2024 August 29 evening

Monthly Butterfly Walk  Sunday September 1

Join us on our monthly Butterfly Walk. Each outing is intended to help us learn more about local butterflies. This field trip is weather-dependent as it needs to be sunny and warm to make it worthwhile. We start at the top of Mount Tolmie (off Cedar Hill Cross Road). Meet at 1 p.m. in the lot by the reservoir where we will have an initial look for butterflies and then decide where to go from there. Car-pooling is encouraged. We try to return by 4 p.m. Cancellations or special instructions will be posted on the Invertebrate Alert ( https://www.vicnhs.bc.ca/?cat=8 ) or the calendar (https://www.vicnhs.bc.ca/?page_id=1518 ) closer to the date. Contact Gordon Hart at 250-721-1264 or butterflies@vicnhs.bc.ca for more information.

Butterflies seem to be relatively few at present.  However, this time of year is the time for the possibility of seeing some exciting migratory butterfly, such as a sulphur or a lady.  In any case, there are still quite a lot of dragonflies and damselflies around, so we can make this a combined trip to see and identify butterflies and dragonflies.  It will probably be a good idea to select as our destination somewhere where there be dragons.

Aziza Cooper writes:  Today, August 29, at Cowichan Station, there were four Margined Whites, two Cabbage Whites, one Woodland Skipper and a brief look at a possible Mylitta Crescent.

Margined White  Pieris marginalis  (Lep.: Pieridae)  Aziza Cooper

Margined White  Pieris marginalis  (Lep.: Pieridae)  Aziza Cooper

2024 August 29 morning

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  This moth flew into my living room in Saanich last night:

Lesser Yellow Underwing  Noctua comes  (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Marie O’Shaughnessy photographed a Variegated Meadowhawk at Cattle Point on August 28

Variegated Meadowhawk  Sympetrum corruptum   (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

2024 August 28

   Aziza Cooper writes, on August 27:  Here is a dragonfly seen on August 27 along Nelthorpe Avenue, next to Swan Lake. I also saw eight Woodland Skippers.   Thanks to Dr Rob Cannings for identifying the dragonfly as Sympetrum pallipes.

Striped Meadowhawk  Sympetrum pallipes  (Odo.: Libellulidae)   Aziza Cooper

Today, August 28, Aziza writes:  Today, at Whiffin Spit, there were six Cabbage Whites and three Woodland Skippers. Here are a few other insects:

Carolina Grasshopper  Dissosteira carolina  (Orth.:  Acrididae)  Aziza Cooper

Drone Fly  Eristalis tenax  (Dip.:  Syrphidae)  Aziza Cooper

Honey Bee Apis mellifera  (Hym.: Apidae)  Aziza Cooper

2024 August 27

  In yesterday’s posting, the first two of Marie O’Shaughnessy’s photographs showed typical resting positions of a pondhawk (on the ground) and other libellulids, (horizontally on a twig). Today, she shows the typical resting position of an aeshnid, hanging vertically, in this case a Blue-eyed Darner on July 27:

Blue-eyed Darner Rhionaeschna multicolor (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

2024 August 26 evening

   Mike and Barbara McGrenere found and photographed a rather worn Painted Lady along the west side of the Island View Nursery on August 25.  This is close to where Marie O’Shaughnessy photographed one on the same day (see yesterday’s posting), but it is obviously a different individual.  It is good to know that there are still a few around.

Painted Lady  Vanessa cardui  (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Mike McGrenere

We haven’t yet seen any American Ladies here this year, but a few days ago, three American Ladies turned up at Swansea in South Wales.

Marie O’Shaughnessy photographed several dragon/damselflies at McIntyre reservoir on August 24.  She writes:
Dragonflies seen were …
1 Black Saddlebags
11 Blue Dashers
3 Blue-eyed Darners
1 Cardinal Meadowhawk
4 Western Pondhawks, 3 blue male and 1 green female
1 Paddle-tailed Darner
3 Tule Bluet damselfly

According to Dr Rob Cannings, libellulids ofter rest in a horizontal position;  pondhawks rest on the ground;  aeshnids rest in a vertically hanging position.  The first two of Marie’s photographs below show a libellulid and a pondhawk doing just what they are supposed to do.  Indeed, most of the photographs of the Cardinal Meadowhawk and the Western Pondhawk that have appeared on this site over the years have shown them behaving properly. Could someone please photograph an aeshnid hanging vertically, to complete the picture?

Cardinal Meadowhawk  Sympetrum illotum  (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Western Pondhawk Erythemis collocata  (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Blue Dasher Pachydiplax longipennis  (Odo.: Libellulidae)   Marie O’Shaughnessy

Below, a pair of Blue-eyed Darners Rhionaeschna multicolor (Odo.: Aeshnidae) in cop.
Above, a pair of Blue Dashers Pachydiplax longipennis (Odo.: Libellulidae) in cop.
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Tule Bluet  Enallagna carunculatum  (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy