There has been a lot of correspondence going on about the Giant Swallowtail. Mike Gochfeld confirms Rick Cech's observation that there is a Giant Swallowtail invasion taking place and he says that it began three or four years ago and that he's already had two in his New Jersey yard. Rick and Linda Kedenburg report seeing them in southern Vermont. Jean Held sends me a picture of what she calls "my southerner" -- a Red-banded Hairstreak, Calycopis cecrops, another southerner making its way northward (see attached photo). I used to see hairstreaks nectaring on Butterfly Weed but these flowers are now shaded out and the hairstreaks have become hard to find.
I did find a good warbler this morning: a fall-plumaged Tennessee Warbler, probably an immature (yellow underneath, brightest on the breast, faintly yellow on the undertail). It was in a feeding flock at the head of the marsh (mostly in the Tupelos) led, not by Chickadees or Titmice, but by a dozen or more American Goldfinches, all in female or juvenal plumage. Also in view: Northern Waterthrush, Black-and-white Warbler, Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Catbirds, Robins, Blue Jays, and others.
Eric Salzman
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