Back to Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary

Good butterfly reports came out of Allens Pond yesterday, so I thought I'd spend my afternoon down there today.  In spite of finding cloudy conditions along the coast when I arrived, I was not disappointed by the butterflies.  I didn't see any Fiery Skippers or Ocola Skippers, which I was kind of hoping for, but I can't complain.  So much was on the wing, it was very enjoyable watching it all!

I was even spotting Monarchs in flight before I got off Route 88.   I did manage to find one Red-Banded Hairstreak along Boulder Loop Trail, too!

Clouded Sulphurs

 Pearl Crescent

 American Copper

 Monarch 

 Song Sparrow

 Orange Sulphur

 Eastern Tailed-Blue

 a tagged Monarch!!

(I suspect this was probably tagged locally, but I will call it in and find out.)

 Monarch

Least Skipper

 Chickweed Geometer Moth

 This little piggy stayed home.

 Eastern Tailed-Blue

 Monarch

 Eastern Tailed-Blue

Between the overcast weather and the biting mosquitoes (in spite of spraying), I wasn't sure I could last on the trails looking for Red-Banded Hairstreaks.  The Loop trail looked the same in so many sections that I wasn't sure I wasn't going around the loop more than once.  I kept going around curves lined with goldenrod.  I was getting hot and thirsty and the darn mosquitoes were annoying!  I stopped to decide what to do and there was a Red-Banded Hairstreak right in front of me.  It was the only one I saw, because then and there I decided to backtrack and get the heck out of the loop!

 Red-Banded Hairstreak

 Wild Turkeys

 Monarch

(love this photo)

A very popular nectar source!

 American Lady

 a typical meadow view

 Eastern Tailed-Blue

I didn't keep exact counts, but here is an estimate of my sightings:

American Copper 4
American Lady 1
Black Swallowtail 3
Cabbage White 6
Clouded Sulphur X (too many to count!)
Eastern Tailed-Blue 8
Least Skipper 3
Monarch 70+ (one tagged)
Orange Sulphur 18
Pearl Crescent 12
Red-Banded Hairstreak 1
Summer Azure 1