Chester Giant and Wilbraham Broad-wing

7 views
Skip to first unread message

Josh

unread,
Aug 6, 2018, 2:27:16 PM8/6/18
to MassLep
Howdy folks,

I spent the weekend coordinating the Dragonfly Society of the Americas’ Northeast Regional Meeting, about which I posted here previously. We saw some outstanding odonates, of course. Our lepidopteran sightings were mostly more pedestrian fare, but we did come across a few critters worth noting: 

1. Giant Swallowtail on Sunday 8-5; it just missed bouncing off of my car’s windshield! We were driving on Route 20 between Chester and Huntington, just east of the parking area for Sanderson Brook Falls. I turned the car around and we went back to try to relocate the beast, but it had vanished. Very little nectar noticeable in the area.

2. Broad-winged Skipper on Friday 8-3, in the powerline cut adjacent to the White Cedar Swamp Preserve in Wilbraham. It was nectaring on Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), of which plenty was blooming in the wetter areas under the powerlines. Of course there was considerable Phragmites there as well. And some Mountain-mint, Pycnanthemum sp (which was unrelated to the skipper, just one of my favorite plants)

3. A striking moth on Saturday 8-4, in Amherst not far from our home, which after consulting with my Peterson moth guide appears to have been a Virginia Creeper Clearwing. Soheil Zendeh got a photo of the critter: 

Cheers,

Josh



Joshua S. Rose, Ph.D.
Amherst, MA

Webmaster, Hampshire Bird Club

Northeast Chapter, Dragonfly Society of the Americas
https://bryanpfeiffer.com/nedsa2018/

Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages