July 30

 

   Jeff Gaskin writes:   The VNHS trip to Mount Washington and Paradise Meadows yesterday produced the following highlights  :   2 Boisduval’s Blues, 40 – 50 Anna’s Blues, 4 Cabbage Whites, up to 10 Western Meadow Fritillaries, up to 20 Hydaspe Fritillaries, 1 Western Tiger Swallowtail.  Val George and Gordon Hart observed 2 Woodland Skippers, and 2 Branded Skippers that the rest of the group missed.  So a total of 8 species were tallied making for a fun and enjoyable trip.

 

   Here are some photographs from the trip by Val George and Gordon Hart:

 

 

Mariposa Copper Lycaena mariposa (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Val George

 

Anna’s Blue Lycaeides anna (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Val George

 

 

 

 

Hydaspe Fritillary Speyeria hydaspe (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Val George

 

Common Branded Skipper  Hesperia comma (Lep.: Hesperiidae)   Gordon Hart

 

    Jeremy Tatum writes:  Now that Hesperia skippers have started to appear at Cordova Spit, it would be interesting to get some photographs of them to compare with the Hesperia skippers on Mount Washington.  Some authorities would recognize two distinct species, the skippers on Mount Washington being Hesperia comma and the ones on Cordova Spit being Hesperia colorado. For the time being on this site I am listing both populations under Hesperia comma.

 

   The 2017 Butterfly Report for this site was posted on 2018 January 1, currently on page 36.  (This page number will increase with time.)  It shows that Hesperia Skippers were seen at Cordova Spit from August 1 – 7.  The first sighting this year was on July 28.