Mormonia and the Common Wood Nymph...a Trout Lake Odyssey

Zerene Fritillary, Peterson Prairie,  August 2022

         Recently a good friend noted, that since he didn't have an expert to verify his butterfly sightings,  it was likely that his butterfly list was larger than it might be otherwise.   Sandra and I are lucky, blessed with an expert, Caitlin LaBar, who seems happy to look at our pictures and correct our mis-identifications.   This occasionally results in a change in identification and a species remaining unseen and unclaimed.  On the other hand, Cait is always ready to give us an idea about where to look for something special,  so it more than balances out.

      In the past, I was always a bit peeved when someone asked me to identify a bird they had seen.  Bird field guides have been readily available for me my entire life and should enable anyone with half a brain to identify most of their own birds.  Butterflies are clearly different.  Even renowned lepidopterists who visit Western Washington to see new butterflies submit some of their pictures to a local expert (like Cait or her senior author , Robert Pyle).

    I didn't always see things this way and two years ago I was still attempting to make my own butterfly identifications and add these species to our list.  Last week I got to looking at my pictures from two years ago, when we visited Cait's secret spot 15 miles west of Trout Lake, Wa. On that day she had provided us with copious instructions that would lead, she said, to two difficult fritillaries.  zerene and mormonia,  We took lots of pictures in the field and caught one frit and brought it home for better pictures, something we now do routinely.  But we didn't send our expert the picture.  Instead we sent her field notes, as if we were dealing with birds. 

Zerene Fritillary dorsal, August 2022

      I labeled the photo  Mormon Frit perhaps because I really wanted it to be so.   After all, like Dorothy arriving at Oz, we felt entitled.  "We've come such a long way.  He'll have to see us!"  

    There were two dorsal pictures in the file, as well.  Medium sized orange butterflies with ornate black markings and a heavy black diaper band along the edge. I'm including these two photos at the start of this blog. 

  A few days ago,  I looked at the picture, looked at the book, and decided I had made a mistake.  Luckily, in a recent correspondence Cait had told us that because of early rains, the mormonia was present at the prairie and zerene had yet to emerge.  Poor  Sandra was loaded into the car and off we went, willy nilly up the Columbia.  We made the turn up the White Salmon and twenty miles later we were looking at Mount Adams through a haze of smoke.  This was enough to make one wonder just where the forest fire was and shouldn't we have been aware of this before we set out?   

Common wood Nymph, Peterson Prairie, July 2024

    Soon we were through the tiny village of Trout Lake and heading west out of town, on the home stretch for Peterson Prairie.  

    We arrived at the intersection that borders Peterson Prairie  just before 11 AM.  This is an interesting crossroads.  To the right, one is directed to Custus Indian Campground and the Huckleberry Fields.  Straight ahead is the Big Lava Flow and Mill A.  And tucked in the woods , twenty yards off the road, is a small shelter made from rough hewn logs with a floor of flagstones.  Inside you find a map of the area and a commemoration: the Peterson Prairie Information Hut was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1939 using the materials of that era.  If it bears a miniature resemblance to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood, this is not a coincidence.  It was created by the same people two years after completion of that iconic structure.   Why the CCC chose to locate this rustic gem in such an out of the way location is a mystery.

Mormon Fritillary, Peterson Prairie, July 2024

     As it turns out, Peterson Prairie is roughly the same elevation as the spot where we found the Hydaspe Fritillary only a week or so earlier, 2000 feet.  If you drove from the headwaters of the Washougal to Peterson Prairie it might take two and a half hours.  Its a long ways down, across and back up again.  But these sites are both in Skamania County and may be less than thirty miles apart.  However, if you drew a straight line between the two  and found a determined sasquatch, it might take him two full days to make that hike! Its rough country. 

     As we exited the BOT-mobile, the sky was blue and the forest air an invigorating 68 degrees.  Its a short walk through the moist woods to the meadow.  Out on the prairie we first saw several dark butterflies, the color of French Roast coffee.  We knew these butterflies from two years earlier... the oddly named Common Wood Nymph.  I mean, wouldn't you expect a wood nymph to live in the woods?  The fact is, they live near the woods but they are highly tied to grasses, where their green caterpillars make green chrysalises.  They should be called meadow nymphs.   There were plenty of  these Prairie Flappers and Sandra netted one in short order.  We transferred the dear to a bag which we left in the lone scrubby shrub out in the meadow.  He could contemplate his situation while we hunted frits.  

Mormon Fritillary, Peterson Prairie July 2024

    Obviously, the picture we are showing you was not taken on the prairie, but rather outside the front door of our condo in Vancouver.  Regardless of location, it is an excellent demonstration of the spots that determine the identification of the species. Its difficult to coax the butterfly to drop the hind wing so you get a good look at both spots.  Suffice it to say, the spots are the same size and this is a Common Wood Nymph.  True to its name, it is the species that we see commonly in our area.   On the other hand, although in previous years we have seen single individuals on the Deschutes and the Metolius, this is the first one we have seen this year. Perhaps it should be called the Uncommon Wood Nymph,   Peterson Prairie in mid-summer being the one exception.   

   Over the next 45 minutes Sandra and I chased little orange butterflies across the meadow.  These were fast moving butterflies and adept at avoiding capture when settled in the short grass.  They were impossible to photograph in the wild. Sandra is more of a stalker (gotta get her one of those Sherlock Holmes Butterfly-stalker hats), but she came up empty time and again.  Eventually I caught one on the wing and my sweetie deftly transferred him to a bag.  

Mount Adams as seen from Trout Lake, Wa.

    Talk about hit and run.  We enjoyed a small lunch in the car and then headed back out.  We stopped on the outskirts of Trout Lake for a classic Mount Adams picture.  The smoke had diminished so it's a pretty nice shot.  Curiously, there are no lodgings on this side of TL from which one might arise in the morning, pour himself a cup of coffee and gaze out upon this incredible alpine scene.  

   The pictures taken back at the ranch met with Caitlin's approval and the Mormon Fritillary is safely and verifiably on our list.  As for the sasquatch, he may be safe, too.  Its rough country.

jeff

     

The author trains his sasquatch for the cross country trek.