Re: [MassLep] Digest for masslep@googlegroups.com - 8 updates in 8 topics

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Haleya Priest

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Aug 17, 2026, 9:45:57 PM (8 days ago) Aug 17
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August 17
Yard, Amherst MA

Hummingbird Clearwing -1
Common Sulphur - 1
Monarch - 3
Cabbage  - 7
Silver-spotted Skipper - 3
Black Swallowtail - 1

August 16
UMASS pollinator garden/Bioblitz event

Monarch -1
Common Ringlet - 3
Copper  - 1
Peck's Skipper - 1




On Sun, Aug 16, 2026 at 11:20 PM <mas...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Barbara Volkle <bar...@theworld.com>: Aug 16 11:10PM -0400

If you take photos of butterflies at Fannie Stebbins Memorial Wildlife
Refuge in Longmeadow, this is for you!
 
The Friends of Fannie Stebbins are working to collect photographs of
butterflies in order to create a butterfly checklist.
 
See below for details.
 
For additional information, contact Roy Van Driesche vand...@umass.edu
 
Barbara Volkle
Northborough, MA
bar...@thewold.com
*
 
Fannie Stebbins Butterfly Photography and Checklist
 
Our goal is to encourage butterfly (and later, all insect) photography
in the Fannie Stebbins areas belonging to the Conte National Wildlife
Refuge or the Town of Longmeadow, along the Connecticut River.
Photographers can send in photos of butterflies seen there to Roy Van
Driesche, a member of the board of the Fannie Stebbins Friends Group, at
vand...@umass.edu. He will then confirm or find an identification as
needed.  Photos of new species will be posted to a folder on a Google
Drive site, where people can see them (but not add, delete, or
download). Photo credits will be associated with each photo on the site.
As new species are recognized, they will be noted on the butterfly
checklist on the Fannie Stebbins website. Within a year or two, we hope
that most of the butterfly species at the site will be documented (There
are about 115 species in MA, so we expect that there may be 50 or more
in the refuge). In the future, the same site can be used to expand to
other groups of insects. Happy photography!
Andrew Griffith <andre...@comcast.net>: Aug 16 07:16PM -0700

We took a trip to western MA this weekend to see if we could find anything
fun.
 
Saturday, we started out quickly at Fannie Stebbins looking for possible
early emerging bronze coppers. We had no luck there so we continued on to
a private field in Blandford, MA. We couldn't walk in the field as it is a
farm field, but we were able to see the following (mostly with binoculars)
 
6 Meadow Fritillaries
3 Common Wood Nymphs
4 Common Ringlets
1 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
1 Spicebush Swallowtail
3 Clouded Sulphurs
1 Orange Sulphur
2 Monarchs
15 Pearl Crescents
5 Cabbage Whites
 
We spent the rest of the day at Forest Park with the field trip folks.
 
Sunday we started the day at Lime Kiln Audubon in Sheffield looking for
giant swallowtails. We saw the following in the field near the parking lot
as the rest of it is flooded.
 
1 Giant Swallowtail
2 Common Wood Nymphs
2 Monarchs
3 Cabbage Whites
 
We then headed to a road in Sheffield looking for emperors. We didn't have
a lot of luck at all really but did see the following:
 
1 Tawny Emperor (way way up in a hackberry tree)
3 Giant Swallowtails
6 Least Skippers
2 Clouded Sulphurs
9 Cabbage Whites
1 Eastern Comma
2 Monarchs
 
At that point, we went to Bart's Cobble in Sheffield. We saw the following
there:
 
10+ Giant Swallowtails
20+ Giant Swallowtail caterpillars
1 Great Spangled Fritillary
1 anglewing of some sort patrolling the road but never stopping
4 Cabbage Whites
1 Eastern Tailed Blue
4 Pearl Crescents
 
Andrew & Lauren Griffith
Wendy Howes <curiou...@verizon.net>: Aug 17 01:59AM

Some August observations, all in Hardwick:
August 7 - 9, home and neighborhood
2 Eastern Tiger Swallowtail2 Spicebush Swallowtail2 Summer Azure1 Great Spangled Fritillary4 Pearl Crescent1 Red Admiral1 Monarch1 Silver-spotted Skipper
Muddy Brook WMA, August 15
1 Clouded Sulphur1 Gray Hairstreak2 Eastern Tailed-Blue2 Summer Azure3 Pearl Crescent
Wendy Howes & Alan RawleHardwick
Dolores Price <pricedo...@gmail.com>: Aug 16 09:21PM -0400

