Today we went out looking for Azures, Elfins, etc. We started the day at the gas lines on Bare Hill Road in Myles Standish State Forest. It was warm (upper 60’s) and sunny, but the winds were pretty heavy. We did manage to see several Spring Azures as expected, but no Elfins yet. Should be any day now.
At this location, I always check the puddle in the parking area for any activity. It is a good place to find Duskywings puddling if there are any around. Today there were a couple Azures and a few Paper Wasps there.
Just a reminder that when you are out at Myles Standish (and anywhere for that matter) we share the area with people with a variety of interests. Hunters, birders, butterfliers, horse riders, etc. Today we saw a couple of horse riders along the trails. It’s nice to see everyone enjoying the land.
From here we decided to go to Webster Springs Road to check along the gas line at that end in hopes that the wind would be less. On Wester Springs, it wasn’t bad at all but the gas lines in the area were just as bad as the other end. We did manage to get a few Azures there and noticed that the Mayflower is blooming. One of the Azures even struck a pose with it’s wings open for us! This is sort of unusual.
From here we decided to try Doctor’s Pond Road to see if any Elfins would show themselves there. I thought this was the area that they were burning the other day, but it wasn’t. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that the cutting down of much of the vegetation they did last year didn’t really change the area that much. It’s all part of the land management, but I always worry when I see clear cutting like I did.
The road had several Azures and Hover flies and other flies along it. When boredom from lack of butterflies hits, I turn the camera to other living things. I even got a couple of Palm Warblers which I had never heard of.
On the way back to the car, we saw some flight pattern going on that finally wasn’t a fly or an Azure. It turned out to be a Juvenal’s Duskywing! It’s nice to see them early like this. We have found that the Doctors Pond area is generally a good place for Duskywings.
From here we decided to give Lyman Reserve in Wareham/Plymouth a try. I had heard that there was a recent controlled burn there and wanted to see how much they did. It seemed to either be a half-hearted attempt at a controlled burn or there may be some other reason to burn so lightly, but it didn’t appear to us to have done much good. However, we know very little about the ins and outs of controlled burns so we leave that for the experts.
We did see several Azures here but nothing else. The sun had been replaced by clouds and it was much cooler here than in Myles Standish. We did a bit of walking around, but called it a day after this. It is a nice place for a walk though.
Overall, today we saw 68 Azures and 1 Juvenal’s Duskywing at Myles Standish and 8 Azures at Lyman. Not a bad day!
Our Natural Adventures 
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