Our First Puddle Party... Looking for Butterflies in Clackamas County

       How many of you use the navigation feature on your cell phone whenever you are heading to an unfamiliar destination?  I used to be a map person.  Before I left home I would study the maps and then, with a little luck, drive to my destination using memory alone.  Not any more.  Now I get close and then ask my lovely companion to turn on the navigation.  Sometimes this works out just fine, but when we are looking for a place that might be reached with obscure country roads, the lady who lives inside my android phone finds them irresistible. 

The Old Railroad Bridge across the Sandy

   Such was the case last week when I had the bright idea to look for butterflies at Bull Run Reservoir.  For those of you who don't live in Portland, the Rose City is blessed with the most delicious drinking water.  This salubrious beverage comes form the watershed of the small Bull Run River that originates in the western foothills of Mount Hood.  A small river in the foothills of the Cascades sounded perfect for butterfly watching.

    We left the I 84 freeway at the Sandy River, just a few miles outside metropolitan PDX.  Sandra hit navigation and we were immediately guided off the beaten path onto a maze of country roads.  After several road changes I had no clear idea where I was;  we were a prisoners of the navigation.  Another ten minutes found us directed onto a road that was signed as a dead end.  Just after that we lost cell phone coverage.

    Following our noses, we wound our way down hill and at 10:30 stumbled across Dodge Park, which nestles in the confluence of the Bull Run and Sandy Rivers.  Considering that it is in the middle of nowhere, this is quite a large park, with lots of picnic tables and grills.  It boasts about a half mile of river frontage, mostly shingle beach with some large patches of fine riverside sand.  

   Dodge Park is named for Frank Dodge, who was the second superintendent of the Portland Water

Ca 1910, Frank Dodge discusses water service to Portland's Chinatown.

Bureau, serving from 1894 to 1914.  In 1911, the Mount Hood Railway and Power Company built a railway line from Montavilla in east Portland to the town of Bull Run. The railway line was built to move materials to the powerhouse at  the Bull Run Hydroelectric Project.  The steam locomotive line served 30 small communities on the way to Dodge Park.

   In 1912, the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company acquired the rail line and converted it to an electric trolley line.  In the 1920s, probably due to this unique access,  Dodge Park was inundated with weekend visitors throughout the summer.

Caterpillar of the Tussock Moth, Dodge Park 2022

    On a sunny Wednesday morning in the summer of 2022, we  had this large park pretty much to ourselves. Selecting a shady parking spot, we grabbed our nets and binoculars and walked down to the Sandy.   At this point it is a small rushing river.  Down stream, we could see the old railroad bridge that a century ago brought supplies to Bull Run.   As we watched, a couple paddled by us in their brightly colored kayak. And among the rocks in the middle of the stream we saw a family of mergansers.  But at this point there were no butterflies.

    We backed off from the river and strolled upstream.  Finding a path down to the river we found willows growing on a sandy bar.  As we walked toward the river a Lorquin's Admiral flew up into the trees.  Suddenly there was a plethora of Tiger Swallowtails in the air. 

    To our surprise, we found a caterpillar clinging to a willow.  Caterpillars are pretty much at your mercy, so we were able to manipulate him onto to twig and get a picture.  We believe this is the caterpillar of the Tussock Moth. this caterpillar is acknowledged to be a handsome animal, but it eats the leaves of the Douglas Fir and at times presents a serious problem in forest management.  Of course, we had no idea what we were looking at, so when the photo session was concluded we put it carefully back in the willow.  

A Puddle Party of Tiger Swallowtails, Dodge Park 2022

    As we passed through the willows we saw a young family enjoying the riverside sand, but even closer we were greeted by a puddle party of Tiger Swallowtails.  As one begins to delve into butterfly lore, he is introduced to two related phenomena.  the first is the puddle party.  If one is lucky, he may happen upon a moist spot where numerous butterflies are resting.  As it turns out, these are mostly male butterflies sucking up water from the moist sand or soil.  The water contains important minerals, such as electrolytes.  It is speculated that male butterflies use up these chemicals in the process of mating and need to replace them in order to mate again. 

    But males have another need for this extra nutrition.  In many butterflies, in the process of mating, in addition to sperm the male inserts nutrients into the female.  These are known as nuptial gifts.  This might be the equivalent of a diamond ring, but are more like a dose of prenatal vitamins.

    If there is a moral to this story, it might be, "When your phone navigation leads you astray, don't be afraid to make the most of it."    And may you have the best of luck wherever life leads you.

jeff

Thanks to Portland.gov for the information on Dodge Park