Hermes Coppers!

Hermes copper butterfly at Sycuan Peak

Yay! Hermes coppers! On our 3^rd trip to Jamul (Rowshan’s 4^th) the Hermes coppers were finally out. At first, it seemed it wasn’t a good butterfly day. On the coast, it was gray and cloudy. Once inland it cleared up. As we gained a little altitude we rose above the haze into a clear shining day. However, once on the trail, we weren’t immediately greeted with butterflies like last time. A buckeye perched on the trail in front of us. “Ugh! A buckeye,” Rowshan said, disgusted. “I don’t like them. They chase the other butterflies away.” Finally, a few blues appeared and I found a brown elfin on some CA buckwheat. Aside from that, the trail seemed filled with mostly flies which circled our heads, insolently buzz bombing me even though I’d sprayed DEET on my neck and shoulders. Rowshan called to me, “I see something.”

There was a small flash of yellow which we hadn’t seen before; too small for a sulphur, wrong color for a blue, hairstreak, or brown elfin. As it landed on a branch, we rushed to get a closer look. “I think this is it!” I pulled out my butterfly book to check, “The bright yellow undersides of the hindwings are diagnostic.” The top wings matched the photo. However, the bottom wings had larger spots including a red one. Perhaps there was another butterfly that was almost the same. As we continued up the trail, we saw several more. A couple matched the photo in my book exactly. Later, local insect and Hermes copper expert, Michael Kline, told me the extra spots were from researchers.

Hermes copper with researcher's marks.

The Hermes copper is a gracious butterfly and sits still on branches long enough to get some nice photos, sometimes, slowly opening its wings to reveal the upper part. Then, they flit off, circle the area and return to the same plant or one nearby. Otherwise, they disappear off into the brush off the path. 

Here are some other Hermes copper tidbits: they like CA buckwheat nectar, the spiny redberry is their food plant. They only fly if it is warmer than 70 degrees but cooler than 95. Through Michael Kline, I also later learned that it had been a bad year for Hermes coppers. Though on that day in Sycuan we saw quite a few, in other places where the butterfly had formerly been seen there weren't any. I hope things get better for this beautiful butterfly.

Sites to Help ID caterpillars

Even though I love my butterfly identification books, they don’t have any info about moths and caterpillars. Fortunately, the Web does:

http://bugguide.net This has lots of pictures of all sorts of bugs. You have to browse through the photos (organized by family) and compare the images to your critter. However, the site also has a feature where you can upload a photo and other people can id it. The focus is on the US and Canada. If you think you know what your insect is, you can search for the name and compare your bug to the photos.

http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q Has both butterfly and caterpillar ID guides where you select features and it returns some species. Their database is small in these areas (caterpillars- 173 total, butterflies- 795) but considering the site is trying to ID all other living things in the world (including 122 types of slime mold), it is a good start.

http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org Lots of photos. You can also send photos in for identification.

A Caterpillar?

Caterpillar or grub? Friend or foe?

I found a caterpillar where I didn’t expect it: on my oregano plant. My oregano plant was the one plant that survived last year’s ill fated herb garden. The mint is alive as well but  stunted and miserable. I think it needs shade but since it is with the oregano, which is doing great where it is, the mint will have to suffer. The oregano plant started to worry me because it seemed that the tips of the plant were getting dried up. Now I think it is the caterpillars fault. I found the caterpillar while I was harvesting some oregano. However, I’m a bit puzzled by it. I guessed it might be some kind of moth or garden pest. However, oregano is supposed to repel some of those. It was kind of a non-descript greenish-white inch worm looking thing with a round yellow head. My online search didn’t reveal much. The closest image match seems to be the light brown apple moth which is a notorious pest that has caused a quarantine in places. However, this caterpillar is supposed to have a green stripe which I didn’t notice on the caterpillar on my oregano plant. Also, I didn’t see the drastic leaf damage or webs on the leaves. The caterpillar also resembled some skipper caterpillars. I hope this is the case. However, skipper food plants are supposed to be mostly grasses. I guess I’ll keep an eye out for later instar changes. I guess it could also be some kind of beetle grub.

Columbine Brutally Attacked

A couple weeks ago we came home and found the columbine was gone. Since the lawn was mowed and the plants were trimmed we suspected the gardener. We dug through the bag of yard waste in the trash and recovered the severely damaged columbine. I called up the gardener and he said his new assistant must have done it. I told him to make sure he and his assistants don’t touch any of the plants in the containers.

I still don’t get it. Of all the plants, why pull out one that was obviously planted in a container and even had a little nursery name tag next to it! It was in the same container with the milkweed and you’d think if a gardener was going to mistake one of the two for a weed, it would have been the milkweed.

Rowshan replanted the remains but it is not doing well. Most of the leaves have dried up and there is just one little bit that is green.

The Monarch Program

Monarch

 Unlike the zoo, the Monarch Program in Encinitas, has a permanent butterfly enclosure. They call this the Butterfly Vivarium. They are a research and educational organization that studies monarch migration and butterfly relations with host plants. It is in a residential area and the museum part of the facility is a converted house.

Monarch caterpillar

I walked inside the house/museum but no one was there. So we walked into the Vivarium. A woman came out of the greenhouse and invited us to start our tour in the museum. On the way we were joined by  a mother and her two children. Inside another mother and two children joined us. First we looked at a display of pinned butterfly specimens. I’ve gotten so used to seeing live butterflies that I couldn’t help but notice how strange the specimens look with their wings spread open so they are transformed from 3 dimensions into two. Our guide informed us the world’s smallest butterfly was a CA native, the pygmy blue. We looked at monarch caterpillars and chrysalises. Some of the caterpillars were in the process of transforming themselves, hanging upside down.

