2019 May 8 evening

   A difficult one from Jochen’s haul this morning.  Thanks to Libby Avis for identifying it as Hydriomena sp.   Perhaps californiata or marinata  – but sometimes these highflyers are just too hard to be sure.  Sometimes it seems that the variation within a species is greater than the differences between them!

Hydriomena sp.  (Lep.:  Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

   Mike Yip writes from Nanoose:   Western Pine Elfins are finally back to guarding the trail at Cross Road.  I saw three today along with several Western Spring Azures and one Grey Hairstreak. 

Western Pine Elfin Incisalia eryphon (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Mike Yip

2019 May 8

   Jeff Gaskin writes: Kirsten Mills and I had a great day with butterflies yesterday.  We saw a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell on South Shawnigan Lake Road not far from Highway 1.   Then on Stebbings Road we saw a Two-banded Checkered [also known as Grizzled!- Jeremy] Skipper, two Mylitta Crescents, and a Grey Hairstreak.  Also, on Goldstream Heights drive we saw a Mourning Cloak.

Jochen Möhr’s moth records from Metchosin, morning of May 7:

8 Venusia obsoleta

3 Eupithecias

2 Behrensia conchiformis

2 Hydriomena manzanita

2 Melanolophia imitata

2 Orthosia transparens

One each of:

Anticlea vasiliata

Apamea cinefacta

Egira crucialis

Feralia comstocki

Lobophora nivigerata

Lophocampa maculata

Perizoma costiguttata

Pheosia californiaria

Phyllodesma americana

Eupithecia cretaceata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Apamea cinefacta (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Egira crucialis/simplex (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Lophocampa maculata (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae) Jochen Möhr

2019 May 7 evening

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I walked along the Panhandler Trail off Munn Road this afternoon and I saw a Cedar Hairstreak, 2 Propertius Duskywings, 6 Sara Orangetips, 12 Western Spring Azures, a few Mesoleuca gratulata, 1 Leptostales rubromarginaria  and one Rheumaptera hastata –  the Spear Moth, or Argent and Sable.   This is the time of year when it is worth looking at every “Mesoleuca gratulata” more closely – it may be Rheumaptera hastata!  In the evening I had a look at the Mount Tolmie reservoir – there was still a California Tortoiseshell there at 6:30 pm.

    Rosemary Jorna sends a photograph of a Cedar Hairstreak from her Kemp Lake Road garden, May 7. For consistency within this site, I’ll continue to label it Mitoura rosneri, although some authors this year are calling it Callophrys gryneus. You’d scarcely know it was the same butterfly.  I don’t what English name we are supposed to use this year.

Cedar Hairstreak Mitoura rosneri (Lep.: Lycaenidae) Rosemary Jorna

   More tomorrow morning….

2019 May 7 morning

    Jeremy Tatum writes:  There was a bit of activity at the Mount Tolmie reservoir at 5:00 pm yesterday (May 6) afternoon, with a California Tortoiseshell, two Pale Tiger Swallowtails and a Sara Orangetip.

   Aziza Cooper writes:  May 6, at Goldstream Heights, off Stebbings Road, there were one Grey Hairstreak and two Western Pine Elfins, as well as five Western Spring Azures.

   Aziza sends photographs from the May 5 Butterfly Walk at Munn  Road:

Leptostales rubromarginaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Aziza Cooper

Lomographa semiclarata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Aziza Cooper

Western Brown Elfin Incisalia iroides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Pale Tiger Swallowtails Papilio eurymedon (Lep.: Papilionidae) Aziza Cooper

and on Mount Tolmie:

California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica (Lep.: Nymphalidae) Aziza Cooper

and from her May 6 visit to Goldstream Heights:

Grey Hairstreak Strymon melinus (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Western Pine Elfin Incisalia eryphon (Lep.: Lycaenidae) Aziza Cooper

   Jochen Möhr writes from  Metchosin:  Finally, I was able to catch a few pics of a Sara Orangetip – albeit only with the tele-lens.  But she was obviously going for the right stuff.  And I don’t even know what those plants are called.  Are they a variety of mustard?

   Jeremy Tatum writes:   I’m not very good at botany, but I think I’d call the plant Hedge Mustard Sisymbrium officinale.  Will a botanist out there confirm or otherwise?  The butterfly is a female, and she was probably considering laying one or two eggs there.  I don’t see any eggs in the photo, but you might go out and see if you can find the plant again.  I have usually found eggs on Arabis, Barbarea, Cardamine or Lepidium, but Sisymbrium wouldn’t surprise me.

   [Added later:  Val George confirms my plant identitification as Sisymbrium officinale!]

Sara Orangetip Anthocharis sara (Lep.: Pieridae)  Jochen Möhr

Sara Orangetip Anthocharis sara (Lep.: Pieridae)  Jochen Möhr

2019 May 6 afternoon

    Wendy Ansell writes that she and Gerry saw two Ringlets Coenonympha tullia at Island View Beach today.