New Jersey Butterfly Club

What’s Flying Now in New Jersey

June

This feature is a general planning guide to what time of year to look for different species of butterflies in North Jersey and is designed for the beginning and novice butterflier. For daily updates on what is being seen and where, check out the NJ Butterfly Club sightings page and the South Jersey Butterfly Log. And you can’t do better than getting out in the field with the local experts in our club.

June is your last good chance to see Falcate Orangetip; Brown, Frosted, Hoary, Henry’s, and Pine elfins; Juvenal’s, Dreamy, and Sleepy duskywings; Long Dash; and Dusted, Hobomok, Pepper and Salt, and Common Roadside skippers.

An exciting list of species start flying in June: Sleepy Orange, Bronze Copper, Satyrium Hairstreaks (Coral, Edwards’, Banded, Hickory, Striped, Oak), ‘Summer’ Azure, N. Metalmark, Great Spangled and Variegated fritillaries, Baltimore Checkerspot, Hackberry and Tawny emperors, N. Pearly-eye, Eyed and Appalachian browns, Common Wood-Nymph (late June), Hoary Edge.

Some species that may have been seen here and there usually become more common as the season progresses: American Snout, Ladies, Red Admiral, Common Buckeye.

June, July, and August are the best months to see a new variety of North Jersey grass-skippers, most of which emerge in June: N. Broken-Dash; Little Glassywing; Black Dash; and Delaware, Broad-winged, Dion, and Dun skippers. For help in identifying these little guys, check out Sharon’s guide to identifying open-winged grass-skippers.

Many species mentioned in the March-April and/or May What’s Flying Now— such as Black, Eastern Tiger, and Spicebush swallowtails; American Copper; American Lady; Red Admiral; Red- spotted Purple; Viceroy; Little Wood Satyr; Common Ringlet; Silver-spotted Skipper; Common Checkered-Skipper; Common Sootywing; and Swarthy, Least, European, Peck’s, Tawny-edged, Crossline, Zabulon, and Dun skippers—will be increasing (and some will have an additional brood in the summer).

Whether this is your first year as a butterflier or the latest of many, no matter how often one may have seen a given species in the past, it is always exciting to encounter the first-of-year (FOY) individual!

Just a few other things to bear in mind while searching for butterflies:

• Most species emerge earlier in Monmouth and Mercer counties, for example, than at the higher elevations of the colder northern counties.
• Year-to-year variation in species abundance is to be expected. For example, some years Red Admiral or Painted Lady may be common or even abundant and other years decidedly uncommon.
• Lastly, do not enter private property without permission from the owner lest we butterfliers become unwelcome. In these situations, please conduct your observations from the edges of public roads.