Butterflies & Wildflowers!

Great Copper (?) on Glacier Daisy (?)

Lycaena xanthoides - Erigeron glacialis

Butterflies and wildflowers have been surprisingly abundant this year!  The late start to summer has prolonged the blooming period in the Lakes Basin.  Usually by September, the meadows are dry and the flowers are going to seed.  This year, there are still some flower-filled meadows at 7,000' and higher!  The lower elevation meadows have started to dry out, but there are still LOTS of Butterflies feeding on the remaining flowers!

   

 Great Spangled Fritillary (male - female)

Speyeria cybele leto

Butterflies!

I came across the black and white butterfly (above right) feeding on trailside asters just two days ago! I had never seen this species before, so I looked it up when I got home and it turned out to be a female Great Spangled Fritillary!!!  There are many different kinds of Fritillary butterflies, but most of the females resemble the males. I don't know why this female is so different.  Does it make her easier to find? 

The adult butterflies spend most of their time searching for mates, laying eggs, feeding and resting.  Males either search for mates or perch and wait for females to fly by.  If another male comes near a perched male, they will often engage in an upward spiraling flight, after which the "intruder" usually leaves.  If a female flies by, of the same species, the perched male will force the female to the ground to mate.  Another method of perching is known as "hill-topping". Wikipediea states: "Males of many butterfly species may be found flying up to and staying on a hilltop - for days on end if necessary. Females, desirous of mating, fly up the hill. Males dash around the top, competing for the best part of the area - usually the very top; as the male with the best territory at the top of the hill would have the best chance of mating with the occasional female, who knows the "top male" must be strong and thus genetically fit. Studies have shown that even slight elevation differences on flat terrain can trigger hill-topping behavior. Flowering or tall trees may induce hill-topping behavior."

California Tortoiseshell Butterflies puddling

Nymphalis californica

About a month ago a friend and I witnessed what appeared to be a migration of thousands of California Tortoiseshell Butterflies in the area of Babbitt Peak!!! They weren't in giant groups, just one or a few at a time would fly by, but it went on all day!  These butterflies overwinter in the foothills as adults.  In the Spring they migrate up-slope to mate and lay eggs.  After the resulting caterpillars pupate, the newly hatched adults migrate to higher elevations, usually above timberline, to estivate (enter a period of resting or dormancy).  In late September they leave the high elevations and head down-slope to the foothills, where they will spend the winter in a dormant state.  

California Tortoiseshell Butterflies (topside - underside)

Nymphalis californica

The fire watcher at the Babbitt Peak lookout tower, told us that a USFS Biologist had been there that day and said it was early for these butterflies to be migrating, which might indicate an early winter!  

Margined White - Pine White - Cabbage White

Pieris marginalis - Neophasia menapia - Pieris rapae

Butterfly Facts 

from butterflyconservatory.org  

"Butterflies have "complete" life cycles, with four different stages: egg, caterpillar (larva), chrysalis (pupa), and adult. The entire life cycle, from the deposition of the egg to the emergence of the adult, usually takes about a month for most butterflies. Each species of butterfly has a different adult life span. Some adult butterflies only live for a few days, while others live for a few weeks or even several months (if they experience dormant periods of diapause or hibernation). The average lifespan for most adults is one to two weeks.

Butterflies have compound eyes and simple eyes. They see very differently from us; they can see ultraviolet rays (which are invisible to us)."

Hoffman's Checkerspot (?) - Variable Checkerspot (?) - Fritillary (?)

Chlosyne hoffmanni - Euphydras chalcedona - Speyeria sp.

"A butterfly's antennae, palps, legs and many other parts of the body are studded with sense receptors that are used to smell. The sense of smell is used for finding food (usually flower nectar), and for finding mates (the female smelling the male's pheromones).

A butterfly's feet have sense organs that can taste the sugar in nectar, letting the butterfly know if something is good to eat or not. Some females also taste host plants (using organs on their legs) in order to find appropriate places to lay their eggs. These receptors (called chemoreceptors) are nerve cells on the body's surface which react to certain chemicals. We have similar receptors in our nose and on our tongue."

Bolander's Yampah in Lincoln Meadow

Perideridea bolanderi

Still Blooming Wildflowers!

The most prolific wildflower this year is Bolander's Yampah. They have been in profuse bloom throughout the summer!  They are in the Carrot Family and can be distinguished by their umbrella-like clusters (umbels) of many tiny, five-petaled flowers.  To me the flower clusters look like fine white lace!  I saw thousands of them in all the wet meadows!  Just beautiful!  We spent many hours in these wild gardens this summer.  It was quite a joy!  We never knew what we might discover, while reveling in the beauty of familiar flowers.  It is always wonderful to see the same plants year after year, thriving once again in this sunny warm season!  I embrace them all!

Tinker's Penny - Western Ladies Tresses Orchid - Fireweed

Hipericum anagalloides - Spyranthes porrifolia - Chamerion angustifolium

We hiked along the north facing shoreline of Gold Lake several times this past week.  The water was perfect for swimming, and we saw a Bald Eagle and several Ospreys flying overhead during the day. In the wet grassy areas on the edge of the lake, and in a the wetlands at the west end there were still some flowers blooming.  New-to-me were the Tinker's Pennys!  These tiny flowers are in the St. John's Wort Family and are semi-aquatic!  They can even withstand long periods of submersion! 

  

White-veined Wintergreen - Pinedrops - Prince's Pine/Pipsissewa

Pyrola picta - Pterospora andromedea - Chimaphila umbellata

In the shaded forest along Gold Lake we came across these familiar beauties.  I was so surprised to see them blooming in late August!  The Prince's Pine/Pipsissewa has my absolute favorite fragrance of any wildflower!  You need to find them when they first bloom to enjoy the fragrance.  It's absolutely heavenly!  All of the plants that make up the forest, including the conifers, live in a close association with the mycorrhizal fungi in the soil.  They both need each other to survive.  The fungi colonize the root system of a host plant, providing increased water and nutrient absorption capabilities while the plant provides the fungus with carbohydrates formed from photosynthesis. In the case of the Pinedrops, that don't photosynthesize, they derive carbohydrates by degrading forest litter (dead organic matter).  Mycorrhizal fungi are involved in a mutualistic symbiosis with the roots of these plants, in which they obtain plant carbon in exchange for nutrients like phosphorous and nitrogen from the soil. 

Primrose Monkeyflower - Tubered Starwort - Mountain Tarweed

  Erythranthe primuloides - Pseudostellaria jamesiana - Madia glomerata

In another meadow, near Bearpaw Meadow, we found three more new-to-us plants!  The Primrose Monkeyflower, the Tubered Starwort, and the Mountain Tarweed are apparently all common, but we hadn't noticed them before!  The Mountain Tarweed flowers were SO tiny, about the size of a small freckle! It's always so fun to find new plants to study and appreciate.  Having a hand lens made them even more incredible!

California Goldenrod -  Northern Willow Herb - California Dodder

Solidago californica - Epilobium cilliatum - Cuscuta californica

We also came across large patches of  California Goldenrod, a scattering of Northern Willow Herb (new-to-us!), and several patches of blooming California Dodder.  Earlier this summer we found lots of Dodder at Howard Meadow, but none of it was blooming.  Now I realize that it's a late bloomer.  Dodder can regenerate from a piece of its stem, but the seeds from the flowers can overwinter, whereas the stems can't.  That's why they produce flowers.

What kind of caterpillars are these?

Where are the bears?

What's happening down in the garden?

Are there any hummingbirds around?

Check back next week for the answers to these questions and more!

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