Rare (?) butterfly sighting w/ photos

[Sean S]

I'm not that knowledgeable about butterfly species but everything I've looked at tells me that Pipevine Swallowtail is a southern species that rarely strays into Maine.  In fact its range map shows it as barely having stray status along the edge of southern New Hampshire, with Maine not included as having sightings.  One showed up today at the phlox, along with a beautiful Great Spangled Fritillary.  It seems that we're in butterfly migration now; they're always worth looking at in my opinion.

eBird checklist with butterfly photos:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S271351865

Sean Smith

[Herb Wilson]

Excellent sighting, Sean! The species is known to wander outside its usual range. The first record for Maine was in 1900 with only one other record in the 20th century. It has become much more common in the last decade. We have at least 21 records since 2020 and consider the species to now be a colonist rather than a stray.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=17&subview=table&taxon_id=49972&verifiable=any

Herb

--

Dr. Herb Wilson 

David Arey Emeritus Professor of Biosciences
Department of Biology
Colby College
Waterville, ME  04901 

Mailing Address:

25 Prospect St

Waterville, ME 04901

Phone:        (207) 620-2676

Web sites:    http://web.colby.edu/whwilson/
                       http://web.colby.edu/mainebirds/ 

Maine Butterfly Survey: https://mbs.umf.maine.edu/

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.”  - Gary Snyder

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