Vanessa, Vanessa...Two special butterflies in Southwest Washington.

     For those of us who watch butterflies in Hawaii, the genus Vanessa is special.  This is the genus that includes Hawaii's only endemic big, beautiful butterfly, the Kamehameha Butterfly.  I realize that there is a second endemic butterfly , a small blue known as the Hawaii Blue butterfly, Udara blackburni.  It is small and difficult (for me,at least ) to find.  Definitely not big and beautiful. 

Kamehameha Butterfly  Hawaii DLNR

 

     It is interesting that in our tropical paradise only two butterflies survived the arrival of the Polynesians, roughly 1000 years ago.  Biologists somehow know that there was a massive loss of plant species associated with the arrival of what we now call the native Hawaiians, and entomologists hypothesize that there were butterfly species like the Kamehameha that were inextricably linked to some of these plants.  As there is no fossil record and the Hawaiians did not capture and preserve butterflies way back then, this must fall into the realm of speculation.  If you visit local museums, and even some hotels like the King Kamehameha, in downtown Kailua Kona, you can see artifacts from the period that preceded contact with Europeans.  On display you will see red feathered capes and helmets bedecked with the remains of numerous Hawaiian honeycreepers.  But there are no such artifacts composed of otherwise unknown butterfly wings.  Shazbatt!

    Most of the butterflies that we see in Hawaii might be categorized as Garden Butterflies.  The ubiquitous monarch is a classic example.  It was introduced fifty years after European contact, and thrives on the introduced Crown Milkweed plant, found as an ornamental throughout the islands. 

Snowberry Checkersot, Upper Washougal,  July 2023

 

      The Kamehemeha Butterfly is assuredly not a garden butterfly.  It is linked inextricably to the native Hawaiian nettle mamake.  Thus, the Kamehameha finds itself on a bit of an ecological  precipice.  However , the genus Vanessa includes several other species found in Hawaii that are not linked to a single native plant.  We have been lucky enough to see two of them, the Painted Lady and the Red Admiral.   I emphasize lucky because these species are not common and they are not linked to a single host plant, allowing them to crop up sporadically.  

   All this brings us to Southwest Washington in the summer of 2023.  In our infant career as lepidopterists, Sandra and I have been fortunate to see a modest variety of native butterflies in the PNW.  Up till now, the genus Vanessa has eluded us.  Were it not for our connection to the Kamehmeha, perhaps I wouldn't have been so acutely aware of this deficit.  But the same factor that makes them sporadic in Hawaii is in effect throughout the lower 48.  This is to say, both the Red Admiral and Painted Lady butterflies can survive on more than one host plant and might show up anywhere.  Or to look at it from a slightly different perspective, there is no really special place to search for those species. These are not introduced butterflies, but they both occur in lots of habitats throughout North America. 

My Red Admiral displays on a fern leaf.

     Two weeks ago, Sandra and I were watching butterflies up at Dougan Falls.  We enjoyed an explosion of Snowberry Checkerspots.  We had seen that butterfly up there before, but this was special, with many individuals present.  After this show on the upper Washougal, we went to our favorite lunch spot on Dougan Creek.  As I got out of the car, a butterfly exploded in a flurry of red from the adjacent foliage.   "Could this be the Red Admiral?" I wondered. Ten minutes later,down by the stream, Sandra saw the beast.  I was way up on the road.  Not wanting to risk my breaking a leg in a willy nilly charge into the stream bed, Sandra kept her discovery to herself.  Luckily, the admiral made a visit to the fern beside the car, allowing me to get this picture.  This is not a great picture, but the butterfly is unmistakable .  I was maneuvering for better lighting when the butterfly flew away.  

 

Cinnabar Moth

     Three days later we took our daughter Leslie to the same spots.  In just a few days, the snowberries were remarkably reduced in number, and the Red Admiral, probably a single erratic individual, was nowhere to be seen.  How things can change in just a few days!  The day was saved by a moth, which we netted and took home for further examination.  I believe you will have to admit that the Cinnabar Moth, T. jacobaebae,  is not as pretty as Leslie and Sandra, but it is distinctive enough to brighten any days butterfly excursion.  

    This handsome devil has a story of its own.  Tansy Ragwort is a plant that looks like a tall, multi-blossomed  dandelion and is noxious to cattle.  It was first found in the Portland area in 1922.  The agricultural community declared tansy to be a dangerous introduction and starting in the 1960s began releasing Cinnabar Moths, whose caterpillars eat tansy ragwort. 

