Tumalo Falls and the Califoria Tortoiseshell

   Last week our family spent four days at Black Butte Ranch.  In addition to Sandra and myself, this included our two grandsons and their parents. And by no means can I exclude Ridley, their eleven month old Irish-Golden Puppy.  We saw lots of butterflies and I have lots of material that should keep you amused for a week or two.  

Two Lepidopterists at Tumalo Falls

    In this first installment, however, I'm going to talk about the end of that vacation and our one day in Bend.  Following a hectic cleaning, loading, replete with hugs, we set sail in the Bot-mobile for Tumalo Falls.  

    Its a scenic hours drive from Sisters to the falls, less than that if you are coming from Bend.  As waterfalls go, its a good one and being positioned close to the tourist mecca that Bend has become, it is an exceedingly popular attraction.  Twenty uphill minutes from Bend, one enters the National Forest, crosses a one lane bridge, and then drives about five miles on a dusty gravel road to arrive at the falls.  We did so on a Sunday in late June, arriving around 10 AM.  

   I had thought that this might be early enough to avoid the crowd, but there were cars parked on the road for at least half a mile before the final ascent to the small falls parking area.  Luckily, as we arrived, someone pulled out and we were able to park right by the falls.  In three previous visits we had not been so lucky. 

California tortoiseshell, Tumalo Falls  June 2024

    Immediately we saw medium sized butterflies fluttering about.  One was silly enough to flutter against a sign and fell easy prey to my net.  After stuffing him in the Kimmy bag (named for the delightful Mrs. Hillis, who gave us our first insulated bag when she moved to St George, Utah, taking her husband with her) Sandra and I took the short walk to the falls lookout.  We took turns with our fellow tourists taking pictures of the falls and one another.  In addition to making new friends, it provides you with a glimpse at two aging lepidopterists in the field.

    We walked up the path towards the falls, along with many tourists, some on bikes and the rest shepherding a dog or two.  While many of the latter cleaned up after their pooch, enough did not that there were regular doggy deposits.  As my first lep mentor, Daniel Rubinoff, noted, butterflies like stinky stuff. And indeed, these deposits created foci for butterfly activity.  At one, I got what I was sure would be a good photo of the California Tortoiseshell taken point blank range and netted a second.

Catatonic Tortoiseshells   A Memorial Day Centerpiece

    Soon it was time to head back down and we parked at our favorite spot on Tumalo Creek, about a mile from the bridge.  This had proved to be a hot spot for butterflies in the past. On this day we worked the forest and the banks of the small river for about an hour.  We added an Anise Swallowtail to the list, which was thin gruel, indeed. 

    And so by 1:30 we were checked into our hotel.  Desiring cooperative subjects, I placed the butterflies between two iced beverage bottles and we retired for a short nap.  An hour later we rallied and set up our stage for butterfly photography.  Sandra retrieved the first of our subjects and placed her on a stick we had brought along from Black Butte. She placed the first butterfly on the platform and it fell over like a poorly balanced poker chip.  The second had a spark of life and listed at about 60 degrees.  

   At this point it seemed like we running a butterfly morgue, but over fifteen minutes they both righted themselves and we were able to get lateral pictures, proving them to be female California

A ventriloquist act with butterflies?  We've already got the stick.

Tortoiseshells.  

   Before the day completely got away from us we took a quick drive out to the Inn at 7th Mountain.  My thought was that if butterflies were coming to the flowering shrubs around the lodge at black Butte this might be the same on the slopes of Mt Bachelor.  On arrival we saw an Indra Swallowtail on the wing and a Western Tiger Swallowtail nectaring on a rhododendron.  I thought we were in business.  Sadly this was not the case.  I located the pool, with many plantings attracting a plethora of bees, (hence verifying the presence of nectar) but no butterflies.  

    Back at the Holiday Inn  the tortoiseshells were as we had left them and I thought that if they didn't revive I might take them home and spray them with something to create a permanent display.  During 60 Minutes they came to and started fluttering against the window, earning them a reprieve.  

    But now all I have is a stick with no butterflies.

jeff

     

Sexual Dimorphism and the Sagebrush Checkerspot

Andy Kaufman and Danny DeVito..Those were the days!

Bob Hillis, one of the best friends of the blog, has surpassed me as a lepidopterist.  Not that this is any Herculean accomplishment.  And it's no shame, either;  Bob is one heck of an animal finder and has a flair for identification.  Having said all that, Bob is playing the game at a distinct disadvantage.  His only field guide, as he lepidopterizes, are the mountains of Southern Utah is Kaufman.  

