On the Trail of the Indra Swallowtail

To paraphrase René Magritte:  This Is Not an Orangetip.

      When we were attempting to find Sara's Orangetip at Catherine Creek, we saw a couple black butterflies.  I was hoping that these were Indra Swallowtails.  But our butterfly guru said, "No.  Those are Propetius Duskywings, which despite looking brown and russet when lying on the leafy forest floor, look entirely black in flight.    If you wanted to see Indra Swallowtail, she said, you needed to go just a little bit further east, to Klickitat Canyon. 

    In fact, the orangetip is found in Klickitat Canyon as well, and it was only a half hour further.  Obviously I was penny wise and pound foolish when it came to picking a spot up the Columbia River Gorge to look for spring butterflies.  

    By the middle of last week the Indra Swallowtail Butterfly had become the most wanted spring butterfly.  As things conspired, the ISB had a little help from my entomological incompetence.  But we didn't know that yet and so we asked Bagwhan LaBar for her best tips for finding  an Indra Swallowtail in Klickitat Canyon.  Cait's top recommendation was a strip of decommissioned highway three miles up stream from Wahkiacus.  Now you may be asking yourself, as I did, "Where in the F***icus is Wahkiacus?" 

    The answer is:  Drive an hour and a half east of Vancouver on scenic Hwy 14, sometimes known as the roller coaster of  the Pacific Northwest. Just before you get to Lyle, Wa.,  cross the Klickitat and turn left up Hwy 142.  After ten miles you will pass Fish On Rd (more about that later) and in another 5 miles you will come to a string of well used bungalows, anchored by the Canyon Market, that passes for the metropolis of Wahkiacus.  This is not a one gas station town, so you would be advised to arrive with sufficient fuel.  Our destination,  Haul Out Road, is another three miles up stream, just before the 142 crosses the Klickitat.  Again.

Wahkiacus Seep replete with Lomatium

     The state has repurposed roads and right of ways all the way up the Klickitat, making for a very long, river hugging hike, if one is so disposed.  Cait has abbreviated the hiking experience for us butterfly watchers.  Fish On Road rapidly becomes a fine dirt trail.  Haul Out Rd is a fine piece of macadam, still bearing a yellow line down the middle.  On the left are rock walls that were sheared away, yielding seeps that ought to be butterfly magnets.  On the right is the scenic Klickitat River. Half a mile in, there is a gate across the road to deter motor vehicles, and it is a truly delightful place for a riverside walk.  Especially if you like to have the highway to yourself.

    And so, starting about 9:30 on a sunny morning, Sandra and I walked up and down the road looking for butterflies.  A few steps from the gate we happened on a handsome rock wall with growths of Lomatium sprouting from ledges.  Our spiritual adviser tells us that this plant, with its long stemmed light yellow flowers and bushy leaves is the host plant for Indra Swallowtail.  I call the resulting picture Wahkiacus Seep. This may or may not be the name of a character from Great Expectations.

  We saw several Ochre Ringlets, which a week or so earlier we may have mis-identified as a female Sara's Orangetip.  (This represents a faux pas as big as New Jersey)  I showed Cait my picture, that you see above, and you could almost here her laughing as she replied something like," I never dreamed you thought that was an orangetip..."  Sandra inaugurated her new net by catching one of these deceitful hussies.  As I was taking her prize back to the car for some well deserved time in the cooler, my sweetie spotted a Pacific Tree Frog.  She was fascinated by her frog to such an extent that she could not here me exclaiming about a puddle full of swallowtails under the seep.    Fortunately for Sandra they were all Anise Swallowtails, small and lovely but not Indra.

The Anise Swallowtail enjoys the seep puddle

    We enjoyed the river, an Audubon's Warbler.  And the frog, of course.  But we didn't see a plethora of Indra Swallowtails.  We my have seen one flying through the trees, but this was far from the definitive view we longed for.

Columbia Spotted Blue, Klickitat Canyon, May 2024

    And so we drove back through Wahkiacus, and on the guru's advice, turned up Klickitat- Appleton Road.  We ascended about a thousand feet.  Cait had been told Indras hilltop up there.  She had never seen one up on top and, although  you can see Sacramento from the top of that hill, neither did we.

    And so we headed back down to the river and down stream to Fish On Road.   We had done some butterflying late last summer on this fine river-hugging trail and I recalled a single sand bar which I hoped would yield some Indras.

   On the way down the trail I saw a small butterfly that allowed me to approach closely and get the picture you see here.  Despite the picture you see here.   I was, of course, unable to correctly identify it.  Cait tells us that this is a Columbia Spotted Blue, Euphilotes columbiae.   She went on to say that this is a common butterfly in the gorge later this year, but this was the first confirmed sighting for this spring.  I think she was actually a little proud of her incompetent protege. I'll try to not let it go to my head.

A Squadron of Indra Swallowtails, May 2024

  Another two hundred yards down the trail we came to the sand bar.  At the water's edge was a young couple and a large German Shepherd.  The puppy was ankle deep in the river, which must have been a few degrees warmer than those chunks of ice that you put in your bourbon and branch at the day's end.  And around their feet on the moist sand there were butterflies.  Lots of them.  Big ones and little ones, flopping this way and that.

      I put on my friendly face as I started down the shale slope.  "I'm looking for butterflies."  I said, and you guys have found the spot."  They were gracious and bid me good luck as the trio passed me on their way back to the trail.

      We were not disappointed.  There were many Indra butterflies on the moist sand, intermingling with a few Anise.  For whatever reason, there were no tiger swallowtails.  Also present were a handful of Propetius Duskywings, our first skippers at a puddle party.  There were a smattering of  Echo Azures.  I found this very interesting.  The literature suggests that this is a butterfly of our western, moister forest. But the sighting has been confirmed by the expert, so it can go in the book without an asterisk. 

Silvery Blue, Fish On Road, May 2024

   Perhaps the most attractive guest at the party was the Silvery Blue you see to the right.  Isn't it cool how the veins luminesce in the spring sunshine?  No wonder people like butterflies!

    The Indras were amazing with their black and white pattern, perhaps looking like a squadron of intergalactic fighters out of Star Wars.

     Regrettably, Sara's Orangetip has resumed its place at the top of the Most Wanted list.  Cait says if we wait a few weeks they will appear at a higher elevation.  We'll keep you posted. 

jeff