Almost Summer
Late spring is my favorite time of the year and a great time for butterflies and birds. In fact, at lower elevations it's actually almost the end of butterfly season. With the appearance of our largest and most spectacular species, the swallowtails, most of our species have appeared. The main exceptions are the grass skippers like the Woodland and if I'm lucky the Western Branded. Of course, when it's summer at sea level, it's just spring at higher elevations so it's getting time to check out the mountains. Even number years are supposed to be good for the Great Arctic. Last year I saw quite a few Great Arctics which means this could be a bumper crop year. Stay tuned!
Back to the late spring beauty, one of our special local treasures is the Pacific rhododendron grove at Rhododendron Lake. It is one of the few places on Vancouver Island to enjoy the wild rhodos, and I had the pleasure on June 7 when I combined my butterfly search with a visit to the lake. Just as expected the rhodos were at their peak and were a pretty sight in the sunshine with the lake in the background.
It's always more fun to have company on my nature excursions so it was a pleasure to be joined by one of my good golf buddies, Barry Kerr.
The target for my Rhodo Lake excursion was the Dreamy Duskywing which was a no-show. Mind you, since no one has reported one in 8 years, I wasn't too optimistic to start with. Yes, I know that's the wrong attitude, but it does avoid disappointment. We did see a few other butterflies like the Mylitta Crescent, Western Pine Elfin, Satyr Comma, Pale and Tiger Swallowtails, and Two-banded Checker. As well, there were 2 first-of-year species - an expected Clodius Apollo and an unexpected Western Sulphur. The latter is on my most wanted list, but after following it for a half kilometer it finally disappeared without any interest in nectaring or resting.
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Recap of May Butterflies
The Mylitta Crescent is the boomerang butterfly. Many times I've encountered one that flew away then returned repeatedly. Such was the case on May 12 when I found one nectaring on plantain. It provided a sustained photographic exercise to have it continually return and pose for me. I assumed that it was a particularly tasty plantain because the Mylitta was still when I left a half hour later. I'm still not a 100% sure about the sexes, but I think this was a male because it had an even orange wash over its dorsal wings while the female has a lot more contrast. I think I've got a female to show you later in this journal.
On May 6 I made another trip to Bonnelll Falls Rd. I made it my mission to check as many times as possible this year just to get a handle on when butterflies appear. My big surprise was that this year bore no resemblance to last year's activities. Last year commas, cloaks, and tortoiseshells were everywhere. This year Mourning Cloaks were uncommon and commas were scarce, especially the Satyr. The only species that was abundant were the Western Spring Azures, and at times I would see many dozen fluttering around the puddles on the road.
Amazingly, all of the Spring Azures appeared to be males with their sky blue dorsal wings. Occasionally, one would appear with darker dorsal wings. It would be a female. Are the males much more abundant than females? Or are they just hiding somewhere? Those are questions I'm still asking. Anyway, I think I finally got a picture of a female. Notice the wide black band outside the inner blue area.
On the ventral side the female looks the same as a male (I think).
Another scarce sight this year was the Sara's Orangetip. Last year they were not abundant, but I would always see one or two. This year I often saw none.
It's always a pleasure to see the Anise Swallowtail. May is their main month around Nanoose Bay and a few always show up in my garden or yard. This one landed on May 12 and it seemed intent on basking which probably meant that it was freshly minted and still in the process of get its circulatory system up to spreed.
FINALLY! The Satyr Comma was a surprising no show this spring unlike last year, but a flash of orange caught my eye as I was driving home near Schooner Cove. I quickly pulled over to check and discovered a Satyr Comma in the stinging nettle patch. I flew onto a nearby cedar to bask and provided my first Satyr shot of the year. It was not surprising to see it near the stinging nettles which is the larval foodplant.
On May 13 another Bonnell trip was rewarded with the FOY Two-banded Checker. There were several along a grassy side road.
Here's another male Mylittas Crescent. I didn't have to chase this one as I found it in my front yard nectaring on the wild geraniums. I also saw a female, but she was no boomerang butterfly and quickly disappeared.
May 21 was a particlarly enjoyable dayas I had arranged a visit with Mike Morrell on Denman Island. On the way I stopped at the Horn Lake interchange to check out the roadside lupines. As expected, the Silvery Blues were present and several of the young lupines were adorned with eggs.
Here comes another egg! Unlike some butterflies that conceal their eggs on the underside of a leaf or in a crevice on the plant, the Silvery conceals its egg in plain sight. It is white which matches the colour of the top of the innature lupine.
All right, on to Denman. After a quick stop at Abraxas book store and a pleasant chat with Juan, it was off to see Mike. Mike is very knowledgeable about birds which is how we first connected. He also has a pasture that is host to a few butterflies including the rare Taylor's Checkerspot which is a subspecies of the Edith's Checkerspot. Denman is the only place in Canada where this butterfly still exists. The first butterfly I found was the Arctic Skipper which seems to be uncommon on vancouver Island.
Eventually we discovered a couple of Taylor's and they were a joy to see. Just to know they were still surviving was gratifying, but to be able to see and photograph them was a special privilege.
On a whim I decided to visit Cathedral Grove. Okay, you're probably asking what's the butterfly connection? What butterfly depends on the old growth? yes, the Johnson's Hairstreak. my friend, Bob Hardwick, down in Gig Harbour had just seen several in the Olympic Mountains. The closest old growth here was Cathedral. Well, again I didn't expect a Johnson's, but as a consolation I got a FOY cedar hairstreak.
OREAS AGAIN! Remember the Oreas on May 1? Well it was there again on May 27! How incredible is that? I had considered it a rare butterfly until this year.
A pale Pale Swallowtail - One of the identifying field marks of the Pale Swallowtail is the orange crescent at the base of the tail. So where is it you ask? The problem is that most, but not all have it. There are a few like the photo that are missing the orange crescent. However, the rest of the butterfly seems to qualify as a Pale.
Nanaimo River Estuary used to be the only known mid-island location to host a population of Field Crescents. I checked several times last year, and all I found were Purplish Coppers and mosquitoes. It was the same on June 3. I didn't stay long, but long enough to give a few ounces of blood and photograph a couple of Purplish Coppers. The first is a male and the second is the female.
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2013 SHORTFALL ...
My plans for 2013 were to photograph as many butterflies as possible from the Vancouver Island list and then produce and publish VANCOUVER ISLAND BUTTERFLIES. Unfortunately, I only managed to find 50 out of the 69 species, and not all of them were suitably photographed. Consequently, I have decided to delay the publication until the fall of 2014. That has also worked out well for James Miskelly who was very busy with other commitments. James is still onboard as my co-editor and will provide as much updated information as possible. My apologies to all those who were waiting anxiously for the book launch, but theoretically, with more time we should be able to produce a higher quality publication.
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Bird Poster
My poster is on display at: Victoria - Swan Lake Nature House. (Note: This poster has been produced in a more manageable size and is now available for $20 unlaminated and $32 laminated.)
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PUBLICATIONS