   We're not talking about Andy Kaufman, who portrayed the lovable Taxi mechanic Latka Gravis.  Thank you very much.  Andy died very young of lung cancer and, although there is no evidence that he knew a butterfly from a fly in the ointment, it's possible that up in St. Peter's arboretum he is waltzing around with a butterfly net, in pursuit of a tiger swallowtail.  Or perhaps those guys in the short white coats are chasing Andy through the arboretum with a somewhat larger butterfly net and a straight jacket.  Who knows?

The Checkerspot page from Kaufman, held down by RTP.

   At any rate, Bob Hillis is being assisted, solely, to the best of my knowledge, by Kenn Kaufman and his tome, Field Guide to Butterflies of North America.  Kenn, like many of us, began as a bird watcher and bird artist and segued to butterflies.  He is three years younger than yours truly and chooses to live in Ohio.  Make of that what you will.  At any rate, along with Jim Brock, who is a life long lepidopterist, Kenn has produced the bible of butterfly watching for our continent.  To the best of my knowledge, no one else has attempted to capture pictures and maps of all the butterflies of North America in a single volume.

    In a way, Kaufman's field guide is similar to Arthur Singer's North American Birds. where all the birds in (you guessed it!) North America are presented with distribution maps.  Kaufman does a pretty good job of getting all the butterflies into his book.  After all, there all only 750 species of butterflies to be found in North America.  But unlike birds, butterflies have extremely complex patterns and are remarkably different over even a small geographic range.  

    These regional differences are such that experts like our friend Caitlin LaBar are unwilling to pass judgement on some of the butterflies Bob Hillis finds in Southern Utah.   Cait annually terrorizes the butterflies in the Rocky Mountains, south of Helena, Montana, roughly 800 miles due north of St George, Utah.  So one might expect her to be an expert on Utah butterflies, as well.  But when it came to separating the Utah crescents, she flat out refused.  "Find a local expert."  she said.

    Let us compare this to bird identification.. If my nephew sent me a picture of a towhee (or virtually any other bird)  that he saw in the East Bay, I should be able to identify that bird with total confidence.  I might resort to a field guide, but with location, time of year and a good picture, I should have little problem.

    Last week Sandra and I went to the Deschutes River just south of the Dalles to look for late spring butterflies.  It was a very windy day and we didn't do very well.  But in a car park near the river we captured two small butterflies that looked remarkably different.   A bit later we returned to our favorite boat launch and witnessed the single species puddle party you see above.  If you turn up the sound, you can hear the Deschutes. 

   Now, if I wanted to be especially catty, I would ask you to identify those cute little flappers from the page in North American Butterflies.   They are Sagebrush Checkerspots, which are about 300 miles out of range according to Kaufman's distribution map.

Sagebrush checkerspot female, Deschutes River, May 2024

  

 Next I'm presenting you with a couple of my pictures.  The first was taken at the puddle party on the banks of the Deschutes, which at this point in its journey is a fast moving rapids strewn river descending through a desert canyon.  That alfresco shot provides a very good look (if I say so myself) at a male Sagebrush Checkerspot.  If one was using Kaufman, he would have a pretty good chance of making the identification, if he was willing to overlook the distribution map.    If one is using Pyle and LaBar (Cait's book) it should be an easy identification, assuming you have the patience to match up the numerous orange and yellow patches to the picture in the book.  

    The second picture, taken back at the ranch in highly controlled circumstances, is the female Sagebrush Checkerspot.  If one was using Kaufman they would have no chance.  His book portrays a Northern Checkerspot that looks a little like this butterfly.    Cait's book has a photo much like this one that matches perfectly if you have the patience for a careful examination. 

Sagebrush Checkerspot male, ventral

    The last two pictures are ventral shots of the Sagebrush Checkerspot, male on top, female below.  They are very similar but not identical.  As you may have surmised, I really wanted the female sagebrush to be a northern, which is less common in that area but was recorded last year.  I was over ruled, and more careful examination confirmed my consultant's identification.  

    If I had Kaufman's book as my only resource, I surely would have got it wrong. 

    So wherever you are, if you want to identify the difficult butterflies, the best answer is find someone who is an expert and willing to help. And if you are lucky enough to receive their help you can parrot Latka Gravas and say, "Thank you very much."

jeff

Sagebrush Checkerspot female