Today Marvin and I saw the following in Millbury:
cabbage white 3
clouded sulphur 1
gray hairstreak 1
eastern tailed-blue 1
great spangled fritillary 1
pearl crescent 1
 
And at Dauphinais on Follette St. in Grafton:
clouded sulphur 1
American copper 1
gray hairstreak 1
eastern tailed-blue 3
pearl crescent 4
wild indigo duskywing 1
tawny-edged skipper 1
 
And elsewhere in Grafton:
cabbage white 2
Peck's skipper 1
Northern broken-dash 1
 
Dolores Price
Linnet Tse <linne...@gmail.com>: Aug 16 05:21PM -0700

Sat, Aug 15, our East Dennis yard where we have pollinator/native beds:
- Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 3
- Broad-winged Skipper 1: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/391519585
- Tawny-edged Skipper 1: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/391926436
- Cabbage White - 15
- Pearl Crescent - 1
 
Sun, Aug 16 Mary Dunn Pond, Hyannis; mid-day sunny and hot, very light
breeze. Focus was on wildflowers, not butterflies.
- Pearl Crescent 2: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/391922355
- Variegated Fritillary
1: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/391928137
Barbara Volkle <bar...@theworld.com>: Aug 16 07:46PM -0400

On Saturday, August 15, members of the Massachusetts Butterfly Club were
joined by members of the Friends of Fannie Stebbins for a walk at Fannie
Stebbins  Memorial Wildlife Refuge in Longmeadow.  There were 18 of us!
 
We saw:
 
Giant Swallowtail  2 - what a surprise!  one near the train tracks and
one at the entrance to the trail, both as we were heading out
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail  4
Spicebush Swallowtail  6
Cabbage White  3
Orange Sulphur 1
Harvester  2 - both cooperative!
Eastern Tailed-Blue 1
Eastern Comma  1
Appalachian Brown 3
Little Wood-Satyr  1
Monarch 5
Silver-spotted Skipper  8
Least Skipper  15
Peck's Skipper  2
Broad-winged Skipper 1 (2 additional ones were ween on Bark Haul Road
pre-trip)
Zabulon Skipper 15
 
Unfortunately, we found Spotted Lanternfly by the small pump station.
 
We then headed over to Forest Park.  There was lots of damage to the
recent storm - trees down, branches and trunks still to be cleaned up. 
We saw:
 
Eastern Tiger-Swallowtail  1
Clouded Sulphur 1
Common Wood-Nymph  1
Zabulon Skipper 1
unidentified skipper 1
 
We also saw Spotted Lanternfly there as well.
 
Many thanks to leader Moe O'Connor and thanks to all who joined us.
 
Barbara Volkle
Northborough, MA
bar...@theworld.com
Karen S. Haley <fledg...@juno.com>: Aug 16 05:10PM

I just had a male Zabulon skipper in my garden in Marblehead (8/16/26). I got a nice picture before the Peck's skippers chased it away! Annoying lol
Joseph Wicinski <joew...@gmail.com>: Aug 16 09:57AM -0400

Howdy All,
 
Forwarded email request from your Mass Butterflies editor - Bill Benner
 
Thanks,
Joe Wicinski
 
----- Forwarded Message -----
 
*Cc:*
*Sent:* Sun, Aug 16, 2026 at 8:02
*Subject:* Massachusetts Butterfies journal submissions
 
 
 
Hello All,
Hope everyone's having a great summer! This doesn't seem to be a big
butterfly year, but I'm hoping you all are still taking plenty of photos
and spending time in the field watching butterflies. It's that time again
to request photos and articles for the fall issue of the club's journal.
I'm hoping you all have some great photos to share, and hopefully some
articles as well!
 
Please attach any photos to your emails as jpg files, include the date and
location (town is fine). Written articles are also fantastic and very much
appreciated, on any butterfly subject, and can be as short as a couple of
paragraphs or as long and detailed as you like. Please submit all photos
and articles to:
bil...@aol.com
 
Please send photos and articles by September 10 at the very latest, so that
I have time to put everything together before our fall meeting. As always,
THANK YOU to every generous contributor! You make the journal what it is,
and I am very grateful to be able to share your talent with the rest of the
club. Looking forward to everyone's submissions, and enjoy the rest of the
summer,
 
Bill Benner
Editor,* Massachusetts Butterflies*
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--
Haleya Priest, MEd, LMT
Pronouns: she/her/hers



The earth is a living thing. Mountains speak, trees sing, lakes can think, pebbles have a soul, rocks have power.
~ Henry Crow Dog


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