April 17, 2025 – First of the Year!

Took a solo trip to Myles Standish State Forest today to see what might be flying. I expected to see the Spring Azures and hoped to see an Elfin or two.

Note: Ticks are out! I did find one black-legged “deer” tick trying to crawl up my pants when out there. Keep an eye out!

At first, I went to the headquarters and over to East Head Pond to see if the Cooters were there. These are fun turtles to see basking on the logs there. There were a few, which was good to see.

The first butterfly location I went to was the gas line at Bare Hill Road and Kamesit. This location is well known for it’s elfins, especially in May. Today, there were no elfins to be found, but I did see 4 Spring Azures! First of the year for me in Massachusetts. Always exciting to get the season started. I also saw a mating pair of Oil Beetles that I thought were interesting.

I have decided that after taking a year off from it due to a separated rib, I will be taking out the macro lens again. This generally requires me to be in some awkward position laying on the ground or doing some wildlife photographers version of an Army crawl with onlookers wondering if I am ok, but I like the overall look of the photos. If my winter hamstring injury holds up (so far so good!) I will probably continue this throughout the summer.

After this, I decided to try the other end of the gas line off of Fearing Pond Road. This location is also quite good for Azures and Elfins. Both sides of the road are good spots.

I was able to find 6 more Spring Azures on the left side of the road and 3 more on the right side. Two of them were “puddling” right next to each other.

From here I moved on to a small road off of Upper College Pond Road called Webster Springs Road. Walking the road takes you to another location along the gas lines that is productive for Elfins come May. Today, there were 3 Spring Azures there, but not much else.

One thing I encountered out there today was a prescribed burn. These are quite important to keep the area as a nice pine barrens and to keep wildfires from being able to get out of control. It looks destructive, but it is helpful!

One thing that annoys the hell out of me is the amount of trash that people feel the need to throw along the paths in this forest. I always carry a trash bag and do my best to pick up what I can. It is always a good idea to take along a trash bag in your pack just in case. Today I put mine to good use.

Don’t Litter!