And to follow up the birds of the year, some insects.

21 new odes, only 1 in Mass.

Runners up: Pygmy and Extra-striped Snaketail, Superb Jewelwing, Umber and Stygian Shadowdragon (DSA writeup still coming)

Best: Spatterdock Darner

10 new butterflies, 1 in Mass

Runners up: Mestra, Arctic Skipper, Pipevine Swallowtail

Best: Two-spotted Skipper

Barely looked for Tiger Beetles and Asilids this year, will have to change that next year.

I joined an insect survey at Bear Creek Sanctuary in Saugus yesterday. It was a bit dry for dragonflies but the butterflies weren’t too bad. Some highlights:

Nicely posed Common Ringlet

I never got around to posting about the DSA Northeast Meeting from last July, but it’s time for the annual meeting. Here’s a couple videos that somehow star me from last year to give a taste.

A few bugs from Myles Standish State Forest today while I’m sorting through pelagic photos (not too many good ones this year I’m afraid).

Carolina Saddlebags:

He wouldn’t slow down enough to get a shot off, so I just caught him for a few seconds.

I didn’t get out birding this morning as I was busy fighting Verizon’s overzealous filters blocking all Massbird, but I eventually got out for the Mass Butterfly Club’s trip to Horn Pond Mountain.

Horn Pond Mountain’s a great place to explore but with the recent two weeks of lousy weather it was on the quiet stuff. We did see most of the expected stuff but in low numbers. However, almost everything was spectacularly fresh, obviously having emerged in the last day or so at the earliest.

Finally catching up with last weekend.

Saturday, I headed out to do my first concentrated odeing of the year. I started at the heron rookery in Littleton (which has dwindled quite a bit). Lots of bugs including many dragonflies (12+ species including FOY Chalk-fronted Corporal, Marsh Bluet, Sedge Sprite, and Eastern Pondhawk), a few butterflies, and assorted other things including 2 true bugs and my first Robber Flies of the year (photos of the last few aren’t good enough to show off).

I took today off to do some atlas work at my block in Dunstable, so of course I have a pile of insect photos and almost no birds.

Salmon Brook was loaded with odes, including tons of Lancet Clubtails and tons of River Jewelwings.

Although those were good (first time I’ve seen them in numbers), the single Sparkling Jewelwing was better.

Out and about today. The plan was to start at Dunback hoping for late migrants and then go look for odes and stuff. Turns out there weren’t any late migrants but the butterflies at Dunback were good, so the whole day was for bugs.

Starting at Dunback, lots of Pearl Crescents, a few Little Wood Satyrs, and a baskettail or two. Looking for birds, I did hear a cuckoo but never found it. Finally double-checked the songs just now and it’s a FOY Yellow-billed (which appears to be my first in Lexington(?!). Down to the left, Willow Flycatchers were calling, also new for the year. Otherwise, there wasn’t much.

In addition to all the other highlights at Met State, I had a bunch of Azures (Celastrina sp.). Most appeared to be the recently described Cherry Gall (C. serotina) but one looked a little different. The best part was one basking with its wings open, something they almost never do. I missed my first chance to get some shots and lost track of it as it flew down the path. Luckily, after photographing the questionable one, the other returned and again opened his wings, allowing me several shots!

Absolutely spectacular weekend.

After the Cerulean Thursday and lots of good stuff not refinding it Friday, Saturday started out cloudy. Between it being dark and with a chance of rain still, I left the camera at home. I headed to the Arlington Reservoir, hoping for good swallows and other migrants. Lots of birds around, but not necessarily what I had hoped for. Two Scarlet Tanagers were nice, as were the boatload of sandpipers, including 2 Lesser Yellowlegs, several Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers, and about 20 Least Sandpipers. I did find my first Bank Swallows of the year but couldn’t find any Cliff and numbers were on the low side. Warblers were limited with a few singing near the bridge but nothing too exciting.