28th/29th Sept - in and around Urbana
We decided to stay local for the first weekend of my visit, while I settled in and got over my initial jetlag. On the first morning, we walked the short distance from L's flat to the University of Illinois Arboretum in glorious sunshine. Champaign-Urbana is roughly on the latitude of Madrid, and had the 30C temperatures to prove it.
Predictably enough, the first butterfly I spotted was extremely familiar - a Painted Lady! Difficult to tell without a baseline to compare with, but it appeared that they have been as successful in the US this year as they have at home, as we saw loads throughout the trip.
If the Painted Lady was nice-but-slightly-boring, the same certainly couldn't be said for the next butterfly to glide majestically past and perch in a nearby conifer...!
Rest assured there will be many, many more Monarch photos before I'm done with this thread! Next up was our first encounter with one of several Skipper species still on the wing. I found these quite hard to identify because, for some reason, the Americans have separate field guides for "skippers" and "other butterflies" - and in the interests of finance I hadn't bought the skippers guide! However, I'm fairly confident this is Fiery Skipper,
Hylephila phyleus.
This one was rather trickier, but I think it may be the Sachem,
Atalopedes campestris.
Our favourite part of the Arboretum was the "Idea Garden" - a small community garden that was dripping with nectar. One of the first things we spotted on arrival was this female Ruby-throated Hummingbird!
Among the many flowers were plenty more Monarchs...
...Silver-spotted Skippers - nope, not that one, but
Epargyreus clarus...
...Variegated Fritillaries
Euptoieta claudia...
...and the rather special Buckeye.
Just as we left, we were briefly buzzed by what I think was a Black Swallowtail,
Papilio polyxenes. Sadly this was the only one we saw close-up all holiday, so I never got a sharp photo!
Walking back through the Arboretum, we found some areas of rough ground which held a couple of new species for the trip. The first was Gray Hairstreak
Strymon melinus, which was behaviourally more similar to a Green Hairstreak than any of our other species.
The other was Pearl Crescent - a lovely fritillary, but only about as big as a Common Blue! Away from artificial nectar beds, this was probably one of our most commonly-encountered species over the course of the trip.
After lunch, we walked out in the other direction to Meadowbrook Park, a medium-sized area of restored prairie. Here we encountered our fourth Hesperid of the day: I think this one is Peck's Skipper
Polites peckius.
There weren't very many butterflies to be seen here, but another nectar garden gave us the chance for some better views of the American version of SSSk.
The other Lepidopteran of note was this rather nice moth - named in the American tradition for its sometime role as an agricultural pest: Grapeleaf Skeletonizer
Harrisina americana.
Day 2 started rather less sunny so I was given the tour of downtown Champaign. It brightened up in the afternoon, so we stopped by the Idea Garden on the way home (this will become a theme of this thread...!). I was starting to get my eye in and could now begin to pick out the differences between Clouded Sulphur
Colias philodice and Orange Sulphur
Colias eurytheme (known locally as Alfalfa Butterfly).
![IMG_0783.jpg (758.27 KiB) Viewed 1956 times Clouded Sulphur](./files/thumb_15783_a6e0a3438098486bd8babc12b68807f5)
- Clouded Sulphur
![IMG_1437.jpg (922.64 KiB) Viewed 1956 times Orange Sulphur](./files/thumb_15783_71d3e455ebead1b0e2614a7bfa2ec560)
- Orange Sulphur
The colours of the garden contrasted beautifully with the various golden skippers.
![IMG_1370.jpg (609.59 KiB) Viewed 1956 times Sachem](./files/thumb_15783_5cec73921f3afad7d52ecf0186de5b6f)
- Sachem
![IMG_1405.jpg (490.51 KiB) Viewed 1956 times Peck's Skipper](./files/thumb_15783_c00b369eacd0195600d79f4ff3124e37)
- Peck's Skipper
![IMG_1423.jpg (478.91 KiB) Viewed 1956 times Fiery Skipper](./files/thumb_15783_4f16d455e90328995366b9c42d8dca32)
- Fiery Skipper
Amongst them was another new skipper: I think this is Tawny-edged Skipper
Polites themistocles.
And just about the most incredible micro-moth I've ever seen: Ailanthus webworm
Attvea aurea.
Monarchs and Variegated Fritillaries posed nicely, and that brought the first weekend to a very satisfactory conclusion!