Beautiful morning - sunny and clear -- should be near 80 for a high.
The vegetation looks a little dry -- which would make sense since up until last week we've been extremely hot with no rain.
There are purple daisies, geraniums, and clover blooming. Oh yea, and there's plenty of lupine still in bloom but some of it has gone to seed.
It's actually pretty dead as far as bflies go for the 1st mile -- except the many 2-tailed swallowtails flying by.
It picks up a little after that but for the most part, no where never the butterfly numbers of the past two summers. :( But lots of Weidenmeyer Admirals!
Still plenty of species though; I count 24 today. New flyers for the season include the Small Wood Nymph, Melissa Blue, and some Fritillaries (Great Spangled and what, after much time looking at photos on the Butterflies of America website, have concluded look like Northwestern and Great Basin Frits).
Additionally, I add 3 new species to my list for this site:
Taxiles Skipper
And what looks very much like a European Skipper.
As the name would suggest, this is a non-native bfly introduced around 1910 into North America. Its predominantly a flyer in the northeast but there are a few spots in the west where there have been sightings. (We saw what looked like one in the Uintas last summer.)
Although the clover and mint was in bloom, scat was the popular feeding source for the butterflies. I see Weidenmeyer's Admirals, Satyr Commas, Small Wood Nymphs and a CA Tortoiseshell feeding on the scat.
I haven't seen this too often, but I spot a Comma nectaring on mint.
After the 3 mile mark, it seems there are more dragonflies zipping about than butterflies.
A Darner:
Eight Spotted Skimmer (female):
Thought the butterflying may get better on the way back as it was around noon, but no luck.
Good day!
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