Euphydryas chalcedona and Speyeria on Yerba Santa (Genus Eriodictyon) flowers. I saw several Speyeria flying over the Chaparral, back and forth and then on out of sight.
Northeast of Wrights Lake along South Fork of Silver Creek. Elevation about 7,000 feet.
alsietus vs callistus from Takanami
For comparison only. See discussion here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/98257771
Day after a severe down pour including hail. Few butterflies today. We saw perhaps 10 fritillaries. These were the only two that settled.
A note to anyone editing data quality or annotations: This specimen was alive when collected, and the data given reflect the time and place when the insect was observed alive.
Please adhere to iNat’s guidelines and do not mark this observation as “captive” or “dead”, as this causes problems for researchers attempting to find species records.
iNat's definition of a "wild" observation explicitly includes "museum/herbarium specimens that are appropriately marked with date and location of original collection". The data given are the date and location of original capture, and as such, this observation should not be marked as captive. See #5 of the observation FAQ on the forum: https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/help#captive
The "dead" annotation should only be used if the organism was dead at the time of the observation. The question of insect specimen annotations has been had on the forums, and specimens which are dead in the photo but were alive at the time of capture should be annotated as "alive", not "dead". See here for discussion:
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/annotate-dead-or-alive/17537
Thanks!
Initially nectaring on buckwheat until I scared it to this sage branch
@AKK2 , found this in Martis Valley near Truckee today. INat suggestion was Dotted Blue, 2nd was Glaucon Blue, hard to tell the difference, went with Glaucon?
The observed butterfly is possibly visible in the top-left of the first, blurry photo. However the remaining photos are only of the location and habitat where I saw it flying. It was mid March, just above 60F. As I followed a wide pathway and almost reached the top of the hill, I came upon an opening where the sun was beaming in. There were about a dozen moths around 1 inch in size and when I looked up, there was a dark butterfly gliding overhead, then darting close to one of the moths and appeared almost double its size. The silhouette was that distinct, curved ovate shape. With a protruding head and prominent clubs on the antenna.
2nd stop on the Horse Mountain Audubon butterfly trip that Gary Falxa and I led for Redwood Region Audubon.
Caught a glimpse of orange and black on inside of wings
This location is a hot spot to find what Art Shapiro says is rarely found in the Sacramento Valley. For the last three years I have been coming to this very same place approx.1 mile downstream on the Lower American River that's just off the American River Bike Trail, on a small access paved path that leads to the American River. Around May 12-14
the California Hairstreak (Satyrium californica) will be seen in numbers nectaring on Leafy Fleabane (Erigeron foliosus) that is found growing, well as Common Woolly Sunflower that this California Hairstreak is on as a nectaring source.
Looks somewhere between a Sylvan Hairstreak (also seen here on the same day) and a California Hairstreak (seen by @natomapaul nearby, for example https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/47056585).