Red Admirals Are Arriving in the Upper Midwest
Spring has arrived here in Iowa, and so have the butterflies, including Red Admirals. After the last three years with low numbers, it’s now looking like 2023 is going to be a more active, abundant, and exciting year for Red Admirals. I’m still not sure how the Painted Lady population will develop this year, owing to the unusually intense and variable weather in California this past winter.
Red Admirals are now arriving in the upper Midwest, following two strong and very stormy weather systems that transported warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico into our area. Red Admirals arrived soon afterward, with the first report from Omaha, Nebraska on April 4. I spotted my first ones here in Ames, Iowa on April 7. It’s likely they were here sooner, perhaps as early as March 31, but it was difficult to tell because cold weather followed each of the two frontal passages. Since then, I’ve started receiving more reports from around the upper Midwest.
As always, I’m seeking not only first sightings of Vanessa species, but also sightings of migrating butterflies and sightings throughout the season.
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Do you want other first of the year sightings of any butterflies, you said in you note that you would be glad to other sighting. I have only posted the Vanessa but could definitely post others. Yesterday was the first day that I have see: Variegated Fritillary, Common Buckeye, Gray Hairstreak, Dainty Sulphur and Pearl Crescent
When I wrote this posting, I was requesting Vanessa sightings, not only first sightings of the season, but also later sightings of Vanessa spp., both of migrating Vanessa butterflies and of any Vanessa species observed throughout the season. This statement wasn't quite clear as I had written it in the original posting.
The project is currently set up to accept only Vanessa sightings and Nymphalis californica (this, because I've received a few sightings of N. californica that observers initially mistook for Painted Ladies).
If you would like to designate any other species sightings as "first of the season," you could open the Observation Fields list, choose Type of Sighting, and then type First of Season in the box. Since you're a member of the Vanessa Migration Project, this field should open for you without you having to search for it.
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