through 2021 inclusive. This represents fully half the species known from our fair state! The most remarkable migrants on the list are Gulf Fritillary [seen this year!] and European Peacock. For those of you who vaguely recall the report of a Queen, note that Karen Haley reported one in her Marblehead yard in September, 2002, not October and before the derby started. The list also includes a crescent ["Crescent sp"] which more closely resembles a Northern Crescent than a Pearl Crescent, but is likely neither. Hopefully someone will unravel the mystery of this group of crescents in the not too distant future.

"See" you all at the Fall Meeting on Saturday.

Cheers,

Frank

October Sightings List 2006-2021

Massachusetts Butterfly Cl[58 1/2 adults + 2 subadults = 60 1/2 species]

 

American Copper

American Lady

Aphrodite Fritillary

Baltimore Checkerspot

Black Swallowtail

Broad-Winged Skipper

Bronze Copper

Cabbage White

Checkered White

Clouded Sulphur

Cloudless Sulphur

Common Buckeye

Common Checkered Skipper

Common Ringlet

Common Sootywing

Compton Tortoiseshell

Crescent Sp

Eastern Tailed Blue

Eastern Comma

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

European Peacock

Fiery Skipper

Giant Swallowtail [Larva]

Gray Comma

Gray Hairstreak

Great Spangled Fritillary

Gulf Fritillary

Harvester [Larva]

Horace's Duskywing

Least Skipper

Little Yellow

Leonard's Skipper

Long Dash 

Long-Tailed Skipper

Milbert's Tortoiseshell

Monarch

Mourning Cloak

Northern Broken Dash*

Ocola Skipper

Orange Sulphur

Painted Lady

Pearl Crescent

Peck's Skipper

Pipevine Swallowtail

Question Mark

Red-Spotted Admiral

Red Admiral

Red-Banded Hairstreak

Sachem

Silver-Bordered Fritillary

Silver-Spotted Skipper

Sleepy Orange

Spicebush Swallowtail

Summer Azure

Tawny-Edged Skipper

Variegated Fritillary

Viceroy

White M Hairstreak

Wild Indigo Duskywing

Zabulon Skipper

*ID uncertain so it is counted as 1/2 sighting

.

[e-crone]

Dear all,

This love of data brings me great joy.  :-)  And it is interesting to know what we might (or might not) be seeing this time of year.

With best wishes,

Elizabeth Crone