Going into hibernation...

Yes it's been a while since my last post, this is what I've been up to...

Map of Okanogan County, Washington, showing the location of the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area and surrounding public lands, cities, and water features.  Map copyright Caitlin C. LaBar.

I have been spending nearly all my spare time lately working on a butterfly mapping project for the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area, with occasional breaks to work on two other butterfly-related projects.  It's a lot of work, but I greatly enjoy it, and have been very pleased with how my recent maps have been turning out.

In other news, I've had some questions from different people lately (well, if the last three or four weeks is considered "lately"... sorry about that!) regarding woolly bears and similar-looking caterpillars that have been crossing their paths.  I posted in late August about these caterpillars seemingly popping out of the woodwork this time of year and what you can do if you wish to keep them over the winter to see the adults emerge in the spring.  I failed to mention that there are several different species of tiger moths (family Erebidae, subfamily Arctiinae) that have similar-looking caterpillars, often confused with another type of tiger moth: the woolly bear, or Isabella moth.  To see the caterpillars of these moths for Washington, go to the image gallery on the Butterflies and Moths of North America (BAMONA) website.   The most common caterpillars I have seen in this area other than woolly bears belong to the spotted tussock moth, (Lophocampa maculata) and Ranchman's tiger moth (Platyprepia virginalis).  I can't find my photos of these caterpillars at the moment, so you'll have to rely on these links for examples, along with what the adults will look like.

Late-season butterflies

On Sunday, September 4th, I explored the mountains northeast of Ellensburg with my parents. We primarily traveled along Naneum Ridge Road, between Schnebly and Colockum canyons. I expected to see a few butterflies, but not as many as we did. I counted 12-13 species, including at least a hundred female coronis fritillaries, and a couple dozen pine whites.
Nectaring on thistle in many areas:
Ochlodes sylvanoides (woodland skipper) ~20
Hesperia juba (juba skipper) ~15-20
Colias sp. 1
Neophasia menapia (pine white) ~20 males searching pine trees, 1 female
nectaring on thistle
Aglais milberti (Milbert's tortoiseshell) 2
Speyeria coronis (Coronis fritillary) couple dozen females on thistle, at least
a hundred flying along the roads and over meadows, generally heading downhill.
Near the headwaters of Coleman Creek:
Lycaena helloides (purplish copper) 1 male
Plebejus idas (northern blue) 1 female
Polygonia faunus (green anglewing) 2
Aglais milberti 1
All going nuts on what I believe was Ericameria bloomeri, "rabbitbrush goldenweed":
Plebejus anna (Anna's blue) 5-8 males, 3 females
Plebejus icarioides (Boisduval's blue) 1 male
Satyrium semiluna (halfmoon hairstreak) 1
Cercyonis sthenele (great basin woodnymph) 5-10
Ochlodes sylvanoides (woodland skipper) 5

I plan to write more detailed blog posts in the coming days about some of these species. For now, here is a sample of my photos from the day.

Ochre ringlet

Coronis fritillary

Coronis fritillary

Pine white

Pine white

Juba skipper

Juba skipper

Green anglewing

Green anglewing

Hillslope along Naneum Ridge Road

Woodland skipper & Anna's blue

Halfmoon hairstreak

Anna's blue

Caterpillars on walkabout

This time of year, many caterpillars are leaving their host plants and going on "walkabout", searching for the perfect place to pupate and spend the winter, before emerging as adults in the spring. While there are also many species that overwinter as eggs and adults, you may notice more caterpillars this time of year because of this habit of searching out a hiding spot.  Woolly bear caterpillars overwinter as larvae, before spinning a cocoon in late winter/early spring, and emerging as the Isabella tiger moth.  Polyphemus moths have a large green caterpillar about as big as your finger, and are sometimes seen crossing sidewalks looking for a good place to spin a cocoon.  They feed on oak and maple, sometimes other trees, and turn into very large, buckskin-colored adults with black and blue eyespots.  Swallowtails, such as anise and western, have solid green, brown, or green and black striped caterpillars, depending on the species.  They form an upright chrysalis attached to twigs, and I've also found several of them attached to the underside of a piece of plywood leaning against our house.
If you find any that you would like to rear, place them in a container in a cool (but that doesn't freeze in the winter), dark place, such as an outdoor storage closet or enclosed porch.  Check on them periodically through the winter in the event they become too warm and emerge early.  Start checking them daily in March or April, and move the pupae to a larger container with rough walls or a stick they climb on once they emerge.

