Its a tough drive to Trout Lake from Vancouver, the better part of two hours, including a winding drive over a small mountain named Cape Horn. However, if you want to see butterflies, you ain't gonna see them at Vancouver Mall. And so, Sandra and I picked the best day, with a predicted high in the low 80s, to make our pilgrimage to our mentor's favorite early summer spot.
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| That famous lepidopterist, Huckleberry Hound. |
Peterson Prairie is 15 miles southwest of the tiny metropolis of Trout Lake and the if you weren't interested in butterflies, you would drive by it on the way to the huckleberry fields. I don't think I would recognize a huckleberry if I met it my bowl of corn flakes. Probably the closest I ever came to huckleberries was on Saturday mornings, ever so long ago, when my brother and I would watch Huckleberry Hound. And what, you ask, does this possibly have to do with butterflies?
Caitlin had warned us that it was going to be a little early for the two signature fritillaries for Peterson Prairie, Zerene and Mormon. In fact, at 3,000 feet, it was a little early for all sorts for things. But not for Ochre Ringlets, that small ubiquitous butterfly that a month ago we found at the Steigerwald Refuge in Washougal. When a butterfly makes it all the way into Washougal, you know it's a butterfly that is willing to adapt to ordinary, west of the Cascades habitat.
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| Ana's Blue and Zerene Fritillary in the lab. |
Starting a little after 10 AM we played through the ochre ringlets and annoying little grasshoppers and started seeing some good butterflies. My first was a California Tortoiseshell. He was a beauty and sat in the weeds by my feet for 15 seconds. You will recall that we saw many California torts a couple weeks ago at Alpine on Mt. Hood and the prediction is that this is going to be a very good year for that handsome species.
Flying early were numerous small blues. This was the first species we netted. It was impossible to tell through the bag what we were looking at. Cait had told us that Anna's, a fussy species seldom seen, might be at Peterson Prairie. These small blues continued to fly for the two hours we worked the meadows, and I got some pictures, but none were good enough for us to make an identification.
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| I'm thinking another 30 seconds in the freezer. |
When we got our specimen home we took multiple pictures. I sent one to Caitlin in my 2 AM email. (It's amazing the amount of work an old guy with a cell phone can accomplish in the wee hours. Anyway, this morning I was greeted with her reply. She identified this small blue as an Anna's, calling our attention to the trace of yellow in the last spot at the base of the hind wing. I can just make it out. Can you?
That is why she is Caitlin LaBar and you're not!
A word about my photograph. We try not to take too many butterflies. Unlike some lepidopterists, we do not collect our butterflies. Rather we just take pictures and then release them. Unfortunately, if you have moved a butterfly 50 miles or more, it is unlikely to wing its way back home in time to hook up with a partner and make fertile eggs, which is the bottom line imperative of most animals.
Equally unfortunate from the standpoint of the individual butterfly, to gain a full measure of cooperation, we refrigerate them to slow their metabolism, rendering them more tractable and photographable for a period of time as they warm. The effect of refrigeration on a butterfly is far from uniform. Some come out with wings up, and in a couple of minutes unfold their wings, and we take them outside for one more set of photos and then off they fly, into the wild blue yonder, if you will.
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| A Zerene Fritillary in the palm of your hand. |
Sadly, some butterflies are a tad recalcitrant. A few hours of refrigeration has relatively little effect on these reprobates and they are still active, without a period of stillness. In this case, we put them in the freezer for a very short period of time. We start at fifteen seconds and work our way up until the desired state of cooperation is achieved. In the case of the zerene, he failed to respond to simple refrigeration and ended up getting thirty seconds of freezing. I hate to say it, but I think of Colonel Klink putting poor little LeBeau in the cooler. Now think of a Nazi somewhat more malevolent than Werner Klemperer. Now think of me, minus the swastikas. Ouch!
Well, as you can see, we ended up with a pretty good set of pictures and Mr. Zerene survived to fly away. But it was a close run thing. While we were waiting for the Zerene to come around, we brought out the blue. He wasn't completely cooperative, but was spared the freezer. We put him on the same platform with the Zerene, and he proceeded to walk back and forth from one end of the wood to the other, a bit like a mechanical toy.... a very small toy and one in which the battery, instead of running down, progressively gained in strength. Occasionally he would bump into the Zerene, causing him to twitch, but not fly away.
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| Zerene Fritillary, Trout Lake, Wa. July 2025 |
Putting myself in the place of Mr.Zerene, I picture myself in an airport lounge. I've just flown on a red ey for five hours and I'm trying to sleep it off. At this moment a six year old child in a blue jumper comes along and feels in my pockets for a possible lump of candy. And I twitch, Poor Mr. Zerene!
I finally got a suitable picture and soon thereafter the little blue flew up into the window. This is a bad career choice. It's almost impossible to get them down out of a window. Serves him right for bothering Mr. Zerene.
Back to the prairie, we caught the blue and a Western Meadow Frit in the first meadow, the one nearest the car park. Placing them securely in the refrigerator bag, we made our way down the highway and strolled down to the second meadow. On entering the meadow, I saw two bright yellow birds almost 100 yards away. They were perching on a stump which put them a foot or so above the grass, and swooping out for short forays over the prairie. As I got closer, I could make out their red faces. These were Western Tanagers flycatching! I hadn't observed that behavior in this classic western bird before. By the time I got my camera set to take a picture, they had departed.
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| A Western tiger Swallowtail nectars on a Columbia Tiger Lily |
As above, at about this time I caught a Zerene, which, as you can see from the pictures was a very handsome insect, indeed. Caitlin was interested in this one, as she thought it was early for it to appear in her prairie. There were darker fritillaries that neither Sandra nor I could get in the net. This was not for lack of trying and i'm lucky I didn't break my leg chasing after these guys. Cait suggests these were Hydaspe Frit, but lacking a specimen, I would hate to say for sure.
After 11:15 we were suddenly joined by a half dozen Western Tiger Swallowtails. Like the Ochre Ringlets that started the day, this is a butterfly that we see in the lowlands and have not previously seen here at Peterson Prairie. I'm leaving you with a picture of one of these beauties nectaring on a Columbia Tiger Lily. Pretty sweet.
jeff
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| Trout Lake lies in the shadow of Mount Adams |
