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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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?"
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| 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
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