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Butterfly & Moth Walk at J2E Tree Farm - July 30 & 31, 2022

Butterflies, Moths & Dragonflies of the Luckiamute River Watershed
Observations from the J2E Tree Farm -  July 30-31, 2022
List compiled by Dana Ross: [email protected]

Butterflies

• Western Tiger Swallowtail (Pterourus rutulus) – both days
• Pale Tiger Swallowtail (Pterourus eurymedon) – both days
• Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme) – both days
• Eastern Tailed Blue (Cupido comyntas) – both days (South Pond)
• Common Wood Nymph (Cercyonis pegala) – both days (the most common species)
• Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) – 7/31
• Lorquin’s Admiral (Limenitis lorquini) – 7/31
• Satyr Anglewing (Polygonia satyrus) – 7/30 (Big Pond, at mud)
• Woodland Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanoides) – both days (Big Pond, at mud)

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Moths

• Macaria signaria (Geometridae) – both days (conifer understory)
• Caripeta divisata (Geometridae) – 7/31 (conifer understory)
• Eupithecia species (Geometridae) – 7/30
• “micro-moth” (Crambidae) – 7/30 (South Pond)
• Red-shouldered Ctenucha (Ctenucha rubroscapus: Erebidae) – 7/31
• ¿Microhelia angelica? (Noctuidae) – 7/31 (possibly this species)

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Dragonflies (South Pond focus)

• Blue-eyed Darner (Rhionaeschna multicolor: Aeshnidae)
• Common Green Darner (Anax junius: Aeshnidae)
• Pacific Spiketail (Cordulegaster dorsalis: Cordulegastridae)
• Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis: Libellulidae)
• Flame Skimmer (Libellula saturata: Libellulidae)
• Eight-spotted Skimmer (Libellula forensis: Libellulidae)
• Widow Skimmer – (Libellula luctuosa: Libellulidae)
• Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia: Libellulidae)
• Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata: Libelluidae)

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​Recommended Field Guides:

• Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest (Pyle & LaBar, 2018)
• Butterflies of Oregon (Warren 2005) on-line pdf available here.

On-line resources: No site has all the available data incorporated, but these are helpful.

• butterfliesofamerica.com (best photo-based resource for all New World species)
• butterfliesandmoths.org (checklists, distributions, good basic info)
• Explore “Flickr” and search for Rob Santry’s butterfly photos (he’s the best!)
• https://www.butterfliesoforegon.com/ (photographer friend Neill Bjorklund’s site; great photos & some very well written blogs)
• pnwmoths.biol.wwu.edu - PNW Moths
• https://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/ - Moth Photographers Group

Miscellaneous: Email me ([email protected]) with questions, for photo identifications, to get on the contact list for our annual PNW butterfly-moth meeting (a great gathering). My response time depends on my field schedule (busiest April-August), but I will get back to you!

Thank you all for participating in this year's butterfly walk. I greatly enjoyed it! ~Dana

On Sunday, July 31, we had a special guest - Mallory Mead, an OSU student who is studying horticulture and entomology! Mallory helped us identify native bees during the walk, and below is her report and some resources to learn more about native bees:

We saw many sweat bees (family Halictidae), most likely from the genus Halictus. We caught a couple bumble bees that looked like fuzzy-horned bumble bees (Bombus mixtus). Renee caught a Vespidae wasp that I think was a bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata). I also saw long-horned bees from the genus Melissodes near the pond that I wasn't able to catch to show around. 
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Native Bee Resources:

• August Jackson, the author of Bees of the Willamette Valley, made the text available to the public at this link.
• The Oregon Bee Atlas (through OSU Extension) has a mission to document and assess the health of Oregon's native bees as well as to educate the public about native bees. Here's a link to their Youtube channel that has educational resources: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4-fDUsqKRDxinSPSU4HpXw and their online lecture series: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/bee-atlas/wild-world-bees
• People can subscribe to my lab's blog. We publish lots of seasonal and local educational content about gardens and insects, and members share about their research projects! https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/gardenecologylab/ This past winter we published a series about the top 10 native plant picks for bees based on Aaron Anderson's research.  https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/gardenecologylab/category/top-10-plants-for-pollinators/ and I'm writing a series about bee life history throughout the seasons: https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/gardenecologylab/category/what-are-the-bees-doing/
  
• Feel free to reach out to me via email with questions! [email protected]

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A special thank you to Benton Soil & Water Conservation District for providing funding that made this event free of charge to all participants!