2106 May 12 evening

 

   Marie O’Shaugnessy sends a photograph of a Cardinal Meadowhawk.

 

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

 

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  I saw several Western Tiger Swallowtails at Cuthbert Holmes Park this afternoon, so I imagine they are starting to become general.  In the evening, at 6:30, I visited the Mount Tolmie reservoir, and there were two ladies (I mean the butterfly sort) there.  One was a perfectly normal West Coast Lady, and may well be the same butterfly that Marie and Val photographed recently.  The other didn’t look exactly like any of our three ladies – West Coast, Painted or American (the latter very rare here).  It really looked quite strange. My best guess is that it is an aberrational form of the West Coast Lady, but I really don’t know.  My guess is that there’s a good chance that it will be there for a few evenings yet, and it would be great if an enterprising photographer managed to get a photograph of it, and we could try to figure out what it is.