2021 September 20

   Black Witch!    Today the local bird hotline  https://groups.io/g/bcvibirds/topic/85753993  reports a Black Witch  discovered and photographed on September 19 by Klaus Emmaneel  behind the Cedar Hill ballbark.  I hope the bird hotline and the observer will not mind my taking the photograph from that site and re-posting it here.  This gigantic tropical noctuoid moth is a rarity anywhere in Canada.   In 2018 there were two records from Vancouver Island reported on this site.  A recently dead specimen was found right next to the Royal British Columbia Museum on 2018 August 28, and a living specimen was found in Port Alberni  on 2018 September 9.  See the Invert Alerts for 2018 September 10 and 13.

Black Witch Ascalapha odorata (Lep.: Erebidae – Erebinae)  Klaus Emmaneel

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Today I saw a female Purplish Copper  at the McIntyre Reservoir in Central Saanich.  There were still several Cabbage Whites in the surrounding fields.