Fall Butterflies and Other Insects

On a walk through Oak Canyon last week I found so many new plants and new butterflies to identify, that it has kept me busy for several days. The frustrating thing is that for several of the butterflies, there were two, sometimes three species so similar that only dissection would be able to tell them apart. And we don't do that. We just take photos.


Mournful Duskywing, Erynnis tristis, likes oaks and there are plenty of oaks at Oak Canyon. After careful examination of this one, I eliminated Funereal Duskywing because mine doesn't have any pale patches above the white fringe.

This is a Mormon Metalmark, but whether it's Apodemia mormo mormo or Apodemia mormo virgulti I can't tell. This butterfly lays its eggs on Buckwheat but the one in the photo is nectaring on a Sweet Bush, Bebbia juncea. You can see his proboscis going down into the flower.

Vivid Dancer, Argia vivida, (California? Aztec?) mating. Anyway, the male is the pretty blue one. You have to look closely to see the female. Getting this shot was tough because the wind was blowing and I didn't want to disturb them. As it is, they flew off still hooked together (like Monarchs?) before I could really get a good focus on them. Interestingly, the nymphs of these damselflies will live through the winter in the muck at the bottom of the year-round running stream at the canyon.

Woodland Skipper, Ochlodes sylvanoides, nectaring also. Similar species include the Umber Skipper and Rural Skipper. I don't think it is the Rural, so it's either Woodland or Umber. What's a skipper anyway? The name comes from their skipping flight patterns. Skippers generally have larger bodies and are not as colorful as true butterflies, but they do have clubbed antennae, unlike moths. And the club can have a hook at the end. The Duskywing above is also a skipper. Fred Heath in his Introduction to Southern California Butterflies says that skippers are very difficult to identify. He likens them to the "empids" in the bird world, all those confusing little flycatchers. Well, that makes me feel a little better. I still have trouble with the empids after 18 years of birdwatching.

Lorquin's Admiral, Limenitis lorquini, likes Willows, although here you see it on an oak. This one I am sure of. The only other butterfly it resembles on top (dorsal) is totally different underneath (ventral). That is the California Sister. Luckily, I got a good shot of the underneath.

But I have learned that to get really good photos of butterflies, I will need some more equipment to go with my macro lens. In order to stop the motion and increase the depth of field, I need to use a flash. I'll have to look into it, although I wonder what the Dancers would have done if a flash had suddenly gone off in the middle of things.

Butterflies, Bumble Bees, Bugs, and Spiders

My new macro lens has opened up a whole new world for me. While out taking photos of native plants, I have come upon all sorts of insects, many that I would normally pass by without a thought. With all my new lenses, I'll take a photo of a bug and then when I get home, I'll marvel at the detail in the photo. Then I'll search the web for information on the insect and in doing so, I have discovered all kinds of new things.

Gray Hairstreak, Strymon melinus

Butterflies are only slightly easier than birds to catch in a photo, but this fellow obliged by sitting still for the longest time. I actually took this shot with the macro and not a telephoto, he let me get that close to him. He was rubbing his hindwings back and forth, a sign he was "nectaring."

West Coast Lady, Vanessa annabella

White Checkered-Skipper, Pyrgus albescens

Western Pygmy-Blue, Brephidium exile

This butterfly is tiny! Yvetta alerted me to its presence or else I never would have seen it.

Purple Sage, Salvia leucophylla with Bumble Bee

Bladderpod, Isomeris arborea with Harlequin Bugs, Murgantia histrionica

The one on the right is a later nymph (young bug). These are true bugs.

Bladderpod, Isomeris arborea with Harlequin Bug eggs

The little white barrels with two black hoops around (or in this case, one black and one brown) are the eggs. You can see a row of these barrels in the previous photo to the lower left of the bugs.

Silver Argiope, Argiope argentata, with meal

This spider makes an orb web with shiny, radiating "stabilimenta" (sing. stabilimentum). It was the stabilimenta that caught my eye.

Funnel Web made by a Funnel Weaver Spider (family: Agelenidae)

I took this photo just because I thought it was unusual (and pretty). It wasn't until my son asked me about it that I discovered that the funnel was created on purpose. The funnel was about two inches in diameter.

