2019 June 17 evening

   Mike Yip photographed some nice dragonflies in his Nanoose garden, June 16.  Thanks to Rob Cannings for confirming the identifications.

Male Blue Dasher Pachydiplax longipennis (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Mike Yip

Female Eight-spotted Skimmer Libellula forensis (Odo.: Libellulidae)  Mike Yip

   Jeremy Tatum shows a photograph of a caterpillar of the Western Brown Elfin butterfly, from Munn Road, in typical pose with its head buried in a Salal flower.

Western Brown Elfin Incisalia iroides (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Jeremy Tatum

2019 June 17 morning

 Mike Yip writes:  Mark Wynja and I butterflied Pass Main and the Mount Cokely Road yesterday and located 17 species – Margined White (8), Clodius Parnassian (30), Painted Lady (1), Two-banded Checkered (Grizzled) Skipper (2), Persius Duskywing (6), Pale Tiger Swallowtail (5), Western Tailed Blue (9), Silvery Blue (5), Western Sulphur (4), Western Meadow Fritillary (3), Hydaspe Fritillary (2), Julia Orangetip (7), Anna’s Blue (5), Boisduval’s Blue (12), Western Pine Elfin (1), Hoary Comma  (10), and Green Comma (3) .

   Earlier in the week we visited Cortes Island and saw 3 Silver-spotted Skippers. They were on private property not accessible to the general public.

  Notes [Jeremy Tatum].  Viewers will notice that Mike uses the name Julia Orangetip, and they may be glad of some clarification.  As with so many butterflies and other organisms, the Orangetip is subject to the frequent lumpings, splittings and name-changes of the ever-enthusiastic taxonomists.   The Orangetip has been lumped or split into several species or subspecies.  The form “julia” is regarded as a subspecies by some, or as a full species by others, and which populations are regarded as “julia” vary from author to author.  I am not a taxonomist nor indeed any sort of biologist, and I cannot make any taxonomic judgment.  My role as moderator of this site is more akin to that of an “Editor”, and as such I have to ensure that I keep to a consistent set of names throughout the site.  Since this site first opened in 2010, there have been 29 photographs of the Orangetip, and numerous other non-photographed sightings, and viewers will understand that it is impractical to keep making name-changes every time a new taxonomic status is proposed.  I try, therefore, to keep a consistent set of names, which I listed on April 16.  Thus, this site uses the name “Sara Orangetip” for orangetips seen on Vancouver Island.

  The Silver-spotted Skipper reported by Mike and Mark is a first for this site, and the question arises as to whether Cortes Island is legitimately part of Vancouver Island!  I post the record without qualms partly because no one else is covering Cortes Island, and mostly because I cannot resist posting Mike’s photograph of this magnificent creature.  Viewers might note that the name “Silver-spotted Skipper” is used in Britain for the butterfly that we call “Branded Skipped”.  Our Silver-spotted Skipper is an entirely different animal.

   Here are Mike’s photographs of some of the butterflies seen by him and Mark:

Western Sulphur Colias occidentalis  (Lep.: Pieridae)  Mike Yip

Western Meadow Fritillary Boloria epithore (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Mike Yip

Hydaspe Fritillary Speyeria hydaspe (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Mike Yip

Sara Orangetip Anthocharis sara (Lep.: Pieridae)  Mike Yip

Margined Whites Pieris marginalis (Lep.: Pieridae)

Clodius Parnassian Parnassius clodius (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Mike Yip

Persius Duskywing Erynnis persius (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Mike Yip

Western Tailed Blue Everes amyntula (Lep,: Lycaenidae)  Mike Yip

Anna’s Blue Lycaeides anna (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Mike Yip

Hoary Comma Polygonia gracilis (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Mike Yip

Silver-spotted Skipper Epargyreus clarus (Lep.: Hesperiidae)

2019 June 16

   Cheryl Hoyle sends a photograph of a snakefly from Saanich.   A close-up of the top of the head of a snakefly is often helpful in the identification.  Although we cannot be certain of the exact identity of this individual, it is very likely in  the Family Raphidiidae, probably genus Agulla, and maybe A. assimilis.

Snakefly.   Possibly Agulla assimilis (Raph.: Raphidiidae)  Cheryl Hoyle

   Rosemary Jorna writes:  Fire hazard already closed the gate at Mount Prévost, so we parked and walked up to the first side road anyway. We were rewarded with 3 Clodius Parnassian butterflies. Two of them permitted photographs, which I have included. There were 4 Pale Tiger Swallowtails along the road who refused to be photographed.

