Canton, Ma butterflies, 10/19/18

[Lucy Merrill-Hills]

Hi,

Today Madeline Champagne and I took advantage of the beautiful Fall weather to look for butterflies at Signal Hill. When we walked to the top of the hill, we found that most of the pretty Little Bluestem grass had been mowed, but we did see one Cabbage White flying up there.

The great nectar patch of Asters by the parking area had been freshly mowed, and the mower had made one complete pass around the lower fields before the mower broke. There were still several good-sized clumps of Asters, a few dandelions, knapweed, and one stem of goldenrod blooming. We saw the following species from 12:40-2:10PM:

3 American Copper

1 Common Ringlet

1 Eastern Tailed-blue

9 Cabbage White

2 Clouded Sulphur

5 Viceroy caterpillars, including one silking up its hibernaculum

1 Viceroy hibernaculum

Sunny, 57 degrees

Lucy Merrill-Hills

Roslindale, Ma