2016 July 14

MONTHLY BUTTERFLY COUNT

Gordon Hart writes:

Hello Butterfly Counters!

The next butterfly count period will begin Saturday July 16 running until Sunday July 24. Please use the submission form on the VNHS website: www.vicnhs.bc.ca/?p=33

Numbers appear to be down now, but there can still be quite a variety on a good day. We should have Woodland Skippers and Pine Whites on this count, as well as some of the continuing species.

If you need suggestions for a place to count, please email me. If we get more than one count for a location, I will use the high numbers for each species. If you want to be removed from this list, please let me know. If you know someone who wants to be on the list, please ask them to email me.

The next butterfly walk will be on Sunday August 7, meeting at Mt Tolmie, at 1 p.m. The trip is weather-dependent and I will send out another reminder closer to the date.

Thanks for participating in the count!

Gordon Hart,

Butterfly count coordinator 

Gordon continues (from the Highlands District:  We were on the back deck Wednesday evening (July 13) looking for bats when we noticed two large Sphinx moths nectaring on pots of petunias. I was not able to get pictures because of the low light, but I found one this morning in the driveway.

Sphinx perelegans (Lep.: Sphingidae)   Gordon Hart

   Jeremy Tatum comments:  Sphinx vashti and S. perelegans  are somewhat similar hawk moths, perelegans being a little larger than vashti.  I used to think that vashti was the common one in our area, but since this website started in 2010, we have had five images of perelegans and none yet of vashti.

2016 July 12

   Jeremy Tatum shows a photograph of a Nycteola species reared from a caterpillar found at Blenkinsop Lake, where the moth was released today.  The species N. frigidana and N. cinereana can be difficult to tell apart.  It is often thought that the caterpillar of the former feeds on willow, and the latter feeds on poplar. I have often felt a little uncertain about that, because willow-feeding caterpillars often feed on poplar as well, and vice versa.  Anyway, I am pretty sure that this moth is Nycteola cinereana, although the caterpillar was found and reared on willow, not poplar, so the above rule is evidently not completely watertight, and not to be relied on for identification.

Nycteola cinereana (Lep.: Nolidae)    Jeremy Tatum

   Two more colouful photographs of a leafcutter bee, in Gorge Park, from Annie Pang:

Megachile perihirta (Hym.: Megachilidae)  Annie Pang

Megachile perihirta (Hym.: Megachilidae)  Annie Pang

   Aziza Cooper reports a Western Spring Azure from Brighton Avenue, July 12.  This is just two days after another one was seen in Sidney (See July 10).

2016 July 12

   Annie Pang sends a colourful photograph with an interesting bee, identified by Linc Best as a female Coelioxys, a parasite in the nests of Megachile.  These parasitic bees are sometimes called “cuckoo bees”.

Coelioxys sp.: (Hym.: Megachilidae)   Annie Pang

2016 July 11

   Thomas Barbin sends some remarkable close-ups of insects in his Highlands yard, July 10. 

Bumblebee face  (Hym.: Apidae)   Thomas Barbin

Bumblebee hairs   (Hym.: Apidae)       Thomas Barbin

Bumblebee mouth   (Hym.: Apidae)             Thomas Barbin

Damselfly   (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)    Thomas Barbin

Sweat bee  Lasioglossum sp.   (Hym.: Halictidae)           Thomas Barbin

Sweat bee  Lasioglossum sp.   (Hym.: Halictidae)           Thomas Barbin

Sweat bee  Lasioglossum sp.   (Hym.: Halictidae)           Thomas Barbin

Sweat bee  Lasioglossum sp.   (Hym.: Halictidae)           Thomas Barbin

   Here are two more shots of Liam Singh’s Black Saddlebags (see yesterday’s posting).

Black Saddlebags Tramea lacerata (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Liam Singh

Black Saddlebags Tramea lacerata (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Liam Singh

   Annie Pang sends photographs of a variety of small flies from Gorge Park.

Fly   (Dip.:  possibly Lauxaniidae)   Annie Pang

Fly  Syritta pipiens (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Annie Pang

Fly (Dip.: possibly Tachinidae)  Annie Pang

2016 July 10

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  This one flew into my bedroom last night:

Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Jeremy adds:  I saw a Western Spring Azure at Roberts Bay, Sidney, today.  This is a very late date to see one, although I have very occasionally seen them in July in previous years.

   Liam Singh sends a picture of a Black Saddlebags from Haliburton Farms, Victoria, today.  This is a first for Invert Alert.

Black Saddlebags Tramea lacerata (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Liam Singh

   Annie Pang sends a picture of a leafcutter bee from Gorge Park, July 10.

Leafcutter bee Megachile sp. (Hym.: Megachilidae)  Annie Pang