On July 6 seven intrepid observers set out on the Niobrara Valley Preserve’s 34th annual butterfly count. Conditions were incredibly dry (perhaps accounting for the lower overall numbers observed) but we were able to record 28 species and 161 individual butterflies. These totals fell roughly in line with averages for the last 10 years (26.8Continue reading “Niobrara Valley Preserve 2022 Butterfly Count”
Tag Archives: Polites peckius
Western Nebraska: Good for family & butterflies
By Jonathan Nikkila Putting to use all the tips, tricks and ID help Neil Dankert has given me over the years, I spent a day during our family vacation to the Pine Ridge last week to hunt for Western Nebraska butterfly species. My family was staying at Ft. Robinson State Park, a great place forContinue reading “Western Nebraska: Good for family & butterflies”
Alfalfa Rules/Six New County Records
This past weekend Jennifer, I and the dog made a road trip to fill in a few gaps in the maps while the weather was still nice. We traveled to the Norfolk area with the number one goal of finding a Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice) in Boone County, the lone remaining county where it hadContinue reading “Alfalfa Rules/Six New County Records”
Four More County Records for NE
On June 2 Steve Spomer stopped at the Brainard Cemetery in Butler County and found (among a few other things) Silver Spotted Skippers and a Hobomok Skipper, both of which had not been previously reported from Butler county. Then Friday June 4 Jen and I met Pat and Diane Miller at the Scotia Chalk MineContinue reading “Four More County Records for NE”
New record for Saline County: Peck’s Skipper – Polites peckius
Saturday (May 22) Jen and I went to Lincoln to buy more plants (Statewide Arboretum and Midwest Natives). Although the weather was not ideal (mostly cloudy with a stiff wind out of the south) for butterfly hunting we decided to do a little exploring and take a road less traveled (not Interstate 80) home. DrivingContinue reading “New record for Saline County: Peck’s Skipper – Polites peckius”
Let’s Tag Some Monarchs
Welcome to all the new viewers. Ideally the World Herald article would have been earlier in the year as it has generated a lot of traffic. As you can see I’m at 99 species for the year so a lot has happened already. June and July are when most of Nebraska’s butterflies that have aContinue reading “Let’s Tag Some Monarchs”
2020 Niobrara Valley Preserve Butterfly Count Results
Due to the Corona virus and other scheduling issues this year’s annual Niobrara Valley Preserve butterfly count was a two day affair by two different teams. On July 11 Jonathan Nikkila and his son Bennett covered a majority of the count. Jen and I followed that up on July 15 covering the remainder of theContinue reading “2020 Niobrara Valley Preserve Butterfly Count Results”
Platte River Bottom Lands – Alda to Wood River
Chris Helzer sent me a skipper picture Wednesday which he had correctly ided as Peck’s Skipper (Polites peckius). He’d taken the pic at a Nature Conservancy tract south of Alda and he commented that they were not uncommon there. As I had not yet sighted that skipper this year and it was only an hour’sContinue reading “Platte River Bottom Lands – Alda to Wood River”