    Of course, these well intentioned attempts to eradicate introduced species rarely work.  We still have rats in Hawaii, and we are now blessed with the introduced mongoose and the barn owl.  In Southwest Washington we still have tansy, but we are lucky, I suppose, to have these incredibly handsome moths, in addition.  I really like barn owls and what would Hawaii be with out the ubiquitous mongoose?  Similarly the Cinnabar Moth is pretty enough to brighten any cloudy day in the PNW.  Should we congratulate the agriculturalists for increasing our non-native diversity?  In the same way that a Barn Owl might (or might not) consume a rat, this is food for thought.

    Well, our discovery of the Cinnabar Moth was heralded by my son James who saw "small red butterflies"while mowing his back forty high on the slopes of Livingston Mountain in Clark County.  A  week ago, walking his street before dinner,  I got a look at what I was sure was a Painted Lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui.  Sandra and I have seen few butterflies up there.  Last summer we saw a total of three:  two tiger swallowtails and an anise. And so, dinner two days ago was to provide another opportunity to butterfly this potentially new source for leps (as the aficionados say.)  in Clark County.

A Painted Lady dines on lavender nectar, Livingston Mountain

    James' house sits at 1850 feet, whereas the spot we experienced the explosion of Snowberry Checkerspots is only 1000 feet.  Butterfly lore tells us that these insects  like mountaintops. 

   Additionally,  Tara (my DIL) and her neighbors have been planting some flowers. As we know, those antennae, so iconic to my butterfly models, are powerful chemoreceptors, sensitive to the three big Fs:  foliage, pheremones and food.  Well, I don't think the there has been an invasion of host plants, And as far as pheremones go, it takes two to tango.  But food is a controllable variable. As we will see,  lushly blooming cosmos (planted by Tara) and the  lavender just up the street are apparent sources of nectar and a fantastic lure for butterflies. Twice on the Big Island we were invited to gardens where Gulf Frits were nectaring in great numbers, along with a few other butterflies that we were unable to identify.  I've been looking for a garden that attracts butterflies in our area for several years and have not found one.  Yet.

An oblique view confirms the identification.  July 2023

    We arrived at 2:30 on a hot afternoon.  I got my net and binoculars and walked up the 100 feet to the neighbor's driveway.  I had not previously appreciated the blooming lavender, but it was unmistakable on this afternoon.  Immediately I got a good look at a Painted Lady.  I raced back and retrieved Sandra and the camera.  For the next ten minutes we were treated to a show, with at least one lady, along with numerous bumblebees, nectaring on the lavender.  Considering the proximity of the butterflies, my efforts were just better than mediocre.  

    After a bit the lady was joined with a Pale Swallowtail (the first of the season for us) and numerous Clodius Parnassians.  The only butterfly we see even occasionally on this street is the tiger swallowtail and he was present as well.  What an amazing show on a street most often devoid of butterflies.

A Pale Swallowtail enjoys the lavender nectar.

   Painted Lady is a very interesting species.  It is the most widespread of all butterflies, found across North America and in every other continent except Antarctica.  In Europe it is found in the summer from Iceland, and south and east, to Turkey.  In the fall, adults migrate to Africa,  pausing on the way to go through a life cycle.  Of course they have been extensively studied.  So we know they go through six life cycles on their round trip from Iceland to south of the Sahara. And we know that they are perhaps the only butterfly that continues to breed, producing successful offspring throughout the winter.  

    It has been noted that Painted Ladies alter their migration in some areas in response to a strong winter rainfall.  Could the winter rains in California have induced the appearance of Painted Ladies on Livingston Mountain?  Maybe!

A Clodius Parnassian enjoys Tara's Cosmos

    Getting back to the three Fs, Painted Ladies have a wide range of host plants: calendula, hollyhock,  mallow sunflower and thistle, among others.  This undoubtedly comes into play as they migrate through different areas.  Sandra has become fascinated with the prospect of finding butterfly eggs.  As we walked James' road, we could not help but notice the thistles that are just getting ready to bloom.  Are they also hosting painted Lady Caterpillars?  Stay tuned for the redoubtable SKG is on the job! 

