Very early Falcate Orangetip - Rockland Co., NY
Tom Fiore
hi all,
Attached here are perhaps some of the most-awful photos of any butterfly ever to appear here to this list, however these are what was obtained - and these help to document the sighting, a potentially earliest-record in the state, if no equally-early or earlier sightings of the species come to light. Falcate Orangetips can be quite early in far-southern locations where they occur - such as, for example in Florida, where I've seen the species in late January, and regularly in February.
This was a single / solo male, and is perhaps quite an anomaly as such an early-emerger. Whether more are found in the state, or region, in March this year remains to be seen, but with cooler weather returning, it is possible there won't be any further sightings. At least some of us in the area will likely be watching, and report again on any findings. It would be appreciated if any observers in seeing this report, know of any other March sightings of Falcate Orangetips in NY state in particular, or in the very-nearby region.
On March 13th, this month I observed and (poorly) photographed a possibly record-early (at least for known records in N.Y. state) male Falcate Orangetip, this at a well-known site for the species, where more-typically seen in April, in eastern Rockland County, N.Y. - there was just the one individual male seen, in areas that the species often shows in April, and this one patrolling and flying constantly, for well over an hour as observed. Only a few flight-shots were obtained with a pocket-camera. On March 14th, with Kristine Wallstrom, we both observed what was almost certainly this same individual / solo male Falcate Orangetip, patrolling again in the same site and virtually all the same particular sectors of the site as on the day-prior, but again (I) failed to make any good crisp photos, and the Falcate never sat at all during over an hour of following its movements. Note, both attached photos are of the same, one individual male and are both from March 13, 2024 in eastern Rockland County, NY. The Falcate was in-flight and patrolling in both of the 2 photos. It was never seen sitting, for even an instant, in a couple of hours of total observation of the areas the individual was patrolling. This was also noticed in two of us watching on the following day, March 14th, with the same individual Falcate Orangetip, as we presume this again was, not a different individual.
That constant patrolling by any of the early-emerging males of this species is not unusual, and we could only hope for a bit of dark cloud, or that the orangetip might come to a blossom of some kind, with at least a few types of plants offering up some blooms with potential nectar, already - but that did not happen. Then in subsequent sunny days, there were no further sightings of Falcate - all while a very few Cabbage White butterflies were seen, the latter also fairly regular here. Cabbage White had already appeared, even earlier at this and some other locations, thus suggesting some early-emerging of some lepidoptera other than the somewhat-expected overwintering-adult species such as E. Comma and Mourning Cloak, both also showing here on multiple days of March.
....
On March 16, up to four or five observers were out on the trails here, and found none of this (orangetip) species with sun and temperatures up to around 60+ (F.). There was a brief sighting of what was likely an early-ish Spring Azure of whatever form. For an azure, a slightly early date, but not unknown and, there are other sightings of Azures in the region, in southeast NY and in northern New Jersey, etc. in recent days of mid-March, this year.
Interestingly, an observer in Kings County (Brooklyn), N.Y. City has a photo-observation of a rather fresh-looking White M Hairstreak in that county, on March 14, 2024 - a very mild day, and that species of hairstreak is a possible immigrant-arrival from farther south, if not locally emerged. This observation is publicly posted in iNaturaList and there are also a few observations from several other counties in NY state of Compton Tortoiseshell - a species that can overwinter as an adult, and thus potentially show on any mild-enough days of winter or earliest spring days, just as do the commas, and Mourning Cloaks which are more widespread.
Good observations to all.
Tom Fiore
New York, NY
