Weekend of Butterflies at the Sinlahekin!

This coming weekend I'll be leading a series of butterfly field trips at the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area (northern Okanogan County, Washington) as part of their 75th Anniversary Celebration this summer.  I've been frantically editing several hundred photographs over the past few weeks and finally finished several pages for a condensed field guide of Sinlahekin butterflies that I will hand out to participants this weekend.  I'm so thrilled to have finished it that I want to share part of it here. Sorry about the copyright watermark but because this will be part of a larger self-published book, I don't want it being circulated without credit... you'll have to come on a field trip if you want a clean copy :) and yes, there's a typo on the first page, I fixed it but don't have time to re-export these images for my blog at the moment.
The weather will be great for butterflies, but it's going to be hot so if you are planning to participate, bring lots of water!  There will be several nets available if anyone wishes to use them during the field trip, but we will be visiting several places that should provide good photo-ops of butterflies on mud and flowers, and hopefully some caterpillars.
Visit the WDFW page for more info on this and other events:
http://wdfw.wa.gov/lands/wildlife_areas/sinlahekin/75thanniversary.php

Species Profile: Margined White

Margined Whites range throughout most of western Washington, with scattered populations in the northeast and southeast corners of the state.  They are one of the first butterflies to appear in the Spring in Western Washington, and are common along forest roads and wooded rural areas.  Margined Whites are often mistaken for their introduced European cousin: the Cabbage White.  On May 1 of this year, I found some Margined White eggs on a native bittercress (likely Cardamine angulata) in the Mosquito Creek area northwest of Longview, WA. I brought three of the eggs home and all three hatched three days later.  Only one of the larvae survived to adulthood, and it emerged yesterday, June 7.  During another trip to Mosquito Creek on May 22, I found a 1st instar larva on the same plants where I found the eggs, and brought it home.  It is in the final (5th) instar right now and should be pupating soon.  I reared both larvae entirely on garden cabbage (young plants I purchased from a garden center).
Margined White (Pieris marginalis)
Description
Wingspan: 38 to 57 mm
Male: white above and below, sometimes with yellowish tint.  Veins usually lined with gray to greenish-gray, especially on VHW.  Spring form has more gray on dorsal wings.
Female: slightly heavier gray markings.
Egg: yellowish white.
Larva: bright green covered with tiny white and dark green speckles and faint stripes.
Pupa: greenish yellow to tan.
Similar Species
Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) almost always has one or two black spots on DFW and black FW apex, and lacks the dark wing veins on the VHW.  Some forms of Margined White lack strongly-marked VHW veins and may have faint black DFW spots similar to Cabbage Whites.  Margined Whites tend to be more common in woodlands and forest edges, while Cabbage Whites are more common in disturbed habitats.
Habitat & Biology
Habitat: woodland edges and clearings, riparian areas and forest road corridors.
Overwintering stage: pupa.
Larval host:  native crucifers, including rockcress (Arabis spp.) and bittercress (Cardamine spp.).
Adult food source:  many flowers, including mustards, dandelions, asters, daisies, cinquefoils, and salmonberry.

Flowers of plant (likely Cardamine angulata) that eggs were found on.

Leaf of plant (likely Cardamine angulata) that eggs were found on

Margined White (Pieris marginalis) egg on Angled Bittercress (Cardamine angulata)

Newly-hatched larva (L1) of Margined White (Pieris marginalis)

Late L1 (first instar) larva of Margined White

Freshly molted L2 (second instar) larva of Margined White

Late L2 (second instar) larva of Margined White

Freshly molted L3 (third instar) larva of Margined White

L4 (fourth instar) larva of Margined White (head is facing down)

L4 (fourth instar) larva of Margined White (head is on left)

L5 (fifth instar) larva of Margined White (head is on right)

Newly-formed pupa of Margined White

Pupa (4 days old) of Margined White - note the small white patch of the wing forming

Pupa (4 days old) of Margined White

Pupa (8 days old, 3 days before emergence) of Margined White

Empty pupa after emergence of adult Margined White

Newly-emerged male Margined White

Painted Lady migration

There have been numerous reports of Painted Ladies (Vanessa cardui) making their way north through Washington the past couple weeks.  The Painted Lady usually can't survive our winters and must migrate here from warmer regions in the southern states.  Depending on weather and population conditions, some years we may never see any Painted Ladies here, while other years they will be everywhere.  I haven't seen very many at all for the past couple years, but this year have already spotted two near Longview, and others have spotted them in places around Seattle, Ellensburg, and Spokane.  They are very fast and wary butterflies, often hard to catch or photograph.  Their larvae feed on thistles, so keep an eye out for spiny, lavender-gray caterpillars and shiny gold chrysalids whenever you see a patch of thistles!