    Because this butterfly is such a successful migrant, some scientists suspect that it was the species that made the journey across the Pacific to Hawaii, evolving over millions of years into the Vanessa we revere on the Big Island, Vanessa tameamea.  So to the ladies on Livingston Mountain, Sandra and I send forth aloha and a heartfelt E komo mai.

jeff

  

Central Oregon Part 3...The Case of the Cascade Caterpillar

    For those of you who have been following the blog this spring, you will recall that Sandra has taken an interest in caterpillars.  This is the second most obvious stop in the lifecycle of butterflies and moths. An entomologist's mantra might well be: egg, larva, pupa adult...ommm.  

Courtesy of ASU  Ask a biologist!

  Butterfly eggs are tiny and it takes a real scientist to describe what goes on inside.  As you will see, we are now at least familiar with such an entomologist.  A chrysalis,the pupa phase in the life of a butterfly, is mysterious.  Also, unless you are an astute observer of nature, a chrysalis may be difficult to find and,once found, would take a real aficionado to make much sense of it until the butterfly inside is ready to emerge.   

A love of Wooly Bears is hard wired in my DNA

   Caterpillars, on the other hand, are known to all of us.  From an early age most of us encountered a Woolly Bear wandering near the woods on a fall afternoon.  The mere thought sets me to seething with atavistic pleasure.  Dogs, fires and woolly bears, I'm sure they are hard wired into my DNA. 

    At the other end of the spectrum, if one found the caterpillar of the Cabbage Butterfly, known as the "cabbage worm" crawling in his salad it would almost certainly evoke a degree of hard wired horror.

    As caterpillars grow they molt and each successive organism is called an instar.  The penultimate instar goes chrysalis, the magic occurs, and the next thing you know, you have an emerging butterfly.  Until this week, that is about as far as my knowledge went.  Following our trip to Central Oregon, Sandra presented her picture of the caterpillar on the rock near Sparks Lake to a Facebook group dedicated to caterpillars.  A few weeks ago this group provided identification for the Oak Tent Caterpillar that we discovered in Klickitat Canyon.  In this current instance, a member identified the caterpillars we found wandering on the rocks as that of the Anicia Checkerspot.

Edith's Checkerspot Caterpillar wandering.

 

    If you have been paying careful attention, you will recall that the butterfly in that narrow patch of Lodgepole Pine was Edith's checkerspot.   And it was this identification of a related caterpillar that caused me to pose the question: If you find and identify a caterpillar, can you claim the butterfly?

   You might ask, "Who was this mysterious guesser who almost got it right?'  He was, no less than David James, author of Life Histories of Cascadia Butterflies.  Simultaneously Sandra ordered his book from Amazon and I forwarded his identification to our guide on the Trail of Butterflies , Caitlin LaBar, along with the above question...Can I add a new butterfly to my list?

   And here is what she wrote back: 

Yes I know David James...DJ tried to get me to do a PhD under him but I’d had enough of college after my MS...He’s super knowledgeable about rearing larvae and in assorted subjects like Monarchs, Leona’s, and promoting pollinator/bio pest control (limited or no pesticides) in vineyards and orchards, but doesn’t always get some other things right (hey, it’s why we’re one big networking community!). Anicia does not occur along the Cascades in Oregon (it’s over in the Ochocos and Blues), only Snowberry and Edith’s. All three have almost identical and equally variable larvae, so David probably didn’t pay attention to the location... Life Histories of Cascadia Butterflies was the culmination of 20-30 years of work, the first of its kind.  (Sandra provided DJ with the precise location so I guess he just didn't pay attention.)

     So, our new best friend has revealed a bit more about herself and, at the same time, may have made question number 2 moot, 

   David James, PhD still thinks he has it right. Do us mortals love it when the gods wrestle , or does it scare  us a little bit?

   Once we received James and Nunnalee's book, a new world of lepidoptery opened up. The first chapter is a must read for those interested in the life cycle of butterflies and provides a detailed account of butterfly eggs and caterpillar development and behavior.  The lepidopteran duo provide answers to a couple questions that were lingering, related to observations of monarch caterpillars.  With the exception of one blessed afternoon in Jim Monk's backyard, where we saw the caterpillars of the Gulf Fritillary Butterfly devouring his lilikoi vines, the Monarch is are the only species with which we have extensive caterpillar experience.  Before I let you go I want to relate one amusing anecdote and a related bit about checkerspot caterpillars.

