2020 February 21

   Gordon Hart writes from the Highlands, February 20: 

     The sun brought out several bee species and one butterfly. Anne-Marie saw it perched briefly and I was able to get fleeting glimpses in flight, and at a distance it appeared to be dark orange-brown and black . We are pretty sure it was a California Tortoiseshell.  Unfortunately, I could not relocate it for a photo. The bees were more obliging. There were several identical bumblebees, possibly Bombus melanopygus, the Black-tailed Bumblebee. I have enclosed a photo of one on Heather flowers.

     Thanks to Lincoln Best and Annie Pang who both concur that it is B. melanopygus, which, they write, is usually the first bumblebee to appear in spring.

Black-tailed Bumblebee  Bombus melanopygus (Hym.: Apidae)  Gordon Hart

2020 February 18 morning

   Jochen Möhr sends a picture of one of our early moths from Metchosin, yesterday – Hydriomena nubilofasciata.

Hydriomena nubilofasciata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

   Layla Munger sends photographs of two syrphid flies from Beacon Hill Park yesterday.  While we can’t be certain of their exact identifications, writes Jeremy Tatum, I have labelled them with suggested genera.

Perhaps Merodon sp. (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Layla Munger

Perhaps Eristalis sp. (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Layla Munger

2020 February 16

   Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin:  Here is my first noctuid of the season – Egira hiemalis.

Egira hiemalis (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

2020 February 15 afternoon

   Jochen Möhr photographed another Eupithecia annulata/olivacea in Metchosin this morning.  He made two colour-renderings of it in the hope that this may help with the identification.  Jeremy Tatum writes that he thinks it looks more like annulata than olivacea, but seeing it this early in the year suggests that olivacea is more likely.  I think we’ll  just have to label this as another either/or.

Eupithecia annulata/olivacea (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Eupithecia annulata/olivacea (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

   Libby Avis writes:  We stopped at the Buckley Bay rest stop yesterday on the way to Courtenay, and we found six Egira hiemalis. (I think they prefer a drier habitat that we get here), one Hypena californica and an undetermined Eupithecia.

2020 February 15 morning

   Libby Avis writes from Port Alberni:  We were having coffee on February 13 in Quality Foods in Qualicum and found a Two-spotted Ladybird crawling up the inside of the window. We rescued it, brought it home to photograph and let it go. We hope it will survive if it doesn’t turn cold again, but it seems very early for it to be out of hibernation. I don’t know whether it got into Quality on someone’s coat  or if it emerged from a plant or the produce section! Anyway, I think they’re fairly common in BC but it ‘s only the second time that we’ve seen one; the other one was also in Qualicum, but later in the year – June 30th 2018. The earliest date in the Invert Alert index is May 10th.

Two-spotted Ladybird Adalia bipunctata (Col,: Coccinellidae)  Libby Avis