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?

Sinlahekin Wildlife Area, July 1-4

This past weekend I had the pleasure of staying at the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area (SWA) in northern Okanogan County, west of Tonasket.  The purpose of my trip was primarily to photograph as many butterfly species and survey as many locations as possible, for a project I'm working on for the manager.  I have many photographs to sort through, so in the meantime here is the list of species I found, and a few photos of the landscape.

Skippers (6)
Thorybes pylades - northern cloudywing (located colony, eggs and hostplant, only one individual was ever found on the SWA before)
Erynnis icelus - dreamy duskywing
Erynnis persius - persius duskywing
Pholisora catullus - common sootywing
Hesperia colorado - western branded skipper
Amblyscirtes vialis - common roadside skipper
Swallowtails (4)
Papilio zelicaon - anise swallowtail
Papilio rutulus - western tiger swallowtail
Papilio multicaudatus - two-tailed tiger swallowtail
Papilio eurymedon - pale tiger swallowtail
Whites and Sulphurs (5-6)
Pontia occidentalis - western white
Pieris rapae - cabbage white
Euchloe ausonides - large marble
Anthocaris sara - Sara orangetip
Colias philodice - clouded sulphur
Colias sp., possibly Queen Alexandra's sulphur
Coppers and Blues (11)
Lycaena heteronea - blue copper
Lycaena helloides - purplish copper
Lycaena nivalis - lilac-bordered copper
Cupido amyntula - western tailed blue
Celastrina echo - echo blue (larva on ceanothus flowers)
Euphilotes on heracleoides - unnamed blue
Glaucopsyche piasus - arrowhead blue
Glaucopsyche lygdamus - silvery blue
Plebejus melissa/idas - Melissa or northern blue (undetermined)
Plebejus icarioides - Boisduval's blue
Plebejus lupini - lupine blue
Brush-footed butterflies (~11)
Speyeria sp. - unidentified flying fritillaries (UFFs!)
Speyeria hydaspe - hydaspe fritillary
Phyciodes pulchella - field crescent
Phyciodes pallida - pale crescent (new record for the SWA!)
Euphydryas anicia - anicia checkerspot
Polygonia satyrus - satyr anglewing
Nymphalis antiopa - mourning cloak
Limenitis lorquini - Lorquin's admiral
Coenonympha tullia - ochre ringlet
Cercyonis pegala - common wood nymph
Erebia epipsodea - Butler's alpine

Total = at least 37 species

View of the valley looking north

Conners Lake, looking southeast

Hooded merganser and company!

Bitterroot

showy milkweed

pale crescent, Phyciodes pallida

northern cloudywing

Reecer Creek - June 26

On Sunday, I took my family up Reecer Creek for my first real butterfly-outing in the northwest this year.  The weather was great, no wind, clear, and temperatures ranging from 68 to 74 (according to my car anyway!).  This spring seemed to be just as wet as last year, but was a bit warmer.  I was happy to tally a good list of butterfly species and abundance, as well as observe most of the flowers seemingly blooming "on time".  Thanks to my mom for writing the list as I called out names and numbers from across streams and meadows!
Dreamy duskywing - Erynnis icelus - 1
Western branded skipper - Hesperia colorado - 2
Sara orangetip - Anthocaris sara - 5 m
Cabbage white - Pieris rapae - 1 m
white - Pontia sp. ? - 1
sulphur - Colias sp. - 1
Mountain parnassian - Parnassius smintheus - 2 m
Indra swallowtail - Papilio indra - 1
Two-tailed swallowtail - Papilio multicaudatus - 2 m
Western tiger or two-tailed swallowtail - Papilio sp. (yellow) - 1
Pale tiger swallowtail - Papilio eurymedon - 11+
Lilac-bordered copper - Lycaena nivalis - 2 m, 1 f
Western tailed blue - Cupido amyntula - 4 m, 1 f
Echo blue - Celastrina echo - 15 m, 1 f
Silvery blue - Glaucopsyche lygdamus - 3 m, 1 f
unnamed blue - Euphilotes (on heracleoides) - 5 m, 1 f
Columbia blue - Euphilotes columbiae - 3 m
Boisduval's blue - Plebejus icarioides - 30 m, 4 f
acmon/lupine blue - Plebejus acmon/lupini - 1 m
Zerene fritillary - Speyeria zerene - 1 m, 1 f
Callippe fritillary - Speyeria callippe - 3 m
Coronis fritillary - Speyeria coronis - 10 m, 2 f
fritillary "fly-by"s - Speyeria sp. - 23 (likely all coronis)
Western meadow fritillary - Boloria epithore - 1 m
Hoffman's checkerspot - Chlosyne hoffmanni - 6
Snowberry checkerspot - Euphydryas colon - 200+ (all male with at least one or two female)
satyr or hoary anglewing - Polygonia sp. - 2
Milbert's tortoiseshell - Aglais milberti - 2
Ochre ringlet - Coenonympha tullia - 4
26 species total, with one more possible if the unknown white was not a cabbage white.

View of Kittitas Valley from one of the meadows along Reecer Creek

Bitterroot

Wild onion (Allium sp.) and desert parsley (Lomatium sp.)

Milbert's tortoiseshell - Aglais milberti

Milbert's tortoiseshell larvae on stinging nettle

Echo blues (two in background) and Boisduval's blues (two in foreground)

Columbia blue - Euphilotes columbiae

Hoffman's checkerspot - Chlosyne hoffmanni 

Coronis fritillary - Speyeria coronis

Snowberry checkerspot - Euphydryas colon 

Snowberry checkerspot on arrowleaf balsamroot

Snowberry checkerspots on arrowleaf balsamroot

Snowberry checkerspots puddling

Snowberry checkerspot larva on showy penstemon

All photos are copyright Caitlin C. LaBar