  Monarchs, Gulf Frits and checkerspots are all brushfoots, caterpillars in the family Numphalidae.  These butterflies have evolved, modifying their front pair of legs in such a way that they are not used for locomotion, but rather more as sensory organs.  In this instance, Drs..James and Nunnalee tell us that in most species of  butterfly, the larva stay at home and build their chrysalis in association with the host plant.  Brushfoot and swallowtail caterpillars, on the other hand,  arbitrarily divide into two groups, those that stay at home and build their chrysalis on or adjacent to the host plant and those that become wanderers.

All you ever wanted to know about Edith's Checkerspot, James and Hunnalee

    This explains why those three Edith's Checkerspot caterpillars were traveling over a rock instead of munching on the leaf of an Indian Paintbrush, their favorite host plant.  These three had molted into their final instar and were wandering, off on a journey to select a distant site to go chrysalis.

    Back in Kailua Kona, Sandra and I have become regular visitors to the Crown Milkweed behind the library.  Without getting technical, we have seen monarch caterpillars in different instar stages.  And it is the only place we have seen a chrysalis in the wild.  I feel a little funny saying it that way, because there is little "wild" about a small, top-shaped, gray cocoon hanging from a branch. 

A Stay at home monarch goes chrysalis on a crown milkweed branch

   There is a legend within the library staff that a few years ago, a monarch caterpillar made his cocoon on the eaves of the library and the staff were able to watch out the window as it matured and the butterfly emerged.

   Well, last winter (it doesn't seem like winter in Hawaii, what with palm trees swaying and caterpillars crawling around) we went down to the library on a Sunday afternoon.  While I was looking for a chrysalis, Sandra found a caterpillar on the nearby chain link fence.  She said to herself, "Silly caterpillar, don't you know that the good stuff to eat is over there?"  So saying that, she plucked the caterpillar from the fence.  It wriggled furiously and screamed, "You idiot!  Put me down!  Don't you know I'm poisonous?"   And then she walked a few steps and placed the caterpillar on a milkweed leaf.  The poor caterpillar looked skyward with a shrug and said, "Damn!  Now I have to start my journey all over again."

   And that is the truth about wandering caterpillars.

jeff

The hapless monarch on his doomed sojourn.  Photo SKG

Central Oregon 2023 Part 2, Sandhill Cranes and Butterflies at Sparks Lake

          Sunriver is a beehive of a resort community about 15 miles south of Bend, Oregon.   While Bend has become ever more fashionable, Sunriver has become overbuilt and busy.  About thirty years ago the State of Oregon created a highway connecting Sunriver with Mt. Bachelor, paring the drive to one of the west's premier ski resorts from 45 minutes to 20.   We took advantage of this delightful new highway, which in June was lightly traveled, and found ourselves at Sparks Lake, ten miles south of Bachelor, in about thirty scenic minutes.

SandhillCranes.  Sparks Lake, June 2023

     And scenic is the official word.  the road out of Bend is Century Drive, but starting three years ago it is now known as the Cascade Lakes National Scenic Byway. 

    Because the drive was so easy, Sandra and I arrived early at our destination, the overflow parking area for the Mirror lake Trailhead.  We were itching to see Edith's Checkerspot, but it was just after 9 AM, too early for butterflies. So we sat in the car admiring the huge meadow sprinkled with buttercups.  Once afoot, though, we spied two large birds a couple hundred yards in the distance.   A quick look through the binoculars revealed these to be Sandhill Cranes.  We walked about 75 yards into the meadow for a better look, still leaving a respectful distance between us and the cranes.  We were rewarded not just with some improved photography, but a glimpse at a chicken-sized chick that was being fed by the foraging adults. 

Look carefully to see the chick at the feet of her parents.

     These big birds, in contrast to Whooping Cranes, are not especially rare.  Long ago, in the Strawberry Mountains north of Burns, I was lucky to see a pair with a chick. That was at least thirty years ago.  For someone who doesn't get out much, these cranes were a very lucky find.  The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife put only a few breeding pairs in the Cascades, while the Malheur National wildlife Refuge, 30 miles south of Burns, represents a sure thing if you want to see breeding Sandhill Cranes.

    The pictures you see were taken at about 150 yards.

    We then turned our attention to the meadow and trooped back and forth, upsetting a couple Killdeer,  finding nothing in the way of butterflies. We then went up to the Sparks Lake Campground and over to the Mirror Lake trailhead parking lot.  Having wasted 45 minutes, we gave the meadow another go.  I walked the meadow in the manner of an under paid hunting dog for forty minutes.  I upset some more killdeer, flushed a spotted sandpiper and found one butterfly, a handsome greenish blue that was too elusive for the net.  

