White M Hairstreak - Norfolk County

[Adam Timpf]

Today David Okines and Audrey Heagy photographed a White M Hairstreak near St. Williams. 4th County record and 1st in spring. Hopefully a harbinger of more rarities from further south. 

White M Hairstreak from Norfolk County, ON, Canada on May 15, 2026 at 02:01 PM by David Okines · iNaturalist https://share.google/pvEMwPNFrlXxgTfcg

Adam Timpf

[Steve Pike]

This is a very interesting observation, no time to look it up on iNat etc but perhaps this this the first spring record for all of Ontario as I’ve always considered White-M a late summer species.

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[Steve Pike]

Ok thanks for this and a great point, I never considered overwintering might be possible either, thanks!

On Saturday, May 16, 2026, rick cavasin <rrr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Steve,

Not the first spring record.  Not even the earliest:

https://www.ontarioinsects.org/atlas/php/findData.php?name=&records=all&char1=&lowYear=1333&highYear=9999&spIndex=109&areaID=&areaName=South%3A%20zones%201-5&type=recordsAd&sp=one&area=south&order=calDayAsc

However, it does make one wonder if there isn't a small population that is successfully overwintering.

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[Adam Timpf]

This individual wasn't that fresh so it seems more likely to me that its an immigrant and not one that emerged locally. Especially given we had a harsh winter, it seems unlikely it would have overwintered successfully this winter IMHO. 

Adam Timpf

On Sat, May 16, 2026, 6:11 p.m. rick cavasin <rrr...@gmail.com> wrote:

When we start seeing multiple observations of a species early in the season, at a certain point it's a possibility we need to consider.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to prove one way or the other.  But if we have more observations, maybe we can discern a pattern (comparing them to observations from further south).

On Sat, 16 May 2026 at 09:08, Steve Pike <stevep...@gmail.com> wrote:

Ok thanks for this and a great point, I never considered overwintering might be possible either, thanks!

On Saturday, May 16, 2026, rick cavasin <rrr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Steve,

Not the first spring record.  Not even the earliest:

https://www.ontarioinsects.org/atlas/php/findData.php?name=&records=all&char1=&lowYear=1333&highYear=9999&spIndex=109&areaID=&areaName=South%3A%20zones%201-5&type=recordsAd&sp=one&area=south&order=calDayAsc

However, it does make one wonder if there isn't a small population that is successfully overwintering.

On Fri, 15 May 2026 at 23:25, Steve Pike <stevep...@gmail.com> wrote:

This is a very interesting observation, no time to look it up on iNat etc but perhaps this this the first spring record for all of Ontario as I’ve always considered White-M a late summer species.

On Friday, May 15, 2026, Adam Timpf <adam....@gmail.com> wrote:

Today David Okines and Audrey Heagy photographed a White M Hairstreak near St. Williams. 4th County record and 1st in spring. Hopefully a harbinger of more rarities from further south. 

White M Hairstreak from Norfolk County, ON, Canada on May 15, 2026 at 02:01 PM by David Okines · iNaturalist https://share.google/pvEMwPNFrlXxgTfcg

Adam Timpf

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[Adam Timpf]

Interesting discussion for sure. Early season Grey Hairstreaks in Norfolk County are more common than I remember. 20+ years ago I thought they only occurred in summer as migrants, but was this really the case, or just a lack of knowledge? Sweet Fern occurs in Norfolk at the Manester Tract where Grey Hairstreaks can be found, so were they there all the time? I too think it would be odd for them to be distinctly different from the northern Ontario ones, but who knows what's going on. Did they move south like Silvery Blue seemed to do? Or just more people reporting and more databases to report to? 

On Sat, May 16, 2026, 6:33 p.m. rick cavasin <rrr...@gmail.com> wrote:

Good points - no substitute for local knowledge (re: conditions this past winter)

I know we're seeing more early season Grey Hairstreaks in recent years (in S. ON).  These almost always look fresh.   For a long time, it's been apparent that we have (always had?) a resident population of Grey Hairstreak in Central/Eastern/Northern Ontario that feeds primarily on SweetFern, with 2 flights.   It was assumed that those in Southern Ontario were migratory.  Now that we're seeing fresh, early season individuals in Southern Ontario as well, my guess is that they've always been there.  They're probably just being reported now because there are more people in the field in early spring these days.  But I'd be interested to hear what someone with local knowledge thinks.  I suppose it's also possible that Grey Hairstreaks have only been able to overwinter successfully in Southern Ontario in recent decades.  But that would sort of imply that they are distinctly different from the population we have around here, which overwinter successfully up into Northern Ontario (seen them myself at Matachewan).