Late Autumn Surprises (captures)
Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2024 4:08 am
Here in the northern portion of Illinois our autumn
begins about the last week of Sept. and runs until
the 1st or 2nd week of November. Most years, one
can still see butterflies of one kind or another (albeit
noticeably thinned-out) right up until October's end.
Its tough to find much of any good past mid-October
but, occasionally an "abnormally" late autumn with
surprisingly warm temperatures will cause some things
to still emerge --- rather than overwinter.
This has been one of those unusual autumn's and on
October 29th I visited a usual field (haunt) of mine for
one last collecting effort for the season. A strong
southerly wind that day shot our temperatures up to
81 degrees F.
I expected nothing and it felt out of place even carrying
a net with so much vegetation seemingly going into its
dormancy for the season. However, there still remained
some small spotty patches of purple clover flowers here
and there.
I noticed a few scattered Colias eurytheme and Colias
philodice still on the wing mostly "tired" in color and
wing condition. Yet, every now and again I'd spot one
that looked bold ----almost fresh hatched so, I'd take
a swing when I could as it was "gusty" with winds.
It took some effort but, I was rewarded with 5 superb
"end of season" specimens. Likely, this is THE latest
time of year that I've ever caught such nice examples.
C.eurytheme (yellow form /females)
C.eurytheme (albino form / female)
If you have a story to share similar to this one then
please do share it with us.
begins about the last week of Sept. and runs until
the 1st or 2nd week of November. Most years, one
can still see butterflies of one kind or another (albeit
noticeably thinned-out) right up until October's end.
Its tough to find much of any good past mid-October
but, occasionally an "abnormally" late autumn with
surprisingly warm temperatures will cause some things
to still emerge --- rather than overwinter.
This has been one of those unusual autumn's and on
October 29th I visited a usual field (haunt) of mine for
one last collecting effort for the season. A strong
southerly wind that day shot our temperatures up to
81 degrees F.
I expected nothing and it felt out of place even carrying
a net with so much vegetation seemingly going into its
dormancy for the season. However, there still remained
some small spotty patches of purple clover flowers here
and there.
I noticed a few scattered Colias eurytheme and Colias
philodice still on the wing mostly "tired" in color and
wing condition. Yet, every now and again I'd spot one
that looked bold ----almost fresh hatched so, I'd take
a swing when I could as it was "gusty" with winds.
It took some effort but, I was rewarded with 5 superb
"end of season" specimens. Likely, this is THE latest
time of year that I've ever caught such nice examples.
C.eurytheme (yellow form /females)
C.eurytheme (albino form / female)
If you have a story to share similar to this one then
please do share it with us.