Anise swallowtail larva (Papilio zelicaon)

Anise swallowtail chrysalis

SWA location

I had a question about where exactly this place is, so here is a rough map I made, showing some of the surrounding cities and roads. Part of what I'm working on is editing the roads and other features to make a more informative map for my butterfly project, so this is still a work in progress.  Click on the map to view it at full size.

More about the Sinlahekin

Yes, it has been a while since my last post (sorry about that!)...  I haven't spent a lot of time out in the woods looking for butterflies this summer, partly because I've been so busy, and partly because the weather hasn't been the most cooperative.  Since most of my spare time lately has been wrapped up in working on my "Sinlahekin project", here are some Sinlahekin statistics:
Established in 1939, primarily to protect mule deer
13,814 acres
16 miles long in a north-south direction (glacier valley)
1,300 ft to 4,000 ft elevation
Wide range of habitat... birch/willow/aspen, beaver ponds, Ponderosa Pine forest, sagebrush/bitterbrush steppe, bunchgrass/fescue, serviceberry, chokecherry, oceanspray, dry meadows, moist meadows, rocky outcrops with sedum and bitterroot, and much, much more!
Bighorn sheep, mule and white-tail deer, black bear, cougar, bobcat, turkey, quail, partridge, grouse, many other birds, mammals, and reptiles.
And of course, butterflies!  87 confirmed butterfly species so far, we're still hoping to reach 90!  So along those lines, here are some of my favorite photos of my favorite species, most of which are "firsts", species that we've only found one or two individuals of so far.
First, I already wrote a bit about Thorybes pylades (Northern Cloudywing) in the last post, but I wanted to include a photo of the egg I saw being laid by a female:

The Western Branded Skipper is not exactly "special", but I really liked this shot I was able to take of one in a gravel bar next to Sinlahekin Creek...

Hesperia colorado - Western Branded Skipper

This photo of puddling male Oregon Swallowtails was taken in 2004 at the Sinlahekin, but it's one of my favorite butterfly photos...

Papilio machaon oregonia - Oregon swallowtail

 This photo was taken at the same sand/gravel bar as the skipper picture above. The swallowtails weren't in great shape, but I thought it was neat to see three species all together...

Left to right: Pale Tiger, Western Tiger, and Anise swallowtails

I found this larva on a Ceanothus bush, but I can't be sure if it came off the leaves or flowers, as I shook a whole branch into my net to see what larvae I could find.  Therefore, I can't be sure which species it is, as one feeds on the leaves, and the other feeds on the flowers...

Larva of either a Brown Elfin or Hedgerow Hairstreak

I was excited to find out that a sulphur specimen I collected a few years ago is a Pink-edged Sulphur (Colias interior), and completes a pair, since a female was collected by another person a year later...

Male (top) and female (bottom) Colias interior

And more "first" species for the Sinlahekin... the following image is of a female Juniper/Cedar hairstreak I collected, which is also the only one of this species ever found in all of Okanogan County! I'm still trying to find more!  The second is an Anna's Blue (Plebejus anna) collected by me, and the third is a Mormon Fritillary (Speyeria mormonia) collected by another butterfly enthusiast, both of which are the only individuals of each species found on the Sinlahekin so far.  Notice the fritillary looks rather odd? The left side is aberrant, possibly caused by a malnourished larva or damaged chrysalis.

Juniper/Cedar hairstreak, Anna's blue, Mormon fritillary (aberrant form)

I'll try not to wait so long before my next post :-)  Is there anything you'd like to learn about?