2019 May 31 morning

June Butterfly Walk  

Gordon Hart writes:

   This is a reminder about the June Butterfly Walk on for Sunday, June 2, at 1 p.m . We meet near the Mount Tolmie summit by the reservoir parking lot. After a look around the summit area, we will decide on a destination from there.  All welcome!

  Gordon continues:  I have also noticed many more Pale Tiger Swallowtails this year, although in the last few days, we have been seeing a few Western Tiger Swallowtails here at home. Today, I dropped by the top of Mount Tolmie around 3 p.m. and saw one Mourning Cloak, two Anise Swallowtails, at least one each Western Tiger Swallowtail and Pale Tiger Swallowtail, and a Propertius Duskywing.  Just below the reservoir were two fresh Lorquin’s Admirals, my first of the year, and a Cabbage White.

   Annie Pang and Jeremy Tatum have been trying to figure out how to tell the difference between a male and a female Propertius Duskywing.  The photographs by Annie below are of a female.  We welcome more photographs of this species for more practice.

Female Propertius Duskywing Erynnis propertius (Lep.: Hesperiidae) Annie Pang

Female Propertius Duskywing Erynnis propertius (Lep.: Hesperiidae) Annie Pang

Jochen Möhr’s moths in Metchosin this morning:

Pero behrensaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Pero morrisonaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Hydriomena californiata/marinata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Furcula scolopendrina (Lep.: Notodontidae)  Jochen Möhr

Udea profundalis (Lep.: Crambidae)  Jochen Möhr

For the May 29 posting (inadvertently omitted) see June 9 morning.

2019 May 30

    Libby Avis sends a photograph of a caterpillar of a Common Emerald Moth Hemithea aestivaria, which was was hanging on the underside of a well-chewed Thimbleberry leaf in Port Alberni, May 28.

Common Emerald Hemithea aestivaria (Lep.: Geometridae)

Libby Avis

   Rosemary Jorna writes:  This Johnson’s Jumping Spider  was in my fruit bowl just now. It lacks the bit of white I have seen on others in and around our house, Kemp Lake area, May 29.

Johnson’s Jumping Spider Phidippus johnsoni (Ara.: Salticidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Rosemary continues:  I have been away in Williams Lake (lots of butterflies in the Williams Lake River Valley) for a while.  When I got back I fear my narcissus have had it. The Narcissus Bulb Fly Merodon equestris is back in action in our yard. Kemp Lake area, May 29.

Narcissus Bulb Fly Merodon equestris (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Ron Flower writes:  Yesterday May 29 we also went looking for more Field Crescents around 3 pm. We went to the small daisy field beside the native graveyard a kilometer north of Eddy’s on West Saanich  Road, where we found more Field Crescents than we could count.  A very rough guess would be 20 and probably more.  Lots of butterfly sex going on. I think 20 is a light estimate .

Field Crescent Phyciodes pratensis (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Ron Flower

Field Crescents Phyciodes pratensis (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Ron Flower

Jochen Möhr’s moths in Metchosin this morning:

Trichordestra liquida (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Pheosia californica (Lep.: Notodontidae)  Jochen Möhr

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  At the top of Mount Douglas early in the afternoon I saw four Pale Tiger Swallowtails and two Anise Swallowtails.  At the top of Mount Tolmie at 6:00 pm today I saw three Painted Ladies, one Mourning Cloak (on the reservoir) and one Pale Tiger Swallowtail.  I seem to be seeing many more Pale Tiger Swallowtails this year than Western Tiger Swallowtails. I wonder if others are finding this.

2019 May 28

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Apologies for mislabelling Jochen Möhr’s dragonfly in yesterday’s posting.  Rob Cannings writes:  This is an early Blue-eyed Darner male. If the photograph had included the tip of the cerci, the identification would have been easier. And because it’s recently emerged and immature, the blue eyes don’t show yet. Two clues are: the white spots on either side of the "T-spot" on the vertex of the head indicate that it’s a Rhionaeschna. The lack of a strong black line across the face suggests it’s not R. californica, but rather R. multicolor. The species usually doesn’t appear until late May.

   Jeremy continues:  Viewers who are thinking of driving out to Eddy’s Storage to see the Field Crescents should be aware that that section of Stelly’s Cross Road is blocked off because of roadworks.  I parked in Broadview Road and walked a very long way to Eddy’s.  There’s probably a better way.  I saw four of the butterflies at Eddy’s.