Killdeer with chick,  Sparks Lake June 2023

   At about 11 AM I made it back to the car and decided to take one more look at Caitlin LaBar's instructions regarding this rare checkerspot.  She had written, " Walk between the parking area and the creek...mostly in the scattered trees and gravelly soil close to the highway.  That's where most of the butterflies are.  I didn't see much out n the meadow other than Greenish Blues."  Well poop on a stick.  I'd spent two hours patrolling the area adjacent to the butterfly habitat.

   Sandra and I geared up and took off into the gravelly woods.  Compared to the meadow it didn't look like butterfly habitat.    For the first fifteen minutes all we found was a nest of Killdeer.  This brood had hatched and there were several little killdeer scuttling about in the gravel and among some scrubby dead branches.  I took seven pictures in all.  Later, I would assume that I had placed a chick in the center of each shot, but I was able to find a chick in only two of the seven pictures.  Like the octopus, killdeer chicks are cryptically colored to defeat my camera.  With luck you see the chick in the picture provided here. Of the seven photos, this is the one in which the chick is most apparent.

The Caterpillar of Edith's Checkerspot,  photo SKG

 

    Shortly after the killdeer clutch we found several caterpillars in the gravel. You see the best picture of these caterpillars here.  As a silly aside, its a lot easier to take pictures of caterpillars than the butterflies they eventually become!  And here-is a philosophical question, "If you find the caterpillar, can you add the butterfly to the list?"   The whole situation is rather Kafka-esque, don't you think?

  As I understand it, caterpillars are supposed to eat leaves and then weave a chrysalis.  Compared to a lush leaf, these rocks constituted thin soup, to say the least.  But there were three doing the same thing, so I presume it wasn't an accident. 

   We made it all the way to the creek, perhaps a quarter mile and turned back.  Suddenly I had a small butterfly sitting in the gravel.  He held still for the picture you see here.  I had no idea what it was, but I was confident it wasn't Edith's Checkerspot.  In short order we found a second similar butterfly and Sandra netted the sucker.  Wham!  We escaped the skunk!

Western Pine Elfin in the gravel, sparks Lake 2023

   About ten minutes later we were back at the car park.  Just before I turned to open the car door, flopping around in the dust, was a checkerspot butterfly.  My net descended and he was ours.  At this late date the idea that I would attempt a photograph in lieu of netting was out of the question.  

   And so, back at Sunriver, the work began. The butterflies were cooled and the boys served as excellent butterfly models, allowing me to move their hand just so after Sandra placed a butterfly in their palm,  Everyone was happy with the possible exception of the butterflies.

   I did the photo shopping and sent the results off the to Great Oz.  Caitlin sent back the verdict in a mere few hours. The checkerspot was Edith's, as we were fairly certain.  The other butterfly was the Western Pine Elfin  I remain a bit overwhelmed by the task of identifying these small butterflies, yet I suppose I should be ashamed at relying on someone else to identify them for me.  At least we have unimpeachable ID.

A cooled Edith's Checkerspot in Reid's palm.

   The Western Pine elfin is fairly widely distributed in Oregon.  It is one of two butterflies that employ pine needles as their host plant, utilizing both Lodgepole and Ponderosa Pine.  Thinking about the wide distribution of Lodgepole Pine, it makes me wonder;  have we not been looking with enough care in habitats west of the Cascades where lodgepoles are the prevailing tree?  

    The following morning we took the butterflies to a sunny spot in front of the Sunriver rental.  We started with the checkerspot and then the pine elfin.  We waited for the pine elfin to open, but instead he took off.  I stood, camera at the ready,  and chased him across the yard.  As I watched, a small butterfly landed in an ornamental pine and I assumed it to be the pine elfin.  But obviously it wasn't!

    For a few seconds I was befuddled. "What the hell is going on here?"  I asked myself.  "Are we back to one new species of butterfly?"

The Edith's Checkerspot on the lam.

    As it turned out, as I began my pursuit, the checkerspot took flight, flew past me and into the bush.  The pine elfin ascended into the lodgepoles where perhaps it found a mate.   A rare instance where we moved a butterfly from its preferred habitat to another acceptable habitat.

    The story isn't quite over, but you will have to remain in suspense until the next installment: Central Oregon Part Three...the Revenge of the Caterpillar!

jeff