2023 April 14

   Mike McGrenere writes:  I saw two Sara Orangetips this afternoon on the lower southwest slope of Mount Douglas Park.  First of the season for me.  (And the first reported to Invert Alert this year.) Jeremy Tatum writes:  And I saw a California Tortoiseshell flying around the Teacup at the top of Mount Douglas at 4:30 p.m.

2023 April 13

  April Butterfly Count. Message from Gordon Hart

Hello, Butterfly Enthusiasts,

Even though the spring weather has been cool and cloudy, we will have an April count. Five species have been reported to the Invertebrate Alert this year, and the April count usually has 10 or 11 species.

The count period starts Saturday April 15 until Sunday April 23. This is an informal census of butterfly numbers and species in Greater Victoria. The area is defined by the Christmas Bird Count circle, extending from Victoria to Brentwood Bay and Island View Road in Central Saanich, and west to Happy Valley and Triangle Mountain, and Langford Lake and Goldstream areas.

You can submit a count any time over the count period, just use a separate form for each count and location. In the case of repeat or duplicate counts, I will use the higher numbers. To submit counts, please use the form from the VNHS website at http://www.vicnhs.bc.ca/?p=33

If you have difficulty with the form, just send me an email with the information.

Thank-you for submitting your sightings and good luck with your count.

Gordon Hart,

Butterfly Count Coordinator

Victoria Natural History Society

   Egira crucialis/simplex is one of many moth pairs that are difficult to distinguish.  Cheryl Hoyle photographed this one in View Royal yesterday, April 12. If you can find the reniform spot (not obvious in this moth) you will see a small orange smudge inside it.  I think (writes Jeremy Tatum) that this makes it Egira crucialis.  I think that the orange smudge is never present in simplex, and not always obvious in crucialis.  If this is correct, then presence of the smudge indicates crucialis, but absence of the smudge leaves us uncertain.

Egira crucialis (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Cheryl Hoyle

Egira crucialis (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Cheryl Hoyle

   Jeremy continues:  And here is another one, which turned up at my Saanich apartment last night.  You can just– but only just – catch a glimpse of that tiny orange smudge.  I think this one, too, is E. crucialis

Egira crucialis  (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

2023 April 12

    Some sightings today, April 12, from Val George, who writes: The California Tortoiseshell was at the reservoir on Mount Tolmie along with a second one; the Orthosia hibisci was on the wall of my Oak Bay house; and the Emmelina
monodactyla was sitting on the door of my parked car.

California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Val George

Orthosia hibisci  (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Val George

2023 April 9

   Val George sends photographs from his Oak Bay home of two geometrid moths that are notoriously difficult to identify.   The first is one of Eupithecia ravocostaliata/nevadata.  Is the mid-costal patch rectangular (ravocostaliata)
or triangular (nevadata)?   The second is a species of Drepanulatrix – possibly secundaria or possibly monicaria.  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I don’t have the courage to label either of these moths with confident identifications at species
level.  They are already notoriously difficult – I would just muddy the waters if I were to label them as certain identifications and get them wrong.

Eupithecia ravocostaliata/nevadata   (Lep.: Geometridae)   Val George

Drepanulatrix sp.  (Lep.: Geometridae)   Val George