2019 May 27

      Jochen Möhr’s moths in Metchosin this morning:

   Jochen writes from his Metchosin property: At least three times a large swallowtail came by.  It might have been a Western Tiger Swallowtail (or several of them).  But none ever settled so I was not able to get a picture or to identify it clearly.  Many blues were playing around, up to four seen simultaneously, often pairs playing with each other, but never ever settling, so again no pics.   At least two Cedar Hairstreaks were there, much easier to approach, and I got many pics, of which I particularly like that of the one of that landed on the handle of my rake (attached).  There were also constantly several Cabbage Whites.  The most amazing and encouraging was an abundance of Adela septentrionella.  On the slope, there are at least a dozen bunches of daisies in full bloom or working up to it.  In each of the bunches there were some four to ten A. septentrionella.  I also took pictures of Broom Seed Beetles, a very tiny ladybeetle, and a dragonfly.

Cedar Hairstreak Mitoura rosneri (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Jochen Möhr

   Jeremy Tatum comments:  I have never noticed the yellow tarsi before.  I wonder if that is their natural colour, or whether it is pollen.

Male Cabbage White  Pieris rapae (Lep.: Pieridae)  Jochen Möhr

Female Cabbage White  Pieris rapae (Lep.: Pieridae)  Jochen Möhr

Broom Seed Beetle Bruchidius villosus (Col.: Chrysomelidae)  Jochen Möhr

Blue-eyed Darner Rhionaeschna multicolor (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Jochen Möhr

                        [See Note on May 28]

   Val George writes:  Yesterday, May 26, there were two rather worn Western Brown Elfins at the summit of Mount Tolmie.  Other butterflies there:  2 Pale Tiger Swallowtails, 1 Western Tiger Swallowtail, 1 Anise Swallowtail, 2 Painted Ladies, 1 Western Spring Azure, 2 Cabbage Whites.

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Here is a Herald Moth from Goldstream Park Nature House this morning.  The Herald is a moth that hibernates during the winter as an adult moth.  Thus the moth can be seen in the fall, and again early in the year, when it “heralds” in the spring.  May 27 seems rather a late spring date for this moth.  Larval foodplant:  willow.  Also nearby was a Perizoma curvilinea,  and a curious moth that I hadn’t seen before, identified by Libby Avis as  limacodid, Tortricidia testacea.  Libby says that they nearly always sit in this remarkable fashion.

Herald Moth Scoliopteryx libatrix (Erebidae – Scoliopteryginae)  Jeremy Tatum

Perizoma curvilinea (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

Tortricidia testacea (Lep.: Limacodidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Jeremy continues:  I showed a Lorquin’s Admiral caterpillar on May 15 and 17, and the chrysalis on May 18.  This afternoon the butterfly emerged.  It is shown below hanging from its empty chrysalis case.

The butterfly is now flying in Playfair Park, where it has a variety of nectar choices.

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae)

Jeremy Tatum

   When I was in Playfair Park I saw two twig-mimic geometrid caterpillars, of different species, sitting right in the same place on a Snowberry twig.  Then on the very next Snowberry bush I found another twig-mimic geometrid, of a third species. Here they are:

Upper:  Neoalcis californiaria (Lep.: Geometridae) Jeremy Tatum

Lower: Hemithea aestivaria (Lep.: Geometridae) Jeremy Tatum

Sicya crocearia (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Ken Vaughan writes:  Here’s a couple of geometrids from around my apartment building this
weekend.

 Xanthorhoe defensaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Ken Vaughan

Cyclophora dataria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Ken Vaughan

2019 May 26 evening

Jochen Möhr’s moths in Metchosin this morning:

1 Eupithecia

1 Agrotis vancouverensis

1 Apamea sordens

1 Lacinipolia patalis

3 Nadata gibbosa (same as yesterday)

1 Panthea virginarius (from day before)

1 Drepanulatrix secundaria

Apamea sordens (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Agrotis vancouverensis (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Lacinipolia patalis (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Drepanulatrix secundaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  If you drive north up the Trans-Canada Highway from Victoria, and turn left at Koksilah Road (after Dougan Lake and before Duncan), at the corner of the TCH and Koksilah Road is a large stand of lupins on the side.  Bill Savale and I spent a very few minutes today at a small corner of the lupins, and we saw three Silvery Blues (1 male, 2 females), and we found two ova (one already hatched, one not yet hatched) on the lupins.  I think if someone were to spend ten or fifteen minutes there s/he might find quite a few of these butterflies.  It may also be worth looking at other roadside lupin patches elsewhere.

   We saw about eight Margined Whites along the railway line north of Cowichan Station