The 2017 Ohio Butterfly Transect Monitoring begins, weather permitting, on April first. I have been seeing butterflies on warm days so I know they are on the move.
Last year we saw a greater number of species than we saw in previous years. I like to think it is because our eyes are sharper now that they are practiced at finding butterflies.
We saw 38 species in 2016. The species we saw most often was the Silver-spotted Skipper. 2016 was a bumper year for Silver-spotted Skippers. Officially, we saw 424 which was 44% of all butterflies we saw. By comparison, in 2015 we saw only 54 which was 9% of all the butterflies we saw.
Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus)
The Cabbage White was the second most often seen. Most years, it is the most common seen. A non-native, it thrives in our area.
Coming in third in numbers seen in 2016 were the Pearl Crescents. They are one of our common butterflies though not always in the top three.
Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos)
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The others, for which I don't have labeled photos were Zebra Swallowtail, Common Sootywing and Tawny-edged Skipper.
If the temperature is warm enough, the minimum being 60 degrees and almost full sun, we will start the 2017 season this weekend.
I hope you are seeing butterflies wherever you are.
Nope no butterflies here, most likely another six weeks maybe more. I hope you see lots of them!! Hi to Tom!! :)
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