Amherst yard butterflies 7/15-16

[Josh]

Howdy folks,

Yesterday, I spotted a Common Sootywing nectaring in my wife’s herb garden. FOY for me, and I’m not seeing any recently posted to the list either.

Later yesterday, our son led me to a chrysalis he had noticed on our garage door. I took some photos and compared them to images online, and am fairly sure it is a Spicebush Swallowtail. It’s right around the corner of our house from the Spicebushes that we planted several years ago. "Plant it and they will come”, isn’t that the famous line?

Today’s FOY was a Hummingbird Clearwing moth. Our Monarda has recently started blooming, both the Scarlet Bee-balm and the Wild Bergamot; when those flower, the clearwing moths are never far behind. Also glimpsed a Monarch, and a Great Spangled Frit or two.

And, when I took the dog for her walk today, a Red-spotted Admiral popped up beside the path, looking like it might have just emerged from its chrysalis this morning. It was so cooperative that I managed to get some photos with my phone and post them to iNat:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/381997699

Cheers,

Josh




Joshua S. Rose, Ph.D.
Amherst, MA
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/opihiman
https://www.facebook.com/opihi

Writer/compiler, Bird Observer
https://www.birdobserver.org/

Columnist, “Earth Matters”
https://www.gazettenet.com/search?bodysearch=earth+matters
https://www.hitchcockcenter.org/category/earth-matters/

Vice-president, Hampshire Bird Club
https://hampshirebirdclub.org/

Northeast Chapter head, Dragonfly Society of the Americas
https://www.dragonflysocietyamericas.org/northeastdsa