Butterflies from WA/OR/CA

This post will focus on some of the butterflies we saw out west on our Washington/Oregon/California trip back in the summer of 2008.

I was just barely interested in butterflies at this point so many of these are pretty terrible photos (which might not be identified correctly!).  Either way, it's fun to revisit these places via photos.

This first butterfly is a type of "anglewing", a family of butterfly that really sparked my interest earlier that year.  These fast-flying species are also known as "commas" for the silvery comma-shaped mark on the underwings.  They are usually very bright on the upperwing but extremely dull and camouflaged on the underwing.  This is a HOARY COMMA (Polygonia gracilis): 

This butterfly is a type of tailless "hairstreak"; one that frequents arid regions in the interior West.  If my memory serves me right, we were on an arid rim of Crater Lake when we spotted this male BEHR'S HAIRSTREAK (Satyrium behrii) patrolling for females:

Another hairstreak we saw was this HEDGEROW HAIRSTREAK (Satyrium saepium), apparently the most common brown hairstreak in the west:

I didn't see very many "blues" but one that I did manage to photograph was this ANNA'S BLUE (Plebejus anna):

One of the easiest butterflies to identify was this type of admiral.  "Admirals" and "Sisters" are large and attractive butterflies that often have a white stripe through their wings.  This is a LORQUIN'S ADMIRAL (Limenitis lorquini):

Another group of distinctive butterflies are the "ladies".  Here in Iowa both the Painted Lady and American Lady can be seen.  However, there is another species out west that we don't see here... this attractive WEST COAST LADY (Vanessa annabella) sat in beautiful light near Crater Lake:

Another butterfly we couldn't miss was the CALIFORNIA TORTOISESHELL (Nymphalis californica).  We hadn't seen anything like it but there were THOUSANDS of these butterflies swarming several areas.  Unfortunately you couldn't even drive down the road without hitting them!  We read in the butterfly book that "adults are prone to long-range flights, sometimes in huge numbers".   Indeed.  Here is one:

Whites are familiar butterflies to most of us (like the Cabbage White).  We didn't see a large diversity of whites on this trip and in fact, the only new white was this PINE WHITE (Neophasia menapia).  It's ironic that we didn't even see it on a pine:

A lot of people like the parnassians, slow-flying butterflies related to swallowtails.  Here is a CLODIUS PARNASSIAN (Parnassius clodius) we saw in a lush mountain roadside-meadow:

Easily the most difficult butterflies for me to identify are the fritillaries of the west.  We saw several but my identification relied solely on whether or not I was able to photograph both the upper and underwings.  For example, I tentatively identified this butterfly as a HYDASPE FRITILLARY (Speyeria hydaspe):

... and this is a ZERENE FRITILLARY (Speyeria zerene):

Maybe I overlooked most of the skippers on this trip; I don't recall seeing very many.  One of the few grass-skippers we saw and identified was this JUBA SKIPPER (Hesperia juba):

And last but not least, we saw some crescents/checkerspots on this trip.  This family consists of small butterflies with orange-and-black patterns; many of us would recognize the common Pearl Crescent.  For me, some of these can be really challenging to identify, and especially out west!  I was pretty sure at the time that this was a HOFFMAN'S CHECKERSPOT (Chlosyne hoffmanni):

Butterflies from Arizona

Ashley and I visited Arizona back in August, 2009 for birding and butterflying.  Here is a collection of photos of butterflies we stumbled on.  As always, please let me know if you think I have identified something incorrectly; I'm always eager to learn more.

Our trip started out at Catalina State Park.  This park is located north of Tucson and is one of my favorite birding destinations near the city.  It was here that I found my first EMPRESS LEILIA:

... and a CERAUNUS BLUE:

Our next stop was at Madera Canyon which sits in the Santa Rita mountains.  It was here that I saw my first QUEEN:

Another easy-to-identify species I found there was this GOLDEN BANDED-SKIPPER:

A species with a fairly limited range in the United States is this RED SATYR which we also found at Madera Canyon:

This butterfly was striking enough for me to identify as a GOLDEN-HEADED SCALLOPWING:

Our next stop was Florida Canyon (still in the Santa Ritas and near Madera Canyon).  I was able to find a couple more new bflies including this PALMER'S METALMARK:

... and this BRONZE ROADSIDE-SKIPPER:

We also found this CLOUDLESS SULPHUR flying by.  It's a good thing we did because it blended in rather well in the shade:

The next location on this trip was the infamous Sycamore Canyon over in the Pajarito Mountains (this is west of I-19 and very near the Mexico border).  I was happy to find some really neat species here despite getting stuck in an afternoon downpour.  The first was this TINY CHECKERSPOT:

I found a metalmark in the canyon that I later identified as an ARIZONA METALMARK:

Another lifer in Sycamore Canyon was this MOURNFUL DUSKYWING:

... and this very cool looking COMMON STREAKY-SKIPPER:

It wasn't a lifer at the time but I couldn't help but photographing this AMERICAN SNOUT:

Here is a PIPEVINE SWALLOWTAIL and a BORDERED PATCH also in the canyon:

I'm pretty sure this is a TAILED ORANGE:

Our next destination was Miller Canyon which sits in the Huachuca Mountains.  Unfortunately the only new bfly here was this probable ARES METALMARK (which didn't stay put long enough!):

However, our next stop in the Huachucas provided a lot of variety; Garden Canyon.

It was here that I saw this BORDERED PATCH:

... this REAKIRT'S BLUE:

... my lifer TEXAN CRESCENT:

... and one of my favorites of the trip, this DULL FIRETIP:

I didn't manage very many pictures of this guy but I think it's a TAXILES SKIPPER:

I didn't see very many rare or uncommon butterflies (just mostly the common things) but one skipper I felt pretty good about was this ARIZONA SKIPPER:

An overdue butterfly for me was this TWO-TAILED SWALLOWTAIL:

Lastly, here is a DOTTED ROADSIDE-SKIPPER:

Stay tuned for more butterfly pictures... maybe the next batch will be from the Pacific northwest.

Butterflies from south Texas

Because it's been so long since I've posted on this blog, I've decided to revisit my old photos and post from random travels.  This way I'll have something to do instead of working on my thesis!  Whoops.

For example, this post will be devoted to the butterflies I've seen in south Texas.

Because I've been interested in butterflies for so much less time than birds, almost all my butterfly photos from Texas come from only Estero Llano Grande State Park and Bentsen - Rio Grande Valley State Park which I visited in March, 2009.

One of the few butterflies I was actually able to identify right away was this dark and unique skipper known as the MAZANS SCALLOPWING:

Much less unique was this very bland EUFALA SKIPPER:

I was very eager to see some longtails in Texas and eventually I stumbled on a couple at Estero Llano Grande.  Here is a BROWN LONGTAIL:

I wasn't aware at the time that some of the longtails can actually be pretty tough to identify!  After studying my photos, I thought this was a TELEUS LONGTAIL:

Relaxing in the shade at Roma Bluffs was this CAROLINA SATYR.  This species was fairly common throughout the trip, often found in weedy and roadside areas:

One of the species I was most eager to see in Texas was the MEXICAN BLUEWING.  When you see it closed-winged and perched on the trunk of a tree, like in the below photo, it looks completely bland:

However, when it opens up, it's truly stunning:

Lacking on the "stunning" chart was this drab and somewhat bleached PHAON CRESCENT:

Another species I spotted at Estero was this DUSTED SKIPPER.  Unfortunately for me, I was already familiar with this species from western Nebraska.

That's all for now.  Stay tuned for more butterfly photos from the past.....