2021 May 6

   Rosemary Jorna, Kemp Lake, sends a photograph of a spider.  Dr Robb Bennett writes:  It’s an amaurobiid, almost certainly Callobius pictus. The relatively light coloration and the blocky light abdominal marks are usually sufficient to identify this species in our area. The other local candidate, Callobius severus, is very much darker and hairier. Both are common Vancouver Island species, especially in Douglas-fir woodlands.

Callobius pictus (Ara.: Amaurobiidae)  Rosemary Jochen

  Yesterday, writes Jeremy Tatum, we showed a photograph of a butterfly, and I wrote that it was difficult to identify because I could see only the upperside.  Today we have a photograph of a moth, and I write that it is difficult to identify because I can see only the underside.  By this time, viewers will be thinking:  My!  –  Some folks are hard to please !   Well, fortunately Jochen Möhr saw the upperside before he photographed the moth in Metchosin, and saw that it is Xanthorhoe defensaria.

Xanthorhoe defensaria  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

    Jochen also sends a photograph of a pug (Eupithecia sp.)   Pugs can be hard to identify, writes Jeremy Tatum, and I have a bad habit of calling any that look a bit like this one E. annulata.  I’ll resist the habit and label this one “sp.”

Eupithecia sp. (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

2021 May 5

   Bruce Whittington sends a photograph of a blue from his Ladysmith garden yesterday.  Since it shows only the upperside, writes Jeremy Tatum, identification was a bit of a challenge, so I am grateful to Mike Yip for examining it critically and confirming Bruce’s suspicion and mine that it is a male Western Spring Azure.

Male Western Spring Azure Celastrina echo (Lep.: Lycaenidae) Bruce Whittington

   A few dragonflies and damselflies have been seen in the past few days.  Wendy Ansell writes that she saw her first dragonfly of the season yesterday at Durrance Lake.   She got a few quick snaps of it, not, she feels good enough for posting, but good enough for the first identified dragonfly reported this year.   It was an American Emerald Cordulia shurtleffii.

    Rosemary Jorna photographed two snails in her yard near Kemp Lake today:

Monadenia fidelis (Pul.: Bradybaenidae)  Rosemary Jorna

Vespericola columbianus (Pul.: Polygyridae)  Rosemary Jorna

2021 May 4

    Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin: This morning, in addition to the two Sabulodes aegrotata and the Phyllodesma americana from yesterday,

1 Dargida procincta

1 Melanolophia imitata

2 Xanthorhoe defensaria

Girdler Moth Dargida procincta (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Xanthorhoe defensaria (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Melanolophia imitata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

   Jeremy Tatum writes that there were a California Tortoiseshell and a Mourning Cloak on the Mount Tolmie reservoir at 4:45 pm this afternoon.

2021 May 3

   Jochen Möhr writes from Metchosin:  This morning at the black light, in addition to the second Phyllodesma americana, which has been here now for at least four days, 2 Sabulodes aegrotata.  

Sabulodes aegrotata (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jochen Möhr

Sabulodes aegrotata (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jochen Möhr

2021 May 3 morning

   Val George writes: I checked out Mount Tolmie for butterflies on May 2 and I saw just one, a rather worn Mourning Cloak on the reservoir.

Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Val George

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Although I sighed yesterday that no one had reported any butterflies in our area (southern Vancouver Island birdwatching area) in the last two days, and I hadn’t seen any myself, Peter Boon writes from Nanaimo: This weekend was good for butterflies up here. May 1st had my first Pale Tiger Swallowtail fly through the yard and I also saw my first Western Spring Azures in Nanoose at Cross Road. Yesterday,May  2^nd,  I saw a beautiful fresh Western Brown Elfin in the yard.