It's a funnel web, and as you see consists of a flat, horizontal sheet of web that "funnels" into a tunnel-like hole. That hole is where the spider stays. An insect blunders onto the web, inside the hole the spider feels vibrations of the hapless critter on his web, the spider rushes out, bites the insect, and carries it back into the funnel. As the spider grows it adds new layers to the flat web, so you can look at the web and judge how large the spider is.

I'd say this one was pretty large!

Two Canyon Walks

We went on our regular Canyon Walk at Lunada Canyon recently and I also went back to Forrestal Preserve. The spring plants had pretty much done their thing and the summer plants were coming into bloom. The California Buckwheat, Eriogonum fasciculatum, above, was abundant, and it's cousin, the Ashyleaf Buckwheat, Eriogonim cinereum, below, was trying to outdo it. In fact at Forrestal, it seemed to be everywhere, even in places I had not noticed before.


I like to photograph the plants in all of their seasons and under all conditions. The main reason I went back to Forrestal was to see if there was anything left of the lilies (Catalina Mariposa Lily, Calochortus catalinae) that were so beautiful in April. It has pretty much died back. It looked like this a month ago, and now only a few seed pods remain.

If you remember, I have blogged about one particular Bladderpod plant, Isomeris arborea, at Lunada Canyon before. Here is what it looked like in July of 2008, and here is what it looks like now, full of pods and new growth. It's holding its own despite all the fog and overcast weather we had in June and early July.

The purple sage, Salvia leucophylla, however, that was just glorious everywhere this spring, is now looking very sad, indeed. I don't remember the flowers turning black like this before and I am wondering if the foggy weather has caused a mildew to take hold.

But a new plant has made an appearance, Tarweed. Yvetta and I puzzled over the species of this one for several days. One of the reasons we had trouble is because there are so many tarplants and the other is because the species is undergoing a name change. I finally decided on Fascicled Tarplant, Deinandra fasciculata var. ramosissima. It's other name is Hemizonia ramosissima. This link will describe some of the changes taking place in the taxonomy of the plants of Southern Californis and the headaches that this can cause. Calflora uses both names, hemizonia and deinandra, and on one page says the former is the new name and on another, it says the latter is the new name. Oh well, "a rose by any other name... "

Those Amazing California Natives

At the end of June, I finally got a chance to hike in Oak Canyon again. Since we have not had significant rain since May, I was expecting to see the plants dried up and dormant for the summer. Imagine my surprise to see the canyon still bursting with blooms! And plants that were not blooming were putting out colorful berries like the Holly-leaf Buckthorn, Rhamnus ilicifolia above. Other plants had leaf color like this Fuchsia-flowered Gooseberry, Ribes speciosum below.

It was good to find Fringed Indian Pink, Silene laciniata blooming just where I found it last year only it seemed like there were many more flowers this year.

A new plant for me was this Heart-leaved Bush-penstemon, Keckiella cordifolia, although I don't know how I could have missed it before. Whole hillsides were covered with it!

Another new plant I found was this Sacapellote, Acourtia microcephala. There was only one of those, so I am not surprised I haven't seen it before. Sacapellote is the Spanish name for this plant and a concoction made from the roots has been used as a treatment for asthma. It is in the daisy family.

But the star of the day was the Toyon, Heteromeles arbutifolia. Toyon was everywhere and in full bloom. In December, all those white flowers will have turned into red berries. Spectacular!

More Fun With Macro

Indian Paintbrush, Castilleja affinis

Bush Sunflower, Encelia californica

Bush Sunflower, Encelia californica

Catalina Mariposa Lily, Calochortus catalinae

Catalina Mariposa Lily, Calochortus catalinae

Purple Sage, Salvia leucophylla

Caterpillar Phacelia, Phacelia cicutaria var. hispida

On Monday, I went hiking at Forrestal Nature Preserve again especially so I could play with my new macro lens. I was surprised to find the preserve even more beautiful than the last time I was there. The sun was shining brightly and it was pleasantly cool. The flowers were even more profuse if that is possible.

By accident, I hiked in my new Vibram Five Fingers. I usually just wear these around the house but I forgot to put my regular hiking shoes in the car when I headed out. I didn't want to take the time to go back and so I thought I would give the VFFs a try. They are supposed to be OK for light hiking and running. It worked fine. They really do make you feel like you are walking barefoot. Going downhill was a bit precarious. I was afraid of slipping, but did fine. The advantage of these shoes is that you can use your toes for traction. The trail up Fossil Hill was hard, though. Too many little sharp rocks. The VFFs got all dusty and dirty, naturally, but you can just throw them in the washer and let them air dry which they did quickly. Now they are good as new!

