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

Swallowtail Grove in the San Elijo Lagoon Area

Western Tiger Swallowtail on a sycamore

The San Elijo Lagoon, North of Del Mar, is known for the waterbirds that hang out in the waters and shore reeds and trees. However, we went searching for butterflies. A few weeks ago we walked along the S.E trail and towards the end we came upon a grove of eucalyptus and sycamore trees. A lone swallowtail flickered across the path and disappeared into the trees. We waited a little then turned back. This time, we decided we would wait a bit.

A Mournful Duskywing (Erynnis tristis)

A slight wind blew as we walked along the more open part of the trail. We wondered if it would be too much for the butterflies. Nevertheless, we saw a couple blues, an orange tip and some cabbage butterflies. As we reached a hill covered with shimmering yellow flowers, an orange butterfly flew across the path and down the hill; but we lost it.

Western Tiger Swallowtail on eucalyptus

Once in the grove, we soon saw a Western Tiger Swallowtail that quickly disappeared. We sat down on a very conveniently placed bench and waited. A hummingbird zipped up to the branches across from us. “I think it went to a nest,” Rowshan said. He zoomed in with his camera and found it. As I tried to locate it with my binoculars, the swallowtail returned. It fluttered off teasingly but another emerged from a forest. They seemed to be fascinated by a particular tree—a sycamore. I didn’t know it was a sycamore at the time. One of the benefits of watching butterflies is you learn a lot about plants as well.

Aggressive Mourning Cloak

Rowshan went over to the tree and several startled swallowtails flew off. They eventually came back, saw Rowshan and circled away. As this was happening, I noticed a mourning cloak. It aggressively chased the larger swallowtails adding yet another obstacle to Rowshan’s photographic attempts.

Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis milberti)

The mourning cloak perched on a tree in front of me. Its wings were a bit ragged. According to one of the books I read recently, this is because the mourning cloak can last through the winter in its butterfly form. In the spring, the new broods hatch with rich brown wings. As I was watching the mourning cloak, Rowshan told me to look up. There directly above me was a beautiful silver shouldered hawk. It surveyed us for a while and then took off, perhaps startled when my binoculars reflected a flash of sunlight.

Dancing Swallowtails

Finally, a compliant swallowtail settled on a eucalyptus branch in the sunlight. Rowshan happily got his photographs. Then another flew up and they seemed to engage in a strange dance of circling, hovering and spinning. A third joined the frenzy. Then they dispersed.

We’ve decided to name the grove Swallowtail Grove in honor of the butterflies that live there. 

Mission Trails

Some kind of blue on locoweed

One of our favorite places to hike in San Diego city is Mission Trails Regional Park. We used to walk in the gorge part of Mission Gorge, or scramble up the Rock Climbers Trail. Now, we tend to avoid crowds by hiking in the North and South Fortuna mountains area. These trails lead through sagebrush scrubland up to cliffs overlooking the gorge.

Butterflies also love this area. The orange tips purposely flit up the path and blues fly among the buckwheat and locoweed plants. The hiking paths provide tempting mud spots for puddling and the hills of course provide places for hill topping.

Bramble Hairstreak

I should mention that this is a relatively new hobby for me. Rowshan became interested in photographing butterflies while we were traveling around the world. However, I've only recently started to learn about their habits, foodplants, and names. Due to this, I might misidentify butterflies (and plants). Any experts out there can feel free to post corrections.

That said, here are some butterflies that we met on our hike.

I can't get over how cute the Bramble Hairstreak is. Just look at its cute little snub nose, big eyes, and striped antennae. It's scientific name is Callophrys dumetorum. In the photos in the books, it looks brighter and the brown on the upper wing is more visible. However, maybe since their flight time is between February and April, this one is a bit faded. There were a lot of them around and there was even a little hilltopping party on one of the smaller hills.

Gabb's Checkerspot

I believe this next butterfly is a Gabb's Checkerspot (Chlosyne gabbii), but again the colors seem a lot lighter than those in the book. Do butterflies fade? 

