Hi, Kent--

Giant Swallowtail in the SE corner of Shoreham (431 North Orwell Road) 
first definitively ID'd on May 31 this year, though it had been around 
for about a week before that.

After not seeing one for the last few weeks, I now have at least 2, and 
have observed what sure looks like mating behavior, though I don't know 
enough about butterflies to be sure.

I'm halfway up a SE-facing low ridge in open farm country and usually a 
few degrees warmer in winter than the surrounding area, so here's hoping 
for next year.  At least I now know what to look for, thanks to Bryan 
Pfeiffer's posting on VTBird about the first one seen this spring in 
Orwell, the next town south of Shoreham.

Jane





On 8/3/2012 4:51 PM, Kent McFarland wrote:
> Hello Green Mountain birders,
> Sorry to talk about butterflies on a bird list serve, but I am hoping you
> can help us as many of you have probably seen Vermont's newest butterfly
> species recently and we'd love your records. With the end of the Vermont
> Butterfly Survey we are lucky to have virtually an army of butterfly crazed
> folks around the state now. Just in time for an invasion of a southern
> species. We have been able to document in unprecedented detail, at least
> for these parts, the invasion of the Giant Swallowtail into Vermont. We
> have the very first two records in the fall of 2010, a massive invasion in
> the summer and fall of 2011 and many reports of mating, egg laying and
> larvae. Then, a mild winter of 2011-12 allowed them to overwinter in
> chrysalis, at least in the western half of the state. In the spring there
> were huge numbers in some areas. They mated and laid eggs. Now their young
> are flying and dispersing all over the state. We'll have to wait and see if
> they can once again make it through a Vermont winter, but for now, this
> butterfly is a resident. With an unprecedented number of butterfly watchers
> now in the state, we really have documented this amazingly well so far, but
> like all good biologists, we're always data hungry!
>
> Here's were we'd love more help from you. If you have a sight record of
> this large swallowtail, please send me the date and exact location to my
> email. If you
> have seen mating or egg laying, we'd love the details. If you have any
> photo documentation, please consider enter your photo on the Butterflies
> and Moths of North American database at http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/.
> Many of us put a lot of our butterfly photo records on that site now that
> the atlas is over. In fact, all of the Vermont Butterfly Survey data are on
> that site, http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/project/VBS ! Check out the
> map for Giant Swallowtail and see some great photos on the site at
> http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Papilio-cresphontes
>
> If butterflies are getting your attention more and more, consider some of
> these Vermont resources too:
>
> VTLEPS email list group: http://list.uvm.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=VTLEPS
> VT Butterfly Survey report pdf: http://www.vtecostudies.org/VBS/news.html
>
> Thanks so much for your time, interest and help!
>
> Kent McFarland
> Vermont Center for Ecostudies
>