2023 June 4

    Jeff Gaskin writes:  Today I decided to go to Swan Lake.  I saw four species including a Mourning Cloak (still in good condition), 1 Cabbage White, 6 Western Tiger Swallowtails and 8 Lorquin’s Admirals. That’s pretty good considering I only covered half of the lake’s trail.  Of the dragonflies, I saw a few Blue-eyed and California Darners, 1 Common Green Darner, 9 Blue Dashers, 3 Cardinal Meadowhawks, 2 Western Pondhawks, and a few Eight-spotted Skimmers.

Marie O’Shaughnessy writes:  I found this lovely Cardinal Meadowhawk at one of the ponds in Outerbridge Park today.   Butterflies seen here today were, 5 Cabbage Whites, 4 Western Tiger Swallowtails, 1 Lorquin’s Admiral.   Dr Rob Cannings, in his book Dragonflies of British Columbia and the Yukon, writes:  “Males…return again and again to a favorite twig…, perching with wings cocked downward, scarlet abdomen glowing in the Sun.”   Marie’s Cardinal appears to have read the book conscientiously.

 Cardinal Meadowhawk Sympetrum illotum (Odo.:  Libellulidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Cardinal Meadowhawk Sympetrum illotum (Odo.:  Libellulidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

The VNHS held its monthly Butterfly Walk today. We hope to post a report on it, with perhaps some photographs, tomorrow morning.

2023 June 3 evening

    Here are a bee photographed by Aziza Copper and identified by Steven Roias, and a damselfly and a dragonfly photographed by Marie O’Shaughnessy at Swan Lake and identified by Dr Rob Cannings.

Male Bombus melanopygus (Hym.: Apidae)  Aziza Cooper

Young male Tule Bluet Enallagma carunculatum (Odo.: Coenagrionidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Young female Blue Dasher Pachydiplax longipennis (Odo.: Libellulidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Jeff Gaskin reports that, today on Mount Tolmie, he saw all three swallowtail species and Lorquin’s Admiral, and at the Beaver Lake Ponds, several Western Pondhawks and an Eight-spotted Skimmer.

2023 June 3 morning

    Jeremy Tatum writes: Seven o’clock in the morning, and already twelve insects waiting in my email box!  Three are awaiting identification, but here are nine of them.

One of them is a Red Admiral, which reminds me that, until I did yesterday’s cryptic crossword in the Times-Colonist, I didn’t realize that Real Madrid (famous Spanish football (soccer) team) is an anagram of Red Admiral.

First, a small moth that entered my bedroom last night:

Hedya nubiferana  (Lep.: Tortricidae)  Jeremy Tatum

Now some dragonflies from Swan Lake:

Blue Dasher  Pachydiplax longipennis  (Odo.: Libellulidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Western Pondhawk Erythemis collocata (Odo.: Libellulidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Four-spotted Skimmer
Libellula quadrimaculata (Odo.:Libellulidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

And some butterflies from Mount Tolmie:

Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa (Lep.: Nymphalidae)
Aziza Cooper

West Coast Lady Nymphalis annabella (Lep.: Nymphalidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta (Lep.: Nymphalidae)
Marie O’Shaughnessy

Steven Roias writes of the success he has had in growing a native plant garden. He writes of the positive response of invertebrates, in general, to the transformation of our yard from a typical lawn and cultivated shrub greenscape, to a near 100% native floral display. This transformation is an ever-evolving one which started in 2017, and since adopting this new environment, we have hosted butterfly larvae, nesting bumble bees, and an array of other native arthropods each year.   He found six Lorquin’s Admiral caterpillars in his garden, five of them on Ocean Spray, and one on Hardhack.

Lorquin’s Admiral Limenitis lorquini (Lep.: Nymphalidae)
Steven Roias

Lastly, an ant dragging the body of a large wasp.

Ant + Polistes dominula (Hym.: Vespidae) Aziza Cooper

2023 June 2

 June Butterfly Walk
Message from Gordon Hart

 Hello, Butterfly Watchers,
We will be having a Butterfly Walk on Sunday, June 4.
We will meet at the top of Mount Tolmie by the reservoir, at 1.00 p.m. You can park in the parking lot there, or in the large lot north of the summit. After a look around the summit, we will decide on a destination from there.
See you on Sunday,
Gordon

Gordon Hart,
Butterfly count coordinator
Victoria Natural History Society

Kirsten Mills writes:  Today, June 2, my son and I went up Mount Tolmie. We saw 2 Anise Swallowtail, 5 Western Tiger Swallowtail, 1 Pale Tiger Swallowtail, 4 Lorquin’s Admiral, 1 Red Admiral, 2 Painted Lady, and 1 West Coast Lady.  Also could you please identify this caterpillar?

Anise Swallowtail Papilio zelicaon (Lep.: Papilionidae)
Kirsten Mills

Erannis defoliaria/vancouverensis  (Lep.: Geometridae)
Kirsten Mills

Cindy Hayes writes: I live in Cedar at the north end of Quennell Lake and found a deceased Cinnabar Moth on June 2, 2023.

Cinnabar Moth  Tyria jacobaeae  (Lep.: Erebidae – Arctiinae)
Cindy Hayes

2023 June 1 evening

    Jeff Gaskin reports that on Monday May29, in Esquimalt Gorge Park he saw a Twelve-spotted Skimmer and a Western Pondhawk near the ponds in the Japanese gardens.

Jeremy Tatum shows a photograph of a Hypena californica, reared from the caterpillar shown on May 19, morning.   Moths of the genus Hypena are remarkable for the long forward-projecting labial palpi in the adult, and the caterpillars, which have only three pairs of mid-abdominal prolegs.   The long palpi have given rise to the name “snouts” for this genus, and so Hypena californica could perhaps be called the California Snout.  This one ecloded (emerged) today and was released to the nettle patches on Lochside Drive north of Blenkinsop Lake.

 
Hypena californica (Lep.: Erebidae – Hypeninae)    Jeremy Tatum