2015 April 20

   Barb McGrenere writes: There were many butterflies in Mount Douglas Park today (April 18). Most were near the summit, but 7 Western Spring Azures and many Sara Orangetips were lower down.  Species/numbers seen were:
7 Western Spring Azures, 5 Painted Ladies, 29 Sara Orangetips, 1 Cabbage White, 3 Grey Hairstreaks, 10 Propertius Duskywings, 4 California Tortoiseshells.  1 Mourning Cloak was seen by others hiking with Mike and me.

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I did my bit for the Monthly Butterfly Count today (April 20) along Munn Road.  Mostly Sara Orangetips and Western Spring Azures, but also one Moss’s Elfin.  For details on how to participate in the Monthly Butterfly Count, see Aziza’s notice on April 19 – there is still time for you to participate!

  Also, a Mourning Cloak and a California Tortoiseshell were sunning themselves on the Mount Tolmie reservoir at 4:00 p.m. on April 20.  If you visit the reservoir from about 4 to 6 pm any day during the current warm and sunny spell, there’s a good chance that you’ll catch these butterflies or perhaps some other hill-topping nymphalids. 

  Annie Pang sends a picture of a male Cabbage White from Gorge Park, April 19.

   Scott Gilmore, who admits to an inordinate fondness for beetles, writes from Lantzville:  With 99 families and close to 4000 species of beetles in British Columbia there is plenty of diversity. Over the weekend I was lucky enough to find members of two families I had yet to lay eyes on. On Saturday (April 18^th) a buzzing sound next to my chair turned out to be a member of the Deathwatch Beetle family (Ptinidae) Vrilletta decorata. On Sunday (April 19^th) I found a Clown Beetle (Histeridae) that I believe is the introduced Palaearctic species Margarinotus purpurascens which is known only in SW BC in North America.  I also had a fly-by Red Admiral at a baseball field in downtown Nanaimo on Sunday afternoon.