2023 May 21 evening

   Jeff Gaskin writes: Yesterday, May 20, Kirsten Mills and I did a lot of looking for butterflies in the Highlands.  We found four Western Brown Elfins along the start to the Stewart Mountain trail.  A Mourning Cloak was at the end of Caleb Pike Road in Gowlland Tod Park.  Kirsten saw an early Lorquin’s Admiral at the Thetis Lake parking lot.  A Green Comma was seen on Munn Road near the Francis/King Park parking lot.
We had a total of 40 Western Spring Azures and 17 Pale Tiger Swallowtails in the Highlands.

   A perusal of Invertebrate Alert records from 2015 – 2022 shows that, while May 20 is certainly an early sighting for the Lorquin’s Admiral, first reports of the year in 2016 and 2018 were also on May 20, and the first report for 2019 was May 21.

   Jeff continues:  Today, May 21, on Lochside Drive north of Blenkinsop Lake, I saw a Mourning Cloak, 1 Satyr Comma, 1 Western Spring Azure and 14 Cabbage Whites.   At Rithet’s Bog I saw 3 Ringlets, 1 Pale and 1 Western Tiger Swallowtails, 1 Mourning Cloak and 2 Cabbage Whites.   I also saw my first of the year Cardinal Meadowhawks at Rithet’s Bog  In total I saw three of them as well as California Darners.

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Here is a caterpillar found on Aspen at the University of Victoria this morning, May 21:

Enargia infumata  (Lep.: Noctuidae)  Jeremy Tatum