Franklin report

[Keith Shaw]

With some sunshine this afternoon I decided to walk my local trail and was pleasantly surprised to see a Summer Azure and at least one Eastern Pine Elfin. Both were pristine specimens and were puddling. I had good looks but no camera for a decent ID pic!

The only previous sightings this season were Mourning cloak (Apr.12, 14) and Eastern comma (Apr.12).

I'll get out to the same area tomorrow with my not-point-'n-shoot camera - but we know how that can go....

-Keith

[Keith Shaw]

As mentioned in the previous post, yesterday (Apr.22) I managed to get a decent ID pic for the Summer Azures - see attached. I would suggest form violacea, but I'm seldom sure with this complex...

The Elfins were around but refused to settle for a pic. Next time...

But a beautiful Mourning Cloak did show and allowed some pics while busy feeding. 

-Keith

[pavu...@aol.com]

All:

 

For the record, and for the Massachusetts Butterfly Club record-keeper, Keith's Azure photo does appear to be a spring form Summer Azure (Celastrina neglecta).  This is rather unusual for New England, as I have only seen two other spring form records - both from Rhode Island.  Why Summer Azure (spring form)?

 

1) Even "steel gray ground color". 

2) Crisp spot pattern.

3) Spots have a distinct gray (near-black) pigment.

4) Summer Azure spring brood tends to be among the very first butterflies to emerge.  In Massachusetts, they would emerge right at the beginning of the Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon) flight, or even earlier.  I had considered calling this a Cherry Gall Azure, but those are white beneath and won't start to emerge until after May 1, probably even later this spring.

5) The general "look" is just different from either Spring, Northern or Cherry Gall Azures.

 

Interestingly, this seems to be increasingly happening in the northeast.  The Summer Azure spring brood is the predominant "Spring Azure" flight in the Washington D.C. area, and this one matches those very well.  And despite this unusually cold winter.

 

Harry Pavulaan

 

 

 

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