North Cape May ~ My Former Butterfly Gardens

 It's so true - You can never go go back... I was invited to go back to my former home in NJ to view the butterflies. I saw 2 good southern strays, a Long-tailed and a Fiery skipper. Along with those butterflies I saw 4 Monarchs, 6 Common Buckeye, a Black Swallowtail and lots of Sachem. But I'd estimate between 30 and 40% of the gardens are gone in just 2 summers. They used black mulch and (I guess) mulched the self seeding plants under - Partridge Pea, Verbena bonariensis among others. There is no swamp milkweed left when there had been 7 large stands of it, Purple milkweed gone, all cone flowers gone, Spicebush tree dead and hackberry tree cut down. The back is just a disaster and it was sad. I saw many mulberry seedlings, several of which are already 3ft high. Sounds crazy but I'd rather see grass than piles of black mulch.

Long-tailed Skipper

Long-tailed Skipper

Fiery Skipper

Common Buckeye

Common Buckeye

Monarch

Sachem

My Yard ~ Late Butterflies

 Today was a nice sunny day after 4 days of cloudy, cool weather - mid 60's with winds 10-145 MPH.  I put up the feeder pole and put out several feeders for the birds.  I bought a platform feeder and a squirrel proof feeder and filled them with a mix of safflower seed and sunflower chips.  I added a Niger sock for the goldfinches and a peanut block in a cage.  I am hoping the squirrels aren't able to get onto the pole as there is a baffle.  First bird we saw on it was a white-breasted Nuthatch.

Then as I was sitting and enjoying the feeder from the back deck an Eastern Comma came to visit - new yard butterfly #31.  I decided to check all of the gardens and found another new yard butterfly #32 Eastern-tailed Blue.  Also present were Cabbage White, Orange Sulphur, Painted Lady, and Fiery Skipper.  A bit later there was a Monarch heading South.

Eastern-tailed Blue

Fiery Skipper

Orange Sulphur

Cabbage White

I also saw some cabbage whites, another orange sulphur, another fiery skipper and a meadow fritillary while taking a walk in my community..

Butterflies in Cape May

Migrating Monarch

 

Monarch

Monarchs

American Lady

American Lady

Fiery Skipper

Fiery Skipper

Ocola Skipper

Honeycroft Village ~ Butterflies Around my Yard

Yard Butterfly #24 Fiery Skipper

Yard Butterfly #24 ~ Fiery Skipper

Yard Butterfly #25 ~ Common Buckeye

 

 Yard Butterfly #23 ~ Gray Hairstreak

Zabulon Skipper ~ Female

Zabulon Skipper ~ Male

Sachem Skippers

Painted Lady 

Painted Lady

Beth's Day ~ Butterflies & the Moon

Settlement is 11 days so between walks around the garden, I have been packing.  The gardens are still going as we haven't had any frosts yet.  It seems like each year the frost comes later and later so butterflies are here longer.  Later, this afternoon, I went over to CM Point to drop off a load of my things where I'll be staying for the next 6 months unless I find new house sooner.

American Lady butterfly

Fiery Skipper

Fiery Skipper 

Monarch Butterfly

Cape May Point Lighthouse

Waxing Crescent Moon

Waxing Crescent Moon with Earthshine
Earthshine – "the dim glow on the darkened portion of a crescent moon – is light from Earth cast on the night side of the moon.”

Beth's Patch ~ Butterflies

I was surprised to see the long-tailed skipper again today though it's not the same one as Monday as shown in my pictures. I was also surprised to see it nectaring on the canna. Also seen by Karen Thompson as she used her last 2 monarch tags in the yard. It was a double digit butterfly day with 10 species here plus black swallowtail, cloudless sulphur, monarch, and american lady caterpillars in the yard

American lady butterfly

American lady butterfly

Common Buckeye Butterfly

American lady butterfly (lt) & Common Buckeye Butterfly (rt)

Fiery Skipper

Monarch Butterfly

Long-tailed Skipper

Ocola Skipper

 

Beth's Patch ~ Recent First of Year Yard Butterflies

9/12 First Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly seen in yard since 2018

9/10 Fiery Skipper

9/14 Long-tailed Skipper