Red-banded Hairstreak is a plentiful - though easily-overlooked - species in Cape May County.
Dun Skipper - another easily-overlooked species as it lurks low in long grass a lot of the time. This is a male with a distinctive, ochre-colored head.
Swarthy Skipper - another long-grass lurker, this time with a butterscotch underside and pale veins.
One we missed on the survey but which I spotted in the garden this evening, Hayhurst's Scallopwing - probably one of the best butterfly names of all! Note the shadow - the sun was back again this evening!
And the great thing about taking part in surveys is that it gets you out into the field - which means you never quite know what you are going to find. This Rough Green Snake was a real bonus as it climbed through a large stand of Joe-Pye-weed and Common Boneset. [All photos by Mike Crewe]
Around Cape May Point, Fall migration grows a-pace. Michael O'Brien's terns workshop started well today with both Black and Sandwich Terns and six Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the beach, with the bonus of a fly-by Brown Pelican. No sooner had Karl Lukens reported that a Eurasian Collared Dove was still present on Lincoln Avenue than news came through that two were present - is this rapidly-expanding species finally going to settle at Cape May?
The wet weather overnight maybe stalled a few things, but Northern Waterthrushes and Yellow Warblers are leading a slow but steadily-growing vanguard of songbirds heading through the point now - the weekend looms and Higbee's beckons!
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