End of the Season Blues

Although most of Nebraska has seen a frost a few hardier plants and butterflies are still hanging on for our viewing pleasure. So the following sightings might not be the last county records for 2022. On October 11 Lori Tomes spotted a Marine Blue (Leptotes marina) in Fremont which was a Dodge County record. ThisContinue reading “End of the Season Blues”

Butterflies with Type Localities in Nebraska – Smoky Eyed Brown – Lethe eurydice fumosus (Leussler 1916)

This is another butterfly Richard Leussler (that man again – see Jan 8 post) named, this time as a subspecies. The name he originally gave the butterfly was Satyrodes canthus n. v. fumosus but the genus was later changed to Lethe and the species to eurydice. So the current name is Lethe eurydice fumosus (Leussler,Continue reading “Butterflies with Type Localities in Nebraska – Smoky Eyed Brown – Lethe eurydice fumosus (Leussler 1916)”

2020 – A look back (Season Summary)

Every year I compile a Season Summary to submit to the Lepidopterists’ Society highlighting new county/state records for butterflies, new moth species for the state and anything other interesting finds. I’ll briefly summarize what I reported this year. 2020 turned out to be a pretty good year diversity wise.  Roughly a dozen observers recorded 113Continue reading “2020 – A look back (Season Summary)”

White-M Hairstreak

Joanne Langabee and her friend Holly have been doing weekly butterfly surveys at Fonenelle Forest and Lauritzen Gardens for a few years now (three and five years respectively). In doing so they have observed the comings and goings of quite a number of species and gotten a handle on when and where a particular speciesContinue reading “White-M Hairstreak”

It Takes a Village – Six New Species

Lest anyone be confused the “Big Year” is not a solo effort. That was never more apparent than yesterday (July 1) when Jonathan Nikkila (hooray – you get pictures), my wife Jen and I went to Fontenelle Forest, Kinter’s Ford SWMA, Four Mile Creek SWMA and Table Rock SWMA. We started at Fontenelle Forest whereContinue reading “It Takes a Village – Six New Species”

Fontenelle Forest, Kinter’s Ford, Prairie Knoll, Four Mile Creek and a Free Truck Wash

Fontenelle Forest – Seeing on “Nebraska and Great Plains Butterflies and Moths” that Hackberry Emperors were being found at Fontenelle Forest and needing them for my Big Year list Thursday morning I headed east for a day of adventures. As always the weather forecast was a factor with late day/evening storms being forecast for southeastContinue reading “Fontenelle Forest, Kinter’s Ford, Prairie Knoll, Four Mile Creek and a Free Truck Wash”

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”

Exit mobile version