2024 April 25
Aziza Cooper photographed this bee on Mount Tolmie on April 23. Unfortunately, writes Jeremy Tatum, I’m no good at identifying bees. I’m pretty sure it’s not Apidae. I think it’s one of Halictidae, Adrenidae or Megachilidae, which isn’t much help. If anyone can do better than this, please do let us know.
Unidentified bee (Hymenoptera) Aziza Cooper
Unidentified bee (Hymenoptera) Aziza Cooper
2024 April 24 evening
Jeremy Tatum writes: I mentioned on the April 23 posting that a young lady, who was passing when I released the Ceanothus Silk Moth, took a photograph of it in more natural surroundings. I have added Talia’s photograph to the April 23 posting – viewers can scroll back to have a look at this spectacular moth.
Today, Aziza Cooper photographed a damselfly and an early-instar geometrid (but otherwise unidentified) caterpillar at Swan Lake:
Pacific Forktail Ischnura cervula (Odo.: Coenagrionidae) Aziza Cooper
Unidentified geometrid caterpillar (Lep.: Geometridae) Aziza Cooper
2024 April 24 morning
On April 23, Gordon Hart saw at Panama Flats a Mourning Cloak, besides a Western Spring Azure and several Cabbage Whites.
Also on April 23, Marie O’Shaughnessy saw a California Tortoiseshell on Mount Tolmie, three Western Spring Azures in Outerbridge Park, six Western Spring Azures and two White-ribboned Carpet Moths along Munn Road past Francis/King Park.
California Tortoiseshell Nymphalis californica (Lep.: Nymphalidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy
Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy
Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy
St George’s Day 2024
Jeremy Tatum writes: On Mount Douglas today at 4:30 pm I saw four Sara Orangetips, and, at the very top, hilltopping, were a California Tortoiseshell and a Painted Lady (the first reported to Invert Alert this year), chasing each other around the Teacup. There was a California Tortoiseshell on the Mount Tolmie reservoir at 5:00 pm. Did the tortoiseshell and the lady migrate here after spending the winter further south? Or did they overwinter here? Who knows?
At 5:30 pm I was filling my car up with gasoline at the gas station at the corner of Shelbourne and Pear Street. My tank was half-full when I noticed, perched on the very pump that I was using, a male Ceanothus Silk Moth. I took it home, where it allowed me only one brief photograph on the carpet of my living room. I released it near the Famous Fence on Lochside Drive, where it was photographed in much more natural surroundings by Talia Northgrave.
Male Ceanothus Silk Moth Hyalophora euryalus (Lep.: Saturniidae)
Jeremy Tatum
Male Ceanothus Silk Moth Hyalophora euryalus (Lep.: Saturniidae)
Talia Northgrave
Aziza Cooper writes: Today, April 23, at Panama Flats there were four Cabbage Whites and one Western Spring Azure.
2024 April 22 evening
Marie O’Shaughnessy writes: I did always want to know where butterflies go when it clouds over, so finally I found a male Sara Orangetip hanging in an oak tree on Mount Douglas yesterday Sunday. April 21. Only one male flying fleetingly around. The underside of a butterfly truly does help in camouflage . Just learning all these fascinating things about nature. Can’t wait for the dragonflies to emerge and return later this month.
Male Sara Orangetip Anthocharis sara (Lep.: Pieridae) Marie O’Shaughnessy