Lebanon County Pa 2019 Butterflies

2019 was the 2nd year that I started keeping the list of butterfly species that where verified and confirmed sighting in Lebanon Count Pa - for the year 2019 there where 50 species sighted.

As I just saw my first butterfly of 2020 on March 13 (a Cabbage White at Middle Creek wildlife Area) , I thought I would review some of the highlights of 2019.

In 2019 both a Spring Azure, Cloudless Sulphur & Cabbage White where recorded March 20 as the first species seen and recorded in Lebanon County. The Cabbage White may be the most recognized and abundant butterfly species seen  in Lebanon County. Just look out over any farm grass field and you will see them fluttering. Quite a site when you see hundreds of them in June & July.

Spring Azure

Cloudless Sulphur

Also as with other years, my yard meadow again this year had an abundance of Tiger Swallowtails, Pearl Crescents, Silver Spotted Skippers, Spicebush Swallowtail, Spring and Summer Azures just to name a few. The pollinator meadow continues to amaze me with the abundance of species I record there each year.

Red admiral

Hobomak Skipper

Tiger Swallowtail

A real surprise was the sighting of a Tawny Emperor on July 2 sitting on my house siding - the first recorded yard sighting of this species.

Tawny Emperor 

Tawny Emperor

The Painted Lady and Buckeye butterflies seemed to be in abundance in 2019, with many reported sighting throughout the Lebanon County. Pearl Crescents where also quite common in 2019.

Painted Lady

A Swarthy Skipper was recorded for the first time on July 26..another yard first.

Swarthy Skipper

August 25th also saw a surprise with a Hackberry Emperor sighted at the edge of the forest bordering my yard. Another yard first in 2019

Hackberry Emperor

Hackberry Emperor

While Monarch numbers where down somewhat from other years, there was still many reported sighting of Monarch's in the Lebanon and the surrounding counties.The last species of 2019 I recorded in Lebanon County, was a Buckeye on October 11.

As the Spring of 2020 approaches I look forward to another exciting year of recording the butterfly sighting of Lebanon County Pa.

Until next time.

Harlequin Duck in Williamsport, Pennsylvania

During the month of December, 2019 there were rare ebird alerts that a Harlequin Duck was being seen on the Susquehanna River near Williamsport, Pa. I decided to 'chase' this bird and hopefully make it my last counted bird for 2019. I contacted a few follow Audubon members and we set off on the 1 1/2 hour drive to locate the species.

We arrived in Williamsport around 10am. We then drove around for another 45 minutes trying to locate the parking area near the river that we could see but didn't know how to reach. We finally got accurate directions and arrived at the parking area. We parked and walked up on the river dike and starting scanning the river for the Harlequin.

We spotted Common Goldeneye and Common Mergansers but no Harlequin. Was the trip going to end a DNFTB (did not find the bird).

After about 15 minutes, I finally spotted a smaller duck in the rapids near some 'islands' in the river. As we all trained our scopes on the duck...sure enough it was the Harlequin.

Harlequin Duck

After a few high fives, we watched the Harlequin for about 20 minutes and then packed up our gear and headed home....having successfully added the Harlequin Duck as the last recorded species for 2019 and a lifer for everyone's Pennsylvania bird (waterfowl) list.

A nice way to end the 2019 birding year.

Until next time.