2019 March 20 morning

   Ron Flower writes:  Yesterday March 19 we went to the Goldstream River and found Mourning Cloak and a Comma.   [Jeremy Tatum comments:    On March 18 I remarked that commas often like to rest head downwards.  This one must have read my remarks.  Commas can be very hard to identify from  uppersides alone, and I wouldn’t want to name this one!   I’d welcome opinions from viewers.  At Goldstream I think Satyrs are more likely than Green.  On the other hand Satyrs have become scarce in recent years.  Let’s play this one safe and say just “Comma”!]  Added later:  Thanks to Cris Guppy for identifying it as a female Satyr Comma

Satyr Comma Polygonia satyrus  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Ron Flower.

Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Ron Flower

   Just at press time, more reports of commas are coming in, with the usual difficulties of identifying them!  Yesterday Jochen Möhr saw a probable Green  Comma in Metchosin, and Gordon Hart saw a definite Green Comma again in the Highlands.  Gordon also saw and managed to photograph a certain Satyr Comma at the northeast corner of Swan Lake.  Satyr Commas used to be very common, but in the last two or three years they have become quite scarce.

Satyr Comma  Polygonia satyrus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Gordon Hart

2019 March 19 afternoon

  IMPORTANT NOTICE!   We are pleased to say that Sonia Voicescu has, at my request, undertaken to submit our local butterfly observations to eButterfly.   Below is a message from Sonia explaining all about it.  Most contributors to Invert Alert are not participating in any formal scientific survey, but are submitting what are called “incidental” (but nevertheless very important!) observations.   In that case, just carry on exactly as you do now – just send in your sightings or photographs to Invert Alert in the normal way, and Sonia will look after the rest, though it helps if you always remember to give the date and location of your observation.

   If you are doing any sort of more systematic counts or surveys, Sonia’s notes below will be a good guideline.

  Even as Jeremy Tatum types this, Sonia tells me that she has just seen her first Cabbage White of the season – behind Saanich Municipal Hall, and she has already submitted it to eButterfly!  I have yet to see my first butterfly. 

  Here is Sonia’s notice.  Let’s give her a big thanks.

"Hello everyone, my name is Sonia Voicescu, I am an Environmental Studies student at UVIC and will be taking on the role of submitting all VNHS butterfly observations to the eButterfly (www.e-butterfly.org/) platform this year. eButterfly can be a fantastic tool for observing the diversity and abundance of butterflies, and could potentially also be used for monitoring of certain species, if properly standardized. Since we have many keen butterfly oberservers here in Victoria, it seemed like a logical idea to contribute our observations to this platform! My task will therefore consist in uploading the information submitted to InvertAlert onto eButterfly.

In order for this process to be as effective as possible, I would request that the following information be submitted to InvertAlert along with your observation(s), when possible:

1-Location of observation(s). The more precise this is, the better. An exact address/location always helps, however I understand if some of you may not want to disclose the address for a private residence, in which case the intersection of nearby streets helps. 

2. Time of day. If possible, please record the time of day you made the observation(s).

3. Type of survey. From what I have seen so far on InvertAlert, most observations submitted are "Incidental Observations". However, if you are performing a particular type of butterfly survey, please let me know. See below the different types of surveying as outlined by eButterfly.

Traveling Survey

You traveled a specific distance – walking a trail in a green space.

  Area Survey (square meters)

You surveyed a defined area, often performed when covering the same ground repeatedly during a specific amount of time.

  Timed count

A Timed count is one in which you know how long (time start and end) but no idea of area or distance traveled.

  Historical

Butterflying was your primary purpose, but you cannot estimate start time, duration, and distance; use Traveling or Stationary if you can estimate these.

  Incidental Observations

Observing butterflies was not your primary purpose or you lack information about how many other butterfly species are in the area during the observation period (e.g.butterflying while driving or gardening and historic records lacking effort information)

4. Pictures. I will only submit pictures which were already submitted to InvertAlert. Some of you take beautiful pictures and I will ensure that the photo credit is properly given on eButterfly as well.

Thank you for your contributions, and if you have any questions about eButterfly, please feel free to contact me at svoicescu@uvic.ca."