Red Admiral

West Coast Lady

We watched a short video of the butterfly lifecycle and then went into the vivarium. The vivarium was a simple wood frame building with high ceilings and walls and roof of screening and clear plastic tarp. There was a little pool in the middle and flowers both in the ground and in pots. It was a much more restful environment than the zoo and there were even some benches and butterfly books for people who just wanted to sit and relax. The butterflies were all locals: mourning cloaks, red admirals, sulphurs, West Coast ladies, anise swallowtails, and cabbage whites. But the real treat for us was a California dogface. The California dogface is the state butterfly. It is notoriously difficult to photograph with its wings open revealing the rose upper wings with their dogface design. With its wings closed, it just resembles a sulphur with pointed upper wings. Our guide explained that the dogface butterflies are colonial so they won’t just drift into your garden if you plant their cassia food plant. They gathered them in the wild and bred them in the facility.

California Dogface

The Monarch Program is located at 450 Ocean View Ave. in Encinitas, CA. Their hours are Saturdays: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM, or by appointment (including the winter months). In the summer, they are open Thursdays and Fridays as well. The admission is a $7 donation to the program ($6 teens and seniors, $5 children 3-12). They also sell butterfly plants and seeds. www.monarchprogram.org

Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve: Butterfly Crossing

Sarah Orange Tip

Common Ringlet

We first went to Penesquitos last week. It was around 5PM but there were still western tiger swallowtails, Sarah orange tips, mourning cloaks, whites and blues about. Last Sunday, Rowshan went by himself earlier in the day and reported a butterfly tree. He took a photo of a butterfly I we hadn't noticed before, the common ringlet (Coenonympha tullia). He’d even seen a butterfly lay an egg. He took me there today. 

Lorquin's Admiral

California Sister

Umber Skipper

The butterfly tree was off a path leading to a grave. Almost instantly we caught sight of a Lorquin’s admiral (Limenitis lorquini) and a California sister (Adelpha bredowii). One perched in a tree and the other on a shrub next to it. But soon one chased the other away. At first glance California sisters and Lorquin's admirals look the same. In fact, it wasn't until I looked at the photos that I realized they were different. The orange spot on the California sister's wings is separated from the edge of the wing by a border. On the Lorquin's admiral's wings it stretches to the edge of the wing. The underside of the wings also looks different. A mourning cloak perched on the white fence around the grave. A white flashed by as well. At the foot of the butterfly tree, a skipper landed on a small plant. It also flew off then returned. Skippers are a bit overwhelming for me to identify but I think this one is an umber skipper (Poanes melane) due to the way the spots on the wings look Next to main path there was a patch of flowers. A mourning cloak had staked them out as its territory. Next to the stream, another mourning cloak had claimed a willow tree. 

California Buckwheat

Penasquitos has a patch of California buckwheat marked with a sign. I eagerly looked for all the butterflies that are supposed to love California buckwheat but didn’t find any.

Butterfly Jungle at the San Diego Safari Park

A morpho likes my camera

Once a year, the San Diego Safari Park (part of the San Diego Zoo), fills one of their bird enclosures with butterflies. The butterfly exhibit only lasts a month and is insanely crowded on the weekends. In fact, you have to get a separate (included) ticket with an appointment time. Fortunately, it was Easter Sunday and we got there early so we were let in ½ hour before our appointment. Even then, it was already full of people. When we visited a butterfly garden in Mindo, Ecuador we were the only people there for most of our visit. The crowds were a disappointment. However, it was good to see how excited everyone was about the butterflies. Most people were captivated by the Blue Morphos who not only flash their stunning blue wings but also are quite happy to perch on peoples’ clothing, hair and hands.

Orange Julia

Most of the butterflies were tropical butterflies from Asia and South and Central America. There were orange Julias (Dryas Julia), various swallow-tails, zebra longwings (Heliconius charitonia), postmen (Heliconius melpomene), and many more. There were some locals as well like the gulf fritillary and giant swallowtail. I liked the white paper kites (Idea leuconoe) that flew above everyone, occasionally diving down into the fray. The butterfly I found most interesting was the red cracker (Hamadryas amphinome). Most of the time it seemed to rest away from the crowds on the back glass of the enclosure which no one could get to. Then one came out and perched on a boy. One of its wings was broken at the tip and fell off as the boy was holding it. This reminded me of another sad feature of this butterfly exhibit. Since most of the butterflies were tropical, the zoo didn’t raise them. Instead they ordered chrysalises from butterfly farms in Asia and South America. Unlike Mindo, where the butterflies would lay eggs that would become caterpillars and the life cycle would continue, this exhibit was a temporary habitat where in the end, all the butterflies would just die. There were no larval food plants. The nectar for the butterflies was from potted flowers or nectar feeders. All of them would be removed at the end of the exhibit.

Red cracker

I do admit, being in an enclosed space with all the colorful butterflies and flowers is a magical experience. I’m sure it is also a great educational experience for the children as well. The zoo workers were very good about making sure none of these exotic butterflies escaped. I also heard that local school children raised some of the butterflies used for the exhibit.

Tailed jay

Since the exhibit was so crowded, we were relieved to leave. We took the tram ride around the Africa savanna enclosures and then walked up the stairs of a tower leading back to the upper level of the park. At the top, we looked down at a grassy area next to some trees below where a beautiful new brood mourning cloak rested. Its wings were rich brown and not ragged like the old brood ones that had survived the winter. A western swallowtail also flew off into the trees.

Paper kite

Malachite