This last one is a Mormon Metalmark (Apodemia mormo). It is another butterfly that is fond of buckwheat. I hope to plant buckwheat in my garden soon since it is so popular with the butterflies here.

Mormon Metalmark

To identify the butterflies, I've purchased two excellent books. The first is An Introduction to Southern California Butterflies, by Fred Heath with photographs by Herbert Clarke. This is my main reference for information about SoCal butterflies. In fact, the information included on this page about food plants, scientific names, and flight times comes from this book. The other book is Butterflies through Bincoulars: The West by Jeffrey Glassberg. This is an essential field guide to butterflies and contains excellent photos of both side views and top views of butterflies. He also includes a scale on each page so you can get a good idea of the butterfly's actual size.

References
Glassberg, Jeffrey. Butterflies through Binoculars The West. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. 


Heath, Fred. An Introduction to Southern California Butterflies. 1st ed. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing Company, 2004. 

Starting a Butterfly Garden

California Fuchsia and Silver Carpet

I started our butterfly garden. Since we rent and the house came with landscaping, I needed to put everything in containers. When Rowshan and I first decided to plant a butterfly garden we figured we’d just stick some milkweed, fennel, and passion vines in a pot and we’d have it. However, a little research convinced me I should go native and plant butterfly plants native to this region. Milkweed is fine because there are several native species. I quickly eliminated fennel. It is highly invasive and difficult to get rid of. Passionvine, to my disappointment, is also non-native. However, at least it isn’t invasive. In our last rental house we had a fabulous passionvine full of caterpillars and butterflies. We may still get one, but first I want to get the natives growing.

White Striped Sphinx Moth

After talking with the woman at Las Pilitas. I decided to start 2 containers: one with a Ghostly Red California fuchsia (Zauschneria californica) and Silver Carpet (also known as a California Aster) (Lessingia fliagenfolia) and the other with a Narrow Leaf Milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis) and Sierra Columbine (Aquilegia pubescens). To be honest, the columbine isn’t actually a butterfly plant but the woman at the nursery recommended it since it attracts hummingbirds and could go with the milkweed. The fuchsia is more of a hummingbird attractant than one for butterflies. However, California Dogface butterflies like the nectar so maybe some will visit. Also, it is a food plant for sphinx moths. She didn’t mention that when she sold it to me and I’m a little wary. About a month ago we saw a really cool white striped sphinx moth. It was very beautiful and striking. I’ve also seen photos of sphinx moths hovering like hummingbirds in front of flowers. The problem is that the caterpillar of the sphinx moth is the dreaded tomato hornworm. I’m trying to grow tomatoes. Oops! Well, on the bright side, I guess I can always move the hornworms to the fuchsia. 

Golden Aphids on the milkweed

The milkweed is a nectar plant for monarchs, acmon blue butterflies and west coast ladies. It is also a larval plant for monarchs and acmon blues. The sign for the milkweed advertised: “Comes with golden aphids.” The woman explained that they were part of the plant ecosystem and I shouldn’t remove them or the plant could suffer. Once I got home I did some research and found stories of the aphids killing people’s milkweed. The milkweed attracts this kind of aphid. People said it was impossible to get rid of but necessary to keep under control. So, I just went out and killed all the aphids. 

Narrow Leaf Milkweed and Sierra Columbine

After getting the plants I had to find the containers. I settled on large terra cotta planters for $10-11. They would have been difficult for R to make since they are so big. At home I put the partial shade planter next to a fence (milkweed and columbine) and the sun planter next to the lawn (silver carpet and fuchsia). I planted the plants and watered them. Now I just have to see if they will survive. 

Useful Links

• Las Pilitas: Plants for a California or Western Butterfly Garden: www.laspilitas.com/butterfl.htm
• Moosa Creek Nursery: Native California Plants:  www.moosacreeknursery.com 
• North American Butterfly Association: Butterfly Gardening Information: www.nababutterfly.com