2024 May12 morning

   Aziza Cooper reports that on the afternoon of May 11, there was one Brown Elfin, two Painted Ladies and one Mourning Cloak at the Mount Tolmie reservoir, and elsewhere on Mount Tolmie she saw two Western Spring Azures.  Photographs of two of these butterflies and a fly are shown below.  We thank Steven Roias for the identification of the fly.

Brown Elfin Callophrys augustinus  (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Aziza Cooper

Painted Lady Vanessa cardui  (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Aziza Cooper

Volucella facialis  (Dip.: Syrphidae)  Aziza Cooper

   Jeremy Tatum saw a Painted Lady in Uplands Park on May 11.

Gordon Hart saw his first Pale Tiger Swallowtail of the year on May 8.  On May 11 he was finally able to identify the “small brown jobs” in his Highlands garden as Cedar Hairstreaks.  Also in his garden were continuing Green and Satyr Commas.   On May 11 Anne-Marie Hart spotted a California Ringlet at Island View Beach.

Jeremy Tatum writes:  The ATC treats Coenonympha california as a distinct species from C. tullia.  Although the ATC does not deal with English names, it would make sense for us to refer to our Coenonympha as the California Ringlet.  The ATC lists about 17 named subspecies for this complex group.

California Ringlet Coenonympha california (Lep.: Nymphalidae – Satyrinae)
Gordon Hart

Cedar Hairstreak  Callophrys gryneus  (Lep.: Lycaenidae)  Gordon Hart

[This butterfly was formerly labelled on this site as Mitoura rosneri.]

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