Tawny Emperors at Bedell Bridge!

[Steve Mirick]

Inspired by a recent report from Holly Young of a Tawny Emperor in
Piermont, Jane and I traveled north today with a goal of finding this
species.  Success!!!!!!

We found THREE Tawny Emperors at Bedell Bridge!!!  Two at the same time
near the boat ramp.  One persistently getting minerals from bird guano
on the granite post near the boat launch.  The other briefly on pavement
by the boat launch.  Later we had a 3rd individual about 200 yards up
the road from the boat launch.

Incredibly, there were VERY FEW other butterflies.  No Hackberrys, no
Snouts.  Only a couple of Monarchs, a Black Swallowtail, and a Peck's in
2 hours!  I'm really not sure why we had THREE Tawnys and ZERO
Hackberrys.  Massachusetts suggests that Tawnys peak in mid to late July
and Hackberrys peak in mid-August with a lot of overlap so maybe flight
date?  In any event, NOW IS A GOOD TIME to search for this species at
Bedell Bridge.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevemirick/55436461273/in/photostream/lightbox/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevemirick/55436349041/in/photostream/lightbox/

After this, we visited NH Audubon's Yeatts Wildlife Sanctuary in
Warren.  This is a fantastic spot for pasture/field butterflies with
over 100 acres of open fields!  And TONS of Milkweed!  We didn't have a
huge number of butterflies here, but had a good number of Monarchs,
Common Wood-Nymphs, and a few Tiger Swallowtails.

https://nhaudubon.org/lands/sanctuaries/yeatts-wildlife-sanctuary/

Steve & Jane Mirick
Bradford, MA