The Latest
September 4, 2019 - Another new butterfly - number 200 - is the Coast Range segregate of Apodemia mormo near mormo. These are really beautiful, and while genetically different from the endangered langei from the Antioch Dunes, they look similar. And that look is different from anything else I've seen in southern California. I found them in a spot I learned about in Ken Davenport's writings: Davis Road near the border between the counties of San Luis Obispo and Kern. Quite a drive, but quite a butterfly. Its host plant now has a page as well.
August 31, 2019 - A new addition is the hard-to-find Euphilotes pallescens elvirae, a species that flies in the deserts in the heat of August and September. Looking forward to more trips in September and October for some autumn specialties.
August 22, 2019 - Just finished revamping the gallery. It's not completely done yet but it's close.
August 20, 2019 - The Painted Lady page has been spiffed up a bit, including an introduction and a couple photos replaced. I should probably do that with the oldest pages as I get the time. Eventually I'd like to overhaul all of them, but it's not exactly a priority to be honest. So there. A Desert Swallowtail caterpillar from April that I happened upon when going through older photos seemed worthy of inclusion on the coloro page. It's at the very bottom.
August 18, 2019 - I added a recent photo of an American Lady that was flying at Frazier Park. Another trip up to that area featured a good flight of a metalmark I'm interested in - call it Apodemia mormo tuolumnensis - that was among Eriogonum wrightii. I also put up a new photo of Hesperia colorado near tildeni from that area, as well as a new Cercyonis sthenele behrii that I came upon during that hike. I plan to return in mid-to-late September to try for Columbia Skippers. I've also included a brownish female Melissa Blue from a 2014 trip after realizing I only had a very blue individual on that page.
July 31, 2019 - I've gone deep this summer getting to know the Santa Anita Canyon population of Lycaena arota nubila. On my tenth trip to the colony site I first found June 24th, a female finally made an appearance. I also made a special trip July 28th to the Volcan Mountain Wilderness to photograph nominate arota females for eventual comparison to nubila. I feel I can learn a lot about a butterfly through reading about it, but I only get to really know a butterfly by getting out in the field to see it in its habitat. While targeting nubila, I came across a few other interesting things, such as this cool larva of an American Lady.
July 17, 2019 - Took an overnight getaway to the Sherman Pass area. Alder Creek (6800') and Bald Mountain were the best places lep-wise. Meadows and roadsides were lush, but pretty much butterfly-free, which seemed strange, especially with such nice weather. I was happy to photograph the dark female Chlosyne palla I've long wanted to see. And Papilio indra phyllisae was flying at Bald Mountain and I was able to get close to the freshest one.
July 13, 2019 - A Marine Blue (Leptotes marina) in my backyard garden this morning was fresh enough to photograph, so I did. I've been out and about as well and have a few things to share. One is an interesting aberrant nominate Euphydryas chaledona I happened across in one of a series of hikes to Santa Anita Canyon dedicated to looking for female nubila as mentioned below. The same location also yielded a Painted Lady caterpillar different from the one I already had here, so I added it. A hike along the McGill Trail at Mt. Piños led me to a beatiful male "Chlorina" Lupine Blue. That was a good day; earlier I saw many Veined Blues at the summit (scroll down), and that was after a stop at Lake of the Woods where Blue Coppers were flying.
June 26, 2019 - I was able to find a couple of male Lycaena arota nubila - the 'Cloudy' Tailed Copper - in the San Gabriels above Chantry Flats. A search specifically for females the next day didn't turn any up, though the road/trail I was on was swarming with butterflies generally. Nubila is a new addition to the site, the first new taxon in a while. By my current reckoning, that's 198 out of 256 taxa; the last few dozen are not going to be easy and I expect to be doing this for many more years, which is good. A few of the 256 (that number is somewhat arbitrary) are almost certainly extinct, so I may have to add some specimen photos at some point. I've added a nice female Bernardino Blue from the same area because I liked the wing colors so much.
June 26, 2019 - I was able to find a couple of male Lycaena arota nubila - the 'Cloudy' Tailed Copper - in the San Gabriels above Chantry Flats. A search specifically for females the next day didn't turn any up, though the road/trail I was on was swarming with butterflies generally. Nubila is a new addition to the site, the first new taxon in a while. By my current reckoning, that's 198 out of 256 taxa; the last few dozen are not going to be easy and I expect to be doing this for many more years, which is good. A few of the 256 (that number is somewhat arbitrary) are almost certainly extinct, so I may have to add some specimen photos at some point. I've added a nice female Bernardino Blue from the same area because I liked the wing colors so much.
June 19, 2019 - Decided to try the mountains on a beautiful Wednesday. Headed to Sunset Peak, mainly to see if I could get another photograph of an Indra Swallowtail. I did, but it was worn and not worth posting. But this Clemence's Blue female is typical of the beautiful blues flying here. Earlier in June I checked out a large patch of Eriogonum inflatum at a roadside pullout along Hwy. 74 in Palm Desert that I'd noticed in years past. I was happy to find not only a healthy population of Desert Metalmarks, but a Wright's Metalmark as well (the latter on Sweetbush).
April 22, 2019 - Cactus Spring Trail has been strangely slow for many species, but things seem to be picking up, and today was the best day there for the year (fifth visit so far). I have some catching up to do, but for now here's a Becker's White caterpillar I happened to find. That's the only new thing for this site, though I do have some nice photos among the thousand or so I've taken there lately. Behr's metalmarks are now flying (they weren't last weekend). Some butterflies (such as several whites) are having a great year, while other species are noticably absent or nearly so. For instance, among desirable species, I've seen one Sonoran Blue, no Desert Black Swallowtails, no Loki, no Small Checkered Skippers. Juba and albescens are now out. Hennei and N. californica fading fast.
March 1, 2019 - Headed out to Cactus Spring Trail as things have finally begun to warm up there. The plants are generally in their winter sleep, as are most butterflies, but I was kept company by a few species. Painted Ladies are in a dispersal, so they are everywhere, but they were rivalled at times by surpringly common California Tortoiseshells. The first male Sara Orangetips have also emerged, as had a single Euphydryas chalcedona hennei. The creeks are flowing, and there is snow on the mountains; things will be hopping there in a month or so.
January 12, 2019 - Lots of rain has me encouraged that the coming year will be far better than was 2018. The few hikes I did last year were in depressingly dry landscapes, and I basically wrote the year off early on and indulged in other things. But this year will certainly be better, and I hope to make the most of it. I hope you do too.