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui - dorsal side

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui - ventral side

A cousin of the Painted Lady, the Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta), is another butterfly that usually cannot survive our winters and must migrate here from warmer climates, although occasionally a lucky few will survive in garages or other protected areas.  Their larvae feed on stinging nettle, and form folded-leaf tents that I have described in a previous blog post (see here).  Red Admirals have been spotted near Yakima recently.

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta - dorsal side

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta - ventral side

Thank you Maupin!

Yesterday I had the opportunity to talk about butterflies to several groups of kids in the Maupin, OR school district.  It was a long day and my voice was a bit hoarse by the end of it, but it was a wonderful time and I was very impressed with all the kids.  I don't think I've encountered so many observant and interested kids before, a few really stood out to me with the things they picked up on, and I was particularly impressed with the high school group.  It was a great experience and I hope to have more opportunities like this in the future!
Many of you took my business card with my email address, so I hope to hear from you if you have any questions - I tried to answer as many as I could, but simply didn't have time to listen to everyone, so many wonderfully curious kids!  You also may comment on any of my blog posts here - I moderate the comments to eliminate spam, so keep in mind that when you submit a comment it won't show up right away, usually I'll see and "okay" it within a couple hours.
Several of you had questions about how I preserve the specimens, and some asked why I kill some of the ones I raise, instead of letting them go.  There are links on the left side of this page (Rearing Lepidoptera, Collecting Lepidoptera, Mounting Specimens, and others) where I have written answers to these questions, and there is information there about how to spread butterfly wings to preserve them for a collection, along with general guidelines about ethical collecting practices.  There is also a list of books and other resources I recommend.  In particular, The Butterflies of Cascadia by Robert M. Pyle is the best (at least my favorite) guide book to Washington and Oregon butterflies, although some of the scientific names have changed in recent years, and some new species have been described.  Life Histories of Cascadia Butterflies by David James and David Nunnallee is a newer book with the updated names, and is the first book to ever show all the egg-larva-pupa stages of our local butterflies.  It does not have as many photos of adult butterflies, so you will need to use other books and websites to help with the identification of some species, but there is a lot of information in that book about what plants each butterfly uses and what the caterpillars look like.
Also, following up on the two butterflies the kids found (Kindergarten class brought a dead Anise Swallowtail and the High School class brought a dead Indra Swallowtail), here are two blog posts I wrote a while back that talk about these two swallowtails and the similar Oregon Swallowtail:
Indra & Anise swallowtails
Oregon Swallowtail

Will touching a butterfly's (or moth's) wings kill it?

I hear this question frequently, and it came up again recently, but I don't think I've discussed it yet on my blog.  People are often taught that if they touch a butterfly or moth and rub any scales off its wings that it will die.  However, that is not the case.  

Butterflies and moths belong to the order Lepidoptera, a word derived from the Greek words lepis (scale) and ptera (wing).  Their wings are covered in tiny scales, overlapping like shingles on a roof.  These scales give the butterflies and moths their wing patterns, and make them more aerodynamic, a little like feathers on a bird's wing.  However, unlike birds, when butterflies and moths lose scales on their wings, they can still fly.  Depending on the amount of scales lost, it may make them less aerodynamic and affect their flight pattern slightly, but it will not kill them.  Some species of butterflies and moths actually have very few scales, resulting in partially or entirely clear wings. It's really not much different than most other insects with wings, such as dragonflies and wasps.

Butterflies and moths naturally lose scales throughout their lives.  They often rub some off in the course of emerging from their pupa, in addition to losing scales while flying, and from escaping from birds or other animals (nothing like a mouthful of powdery scales to make you change your mind about a meal!).

Although butterflies and moths are certainly delicate, they are much hardier than many people give them credit for.  So the next time you encounter a butterfly or moth, don't be afraid to coax it onto your hand if it wishes to cooperate! Handle it gently, don't try to pet it, and enjoy its beauty!

One of many species of clear-winged butterflies from South America

Close-up of the clear patch and surrounding scales on the wing of Rothschildia lebeau forbesi (see previous blog post)