2017 May 5

   Mike Yip writes from Nanoose Bay:  I would like to compile a list of butterfly friendly garden flowers so I’m hoping you will post a note asking the invert folks to send me a list of their garden flowers and the butterflies that like nectaring on them. If you like I can send you the list to publish later in the summer. My email is mikyip AT hotmail DOT com.  Mike also sends a photograph of a moth, Behrensia conchiformis, that he found when he was cutting some alder firewood.  B. conchiformis is remarkable in that a freshly emerged specimen shines, when illuminated in  sunlight at the right angle, with brilliant, sparkling bright green areas.  The caterpillar, too is quite distinctive.  It feeds on the leaves of Snowberry, and it rests by stretching itself fully elongated and closely appressed to a twig, so that it is very difficult to detect.

Behrensia conchiformis (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Mike Yip