There’s quite a bit of detail in there but hopefully that will make things easier as the season progresses. I have just checked and we are the first ones to actually submit any information in the Victoria/Saanich Peninsula area! Very exciting!

Sonia

   Gordon  Hart sends a photograph of a Tissue Moth from the Highlands, March 17, and an Enchoria lacteata from Francis/King Park, where there were several on  March 14. He reports two Green Commas from the Highlands on March 18.

American Tissue Moth Triphosa haesitata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Gordon Hart

Enchoria lacteata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Gordon Hart

   Margie Shepherd tells me that she saw a Sara Orangetip in her garden just south of Mount Douglas yesterday.   I know some people say that spring starts when the first Orangetip is seen, but, while I do sympathize with this view, as an astronomer I have to insist that spring starts tomorrow, Wednesday March 20, at 2:58 pm PDT, precisely at the instant when the Sun crosses the equator.

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  A rather worn noctuid moth paid a visit to my Saanich apartment last night.  A bit too worn to be sure of the exact identification, but Libby Avis and I are both pretty sure that it is Orthosia, possibly Orthosia hibisci.

Probably Orthosia (possibly hibisci)  (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum

2019 March 18

   Gordon Hart writes:  With the snow still melting in shady areas, Anne-Marie and I watched a Green Comma Polygonia faunus yesterday (March 17) nectaring on purple heather flowers. It posed long enough for me to get some underside shots showing numerous green flecks, so this was likely a male. I have attached an upperside and underside view. The underside view shows a vespid species above on the other side of the flower raceme. We saw several different bumblebee species, a bee-like syrphid fly, and several other bee and fly species. What a glorious day!

   Jeremy Tatum comments:  Commas often rest head downwards, but in this instance it also happens to be a convenient position for getting at the nectar! The wasp may be Polistes dominula – but we’d need to see a bit more of the antennae to be sure.

Green Comma Polygonia faunus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Gordon Hart

Green Comma Polygonia faunus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Gordon Hart

   Jeremy Gatten writes:  I had my first butterfly of the year, a Mourning Cloak, on March 16th in South Valley Park in Saanich. I see that Alan MacLeod had one on March 17^th  [don’t know where! –  JT] – he managed a photo that he put up on Flickr, which is how I came across his sighting: https://flic.kr/p/2dQKqKH   Although I could not confirm which species, I saw an orange nymphalid in the distance today that I suspect could have been Satyr Comma.

   Jeremy Tatum writes: I haven’t seen a butterfly yet, but today I had the first moth emerge that was reared from a caterpillar last year – on Garry Oak from Mount Tolmie, where I released it today.   Here it is:

Oak Winter Highflyer Hydriomena nubilofasciata (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jeremy Tatum

    And, just at press time, we have received two observations of Cabbage Whites.  Kirsten Mills saw two today March 18 at 2:30pm in Brentwood Bay on Harding Lane, and Ron Flower had three in his yard in Royal Oak.

2019 March 17

    Butterfly!  Jochen Möhr writes:  I just wanted to report the first sighting of a Cabbage White in Metchosin (William Head Road/Lombard Road area) on Friday afternoon, March 15.  

But then I came across these news items, which might interest you and your readers as well:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/3/13/1841876/-Enormous-Painted-Lady-Migration-in-California

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/3/13/1841876/-Enormous-Painted-Lady-Migration-in-California?detail=emaildkcs

I find particularly the video, the second one, impressive.  

  Jeremy Tatum writes:  I couldn’t find a butterfly today, so I was reduced to photographing a pair of kelp flies on Mount Douglas Beach instead.

Kelp flies (Dip.: Coelopidae)  Jeremy Tatum

2019 March 15

   Now that it’s less cold than it has been for some time, a few insects are beginning to stir.  Nathan Fisk saw the bee below in Oak Bay on March 13.  It looks rather like a Honey Bee Apis mellifera, but we can’t be quite sure, so I’ll just label it “bee”!

Bee (Hym.: Apidae)  Nathan Fisk

   The first butterfly to be reported to Invertebrate Alert in 2018 was on March 11. We are promised some slightly warmer temperatures this weekend, so I expect some butterfly reports to come in!  Jeremy Tatum