New Jersey Butterfly Club

Cape May Field Trip Report

This trip to Cape May and vicinity which is the capstone to our butterfly season took place on Tuesday September 23 and Wednesday September 24, 2025. Leadership was provided by our hosts the two Jacks (Miller and McDonough) with the assistance of that well known north Jersey field trip guru Wade Wander.

Approximately 20 participants were in attendance. This always popular outing drew butterfly enthusiasts from both north and south Jersey as well as some out of state folks from Manhattan, southern New York and the Philadelphia area. The weather was delightful - bright sunshine, comfortable temperatures in the low 80's with only a bit of humidity to mar the occasion.

Tuesday began with an exploration of the grassy areas, mixed forest trails and dunes of Cape May Point SP. This was followed by a guided tour of the Cape May Point Science Center which since June, 2023 has been housed in a building constructed in 1889 as the Shoreham Hotel, which later became a retreat for the Sisters of St. Joseph. Our thanks go to Katie Bliss who gave us a look at their great pollinator gardens, and to Mark Garland for demonstrating the latest Monarch tagging technology involving the use of incredibly small tracking devices - weighing only 60 milligrams, which is about the same as a grain of rice - on monarch butterflies for the first time ever. These trackers transmit over the same frequency as Bluetooth, which means that your phone can detect the tagged monarchs!

From there we explored the well known Triangle Garden, the pollinator plantings around the south end of Lily Lake and the butterfly friendly flowers of many of the homes in the town of Cape May Point.

The day closed with the now traditional get-to-gether hosted by Teresa Knipper who once again opened up her lovely home to the madding crowd of reprobates. Not only that but she cooked up a pan of veggie lasagna and served some outstanding sausages. Others chipped in with snacks, desserts, and beer. Kathy and Bob Wilson provided lots of delicious cookies that provided badly needed sustenance on the second day.

Wednesday dawned bright and beautiful and we were off to a private farm where we found several new species after which we stocked up on some fabulous south Jersey tomatoes and other produce items on display at the farm stand. Next on the agenda was a trip to the Nature Conservancy's Eldora Nature Preserve in western Cape May County in search of salt marsh species and a bite of lunch. We wrapped things up with a visit to the Heislerville Wildlife Management Area in Cumberland County before a sudden downpour signaled an end to the festivities.

So once the dust settled, how successful were we? Our list came up just one short of 30 species - pretty good for what has been a pretty slow butterfly season. We were having so much fun that we did not follow our usual practice of tallying the exact number of each species we saw. However the list below does give a rough idea of the number of individuals seen.

However there were some disappointments. The species that can be called misses included: American Snout, Red-banded Hairstreak, Eastern Comma, Question Mark, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Common Sootywing, Tawny-edged Skipper, Dun Skipper, and Salt Marsh Skipper. These and other species were undoubtedly present but went unseen by the crack crew. Others like Monarch, the sulphurs, and buckeye seemed much less common than expected. Even Sachem was not seen in its usual trash-like numbers.

Sighting Report: 29 species

Black Swallowtail - About 5
Spicebush Swallowtail - Fewer than 5
Cabbage White - Common
Clouded Sulphur - Fewer than 5
Orange Sulphur - 3
Cloudless Sulphur - About 5
Gray Hairstreak - 8-10
Eastern Tailed-Blue - Fewer than 5
Azure - 1
Variegated Fritillary - 2
Pearl Crescent - Several
Mourning Cloak - 2
American Lady - 3
Red-spotted Purple - 3
Viceroy - 5
Common Buckeye - Abundant
Monarch - Common
Silver-spotted Skipper - Fewer than 5
Long-tailed Skipper - 1 (no tail long-tail)
Horace’s Duskywing - 2
Wild Indigo Duskywing - 2
Common Checkered-Skipper - 4 (all males)
Least Skipper - Fewer than 5
Fiery Skipper - Fewer than 20
Sachem - Abundant
Zabulon Skipper - 2
Aaron’s Skipper - 4
Broad-winged Skipper - 2
Ocola Skipper - 1