July 20

   In case you were wondering….  I had incorrectly labelled the previous posting as July 18.  I have now corrected it to July 19.  There was a July 18 morning posting, but not a July 18 evening.

   Notice from Gordon Hart:

Hello Butterfly Counters,

The July count runs nine days from the third Saturday, July 21, to the fourth Sunday, July 29. You can submit a count anytime over this period, and you can do more than one count, just use a separate form for each count. In the case of repeat counts, or more than one person counting an area, I will take the highest count for each species.

Please use the form at https://www.vicnhs.bc.ca/?p=33 on the Victoria Natural History Society website. If you have a zero count, or just one or two butterflies, you can email me directly.

The count area is the same as the Christmas Bird Count circle (attached). For butterfly identification, the Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team (GOERT) has a useful chart of butterflies of southern Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands: http://www.goert.ca/documents/Butterfly_ID_sheet.pdf

If you would like a suggestion for an area to count, please send me an email.

In addition to the counts, a monthly butterfly walk is held on the first Sunday of each month – the next walk will be on August 5. We start at the summit of Mount Tolmie at 1pm, and decide where to go from there. I will send out another reminder near the month-end.

Thank-you for submitting your sightings and happy counting!

Gordon Hart

Butterfly Count Coordinator

Victoria Natural History Society

Count circle map link:

http://christmasbirdcount.ca/bcvi/CBCMaps.html#VictoriaMap

Two more Metchosin moths from Jochen Möhr, kindly identified by Libby Avis.

Hesperumia latipennis (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Homorthodes hanhami (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

   Aziza Cooper writes: On July 19 I found this Woodland Skipper at Bear Hill. Also there were one Pine White, three Western Tiger Swallowtails and six Lorquin’s Admirals.  Jeremy Tatum writes: I thought I was seeing my first Woodland Skippers of the year today (July 20) at Puckle Road, Central Saanich, but on closer imspection it turned out that they were two latish Essex Skippers.

   Annie Pang sends a picture of a male halictid bee of the genus Agapostemon.

Male Agapostemon sp.  (Hym.: Halictidae)  Annie Pang

July 19

   What a wonderful array of moths Jochen Möhr is finding in Metchosin!  Here are a few more.  We thank Libby Avis for identifications.

    The first is a “Cat” – i.e a member of the large genus Catocala of large, spectacular “Underwing” moths, many of which are frustratingly difficult to identify.  This one may be C. semirelicta, but for safety I’m going to label it just Catocala sp.

Catocala sp. (Lep.: Erebidae – Catocalinae)  Jochen Möhr

Iridopsis emasculata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Lacinipolia sp. (probably pensilis)  (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

July 18 morning

    And now for something completely different.  Rosemary Jorna writes:  Here is another of this summer’s interesting insect actions.  I believe this is a Giant Water Bug. It is over 5 cm. The grandchildren caught it in a net in the shallows on the Sooke River yesterday (July 17).  When we released it it came to rest underwater on a rock, then next thing we saw was the crayfish head under the rock followed by the bug. A few seconds later the bug emerged, dragging out the crayfish, which soon stopped struggling. We watched in fascinated horror for five minutes or so.

   Rosemary tells us that the Signal Crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus, our only native crayfish, occurs in the Sooke River, so it is probable that that is what this one is.  However, there are a few non-native crayfish in British Columbia, and we can’t be absolutely sure of this one.  Rosemary speculates that it might have just finished a moult, which might account for its very light colour. The main claws showed red.

Giant Water Bug Lethocerus americanus (Hem.: Belostomatidae)

Crayfish, probably Pacifastacus leniusculus (Dec.: Astacidae)

   Rosemary also sends a photograph of a beetle from Sooke River, kindly identified by Scott Gilmore as Xestoleptura crassipes.

Xestoleptura crassipes (Col.: Cerambycidae)  Rosemary Jorna

   Jochen Möhr sends a photograph of the moth Iridopsis emasculata from Metchosin.

Iridopsis emasculata (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

July 17, evening

    More photographs of moths from Metchosin.  Photographed by Jochen Möhr; identified by Libby Avis.

Digrammia muscariata (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jochen Möhr

Digrammia muscariata (Lep.: Geometridae)   Jochen Möhr

Perizoma curvilinea (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Perizoma curvilinea (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Hesperumia sulphuraria  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Enypia packardata (Lep.:  Geometridae)  Jochen Möhr

Dichagyris variabilis (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jochen Möhr

Clemensia albata (Lep.:  Erebidae – Arctiinae – Lithosiini)  Jochen Möhr

   Jeremy Tatum writes:   The huge mass of Teasels at McIntyre reservoir is now in full bloom, and while there are bees a-plenty enjoying the nectar, no butterflies have as yet discovered the bounty.  There are a few Cabbage Whites there – but they are largely ignoring the Teasel and are nectaring primarily on the Wild Radish (Raphanus).   Also, I saw no butterflies at all a-top Mount Tolmie at 6:30 this evening.  

July 17 morning

    Jochen Möhr writes that he counted 8 Pine Whites yesterday while he was driving towards town along the Hatley Park (Royal Roads University) property along Metchosin Road.  And Nathan Fisk reports his first-of-year at Fort Rodd Hill (photograph below).

Pine White Neophasia menapia (Lep.: Pieridae)  Nathan Fisk

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Everyone knows that the difference between a butterfly and a moth is that a butterfly is brightly coloured and a moth isn’t.  Here’s a moth from Island View Beach just to prove it.

Garden Tiger Moth Arctia caja (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)  Jeremy Tatum