2016 June 14

 

   Gordon Hart writes:  It’s almost time for the next count ( June 18-26), so I have attached a summary of the May count.  There were about 12 observers and 40 reports for 13 species of butterfly. That is down from last month and May 2015 when 19 species were seen.  It was the end of the season for Spring Azures with 15 seen, compared to 151 last year. On the other hand, Ringlets or Large Heath were seen in large numbers in several places. Lorquin’s Admiral were early this year, as none were seen in May 2015.

Here is a table:

13 species May 2016	May-2016	May-2015	Difference
Anise Swallowtail		6	-6
Western Brown Elfin		2	-2
Cabbage White	147	164	-17
California Tortoiseshell
Cedar Hairstreak	40	4	36
Common Ringlet (Large Heath)	178	20	158
Green Comma		4	-4
Grey Hairstreak	1	2	-1
Lorquin’s Admiral	38
Moss’s Elfin		2	-2
Mourning Cloak		3	-3
Painted Lady	4	13	-9
Pale Tiger Swallowtail	27	45	-18
Propertius Duskywing	4	9	-5
Purplish Copper		1	-1
Red Admiral	8	9	-1
Sara Orangetip		10	-10
Satyr Comma	1	1	0
Silvery Blue		2	-2
Western Spring Azure	15	151	-136
Two-banded Grizzled (Checkered) Skipper
West Coast Lady	1	3	-2
Western Pine Elfin
Western Tiger Swallowtail	67	27	40
Milbert’s Tortoiseshell
totals	531	478	53

 

 

 

 

 

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  Here is the Satyr Comma caterpillar from Lochside Drive which I mentioned in the June 13 posting.

 

Satyr Comma Polygonia satyrus (Lep.: Nymphalidae)  Jeremy Tatum

   And here is a small moth from the outside wall of my Saanich apartment building this morning.

 

 

 

Annie Pang sends a photograph of a very trusting Lorquin’s Admiral.

 

 

Cheryl Hoyle sends a photograph of an Elder Moth seen on June 13.

 

Warning – Not for the squeamish!

 

   Gordon Hart writes:  The attached pictures are a little gruesome, so you don’t have to post them. There was a White-footed Deer Mouse that had been killed by a neighbour’s cat on our lawn. I walked by it some time later and saw it move. A few seconds later, a sexton beetle  probably Nicrophorus defodiens , laden with mites, emerged from under the remains. Apparently the mites are a beneficial parasite who hop off onto the dead mouse to eat eggs and young maggots of the flies that land there, leaving more food for the beetle. The mites could never get to the food source on their own. There is one picture of the beetle with flies and mites, one with a wasp and one close-up of the beetle and mites. Perhaps one picture is enough!  I just could not decide which one I should send so I sent three – you can edit it to one or none.

 

Jeremy Tatum replies:  Viewers have had their warning – so I’m showing all three, of course! The green fly in the second photograph is a female greenbottle Lucilia sp.  I believe the wasp is Vespula – can anyone tell the species?  Thanks to Heather Proctor for identifying the mites as Poecilochirus sp.

 

Greenbottle Lucilia sp.(Dip.: Calliphoridae)

 Gordon Hart

 

Wasp Vespula sp.(Hym.: Vespidae)

 Gordon Hart