Deschutes River canyon

Today I drove the 2.5 hours to the Deschutes River recreation area north of Maupin, for my first butterfly trip of the year.  Not far up the road I came across a group of people with binoculars and tripods looking at birds up the side of the canyon, but some of them were crouched around some plants taking pictures, and I caught sight of a couple butterfly nets, so I stopped and asked them what they were doing. They turned out to be an Audubon group from Portland out on a field trip as part of a butterfly class!  I hadn't met any of them before, except for one couple who attends a yearly lepidoptera workshop I go to.  I wound up tagging along with their group and we saw lots of butterflies, not a wide range of species, but the few that were flying were very fresh and I was able to take a lot of great pictures.


Today's sightings:
Anise swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon) 6+
Indra swallowtail (Papilio indra) 10+
Cabbage white (Pieris rapae) several
Sara's orangetip (Anthocaris sara) 6+
Halfmoon hairstreak (Satyrium semiluna) 1
Sheridan's green hairstreak (Callophrys sheridanii) 6
Gray hairstreak (Strymon melinus) 4
Echo blue (spring azure) (Celastrina echo) 2
Silvery blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus) 3
Mylitta? crescent (unsure of species) 2
Mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) 6+
Ochre ringlet (Coenonympha tullia) lots

...click on the photos for larger versions...

Ochre ringlets - mating pair

Silvery blue - male

Sara's orangetip - male

Gray hairstreak

Sheridan's green hairstreak

Tiger beetle

Indra swallowtail

Indra swallowtail

Anise swallowtail and honey bees

Anise swallowtails

Mourning cloak

scarab beetle - not sure what species or why he was acting like this!