Clodius Parnassian Parnassius clodius (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Clodius Parnassian Parnassius clodius (Lep.: Papilionidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Rosemary continues:  The June 15 VNHS outing to the Cowichan River Estuary, Providence Farm and Mount Prévost met Western Tiger Swallowtails steadily along the way   –  10 to 12.  There were fresh  Lorquin’s Admirals flying along the whole route – 18 to 20 during the day. At the Cowichan River Estuary there were five or six Essex Skippers:

Essex Skipper Thymelicus lineola (Lep.: Hesperiidae)  Rosemary Jorna

2019 June 15 morning

   Gordon Hart writes:

Hello Butterfly Counters,

Time flies, and it is time for the June Butterfly Count, starting Saturday, June 15,  running until next Sunday, June 23. You can submit a count anytime over this period, and you can do more than one count, just use a separate form for each count. In the case of repeat counts, or more than one person counting an area, I will take the highest count for each species.

Please use the form at https://www.vicnhs.bc.ca/?p=33 on the Victoria Natural History Society website .

The count area is the same as the Christmas Bird Count circle. For butterfly identification there are numerous internet sites, but most or all Victoria species are listed on E-Fauna. If you select by photographer, all the photos under James Miskelly’s name are of Victoria species. Here is the link: http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/efauna/photoGallery/Gallery.aspx?gr=showall&pid=175&photographer=miskelly,%20james&specrep=0

If you would like a suggestion for an area to count, please send me an email.

In addition to the counts, a monthly butterfly walk is held on the first Sunday of each month – the next walk will be on July 7. We start at the summit of Mount Tolmie at 1pm, and decide where to go from there. I will send out another reminder the week before.

Thank-you for submitting your sightings and happy counting!

Gordon Hart,

Butterfly Count Coordinator,

Victoria Natural History Society

hartgordon19@gmail.com

   Jeremy Tatum sends a photograph of the moth Alucita montana, reared from tiny pink caterpillars feeding on the flowers of Snowberry.

Alucita montana (Lep.: Alucitidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Marie O’Shaughnessy writes:  Yesterday I was walking in Uplands Park between 9-10am, Thursday June 13th, and there appeared to be many butterflies because of the warmth at that hour. A light breeze was blowing.  I saw at least two more of the Sheep Moths I had seen a week ago. Much paler coloration this time and lacking those lovely pink hues. I also saw several Lorquin’s Admirals, Western Tiger Swallowtails and Painted Ladies. There were only a few Cabbage Whites in comparison with the other numbers of butterflies.

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

  Gordon Hart sends photographs of two California Darner dragonflies from his Highlands property.  We thank Rob Cannings for confirming their identification.  One of the dragonflies is in process of eating a pentatomid bug.  Gordon sends some rather gruesome details of this – too gruesome, I think, for the delicate sensibilities of readers of this site.   Rob writes:  Both are Rhionaeschna californica. The first (lateral view, eating the bug) is a female; the other is a male. The female shows the typical rather straight lateral thoracic stripes, somewhat more slanted towards the rear than in most darners. Note the black borders to these stripes, especially on the back edge.  The stripes on the front of the thorax usually seen in other species are absent (best seen in the male individual here).

Female California Darner Rhionaeschna californica (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Gordon Hart

Male California Darner Rhionaeschna californica (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Gordon Hart

    Jeremy Tatum sends photographs of four moths:  Aseptis binotata  from Blenkinsop Lake;  Sicya croceata also from Blenkinsop Lake;  Dysstroma citrata  from Goldstream Park: and Yponomeuta malinellus  from Swan Lake.

Aseptis binotata (Lep.: Noctuidae) Jeremy Tatum

Sicya crocearia (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

Dysstroma citrata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

Yponomeuta malinellus  (Lep.: Yponomeutidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I was at McIntyre reservoir (Central Saanich) this afternoon.  There is an absolutely huge crop of Teasel there, but not yet in flower and hence not yet of interest to butterflies.  Provided the Teasel is not cut down, there will probably be lots of butterflies there in a couple of weeks or so.  There was lots of Wild Radish in flower, and 50 or so Cabbage Whites nectaring on it, as well as two Painted Ladies.

   At 6:30 this evening there were about half-a-dozen Painted Ladies near the summit of Mount Tolmie.  There was one Lady basking on the concrete reservoir, and even though I had a prolonged good look at it, and it was a fresh, well-marked specimen, I couldn’t tell for sure which Lady it was.  Well, you will be asking, what about the apical patch?  Was it white or orange?  Was it blunt or pointed?  Sorry, I can’t tell you, because there was no apical patch!  In the end I think it was probably an aberrant Painted Lady, because I couldn’t see any of the particular features that I look for in the other Ladies.  If it stays there for a few days, perhaps someone might get a photograph of it.