A New Canyon to Explore

On Mothers' Day I got a chance to hike in a new canyon in the city of Anaheim called Deer Canyon Park Preserve. It is a 103 acre park set aside for preserving the native plants and wildlife right in the middle of housing development. If you didn't know it was there, you would never find it. I was lucky to have a very reliable guide to show me how to get into it, but I am not sure I will be able to find it again by myself. Suffice it to say it is off the beaten path. Which is good, because that makes it quiet and free of litter and dumping, and best of all, it has been left to grow wild, so the plants are truly what you would find in a canyon of Southern California. It hasn't had to be "restored."

The main path which we took up the canyon is actually an old paved road left over from the rancho days so the hiking was easy. I didn't have my macro lens with me and we didn't have much time, but I was able to snap a few photos as we walked along. Several plants that we thought weren't native turned out to be native and were new to me. I'll give you a sampling here.

The top photo is of a Chaparral Bush Mallow, Malacothamnus fasciculatus. There were several of these bushes in the canyon and they were all blooming profusely.

This plant with the large gray-green leaves is Wild Gourd, Cucurbita foetidissima. Both the mallow and the gourd were plants we thought were introduced, so I only took a passing shot at them. Now I wish I had taken more time to photograph the leaves of the mallow and the flower of the gourd from different angles. The gourd also has the name "Stinky Gourd" because the whole plant has a fetid odor especially when bruised.

Here is a red Sticky Monkey Flower, Mimulus aurantiacus. I have seen the yellow or golden orange one several places, but I have only seen the red one once before and that was in a cultivated garden at La Purisma in Lompoc. It was nice to see several of these plants here.

There was a lot of the usual Arroyo Lupine up and down the canyon, but as we were leaving, my eye caught this one lone plant that was different. I still have not been able to pin down the identification. There is nothing that looks quite like it at CalFlora or in Michael Charters wonderful catalogue. I'll keep looking.

We found two snakes on our hike. Yes, this one is a rattler—a Southern Pacific to be precise. Below is a close-up of his "rattle." I was told that as long as he wasn't coiled up, it was safe to carefully approach him for a photo. I nearly stepped on a rattler once when we were out in the desert. (I really need to look down at the path more often.) It was all coiled up, too, but sleeping in the tracks made by an off-road vehicle in the sand. My husband yelled at me just in time to prevent disaster.

A New Perspective

My new lens, Canon's EF-S 60mm Macro. It's great! This last picture is of Lupinus longifolius and was taken on our monthly Canyon Walk last Saturday. It wasn't until I looked at the photo on my computer that I noticed the aphids on it—and the fact that they are blue to match the flowers!

More Wildflowers

I thought I'd put up a few of the other photos of interesting native plants that I have taken on my recent hikes. So many things are in bloom right now that I easily take 100 photos on each hike. The first four were taken on Palos Verdes, either along Burma Rd. in the PV Nature Preserve, or at Forrestal Preserve, both of which are in the Portuguese Bend area. The next three were taken at Oak Canyon in Anaheim.

The top photo is of Narrowleaf Bedstraw, Galium angustifolium. If I had a true macro lens, I might have been able to get a shot like this. Happily, I have one on order which means that when I get it, I will be going out to take 100 more photos! (At least!)

This unusual plant is called Rattlepod or Santa Barbara Milvetch, Astragalus trichopodus var. lonchus. It grows mostly along the coast of Southern California. It also has the name Locoweed because animals exhibit bizarre behavior after eating the leaves. The seeds in the pod (one of which is in the photo) rattle around, hence its other name. But the most interesting thing about this plant is that it is one of the favorites of the Palos Verdes Blue Butterfly. The larvae like to eat the seeds inside the pods.

Adding to my collection of phacelias is this Sticky Phacelia, Phacelia viscida, which apparently comes in several different colors. It also grows mostly along the Southern California coast. The yellow flowers in front in the photo are not phacelias. That's Yellow Sweetclover and is not a native and it is very invasive. The yellow flowers in the back are Black Mustard, also not native and very invasive.

I have posted photos of Blue Dicks, Dichelostemma capitatum, before, but I keep trying for the perfect shot of this plant. Usually you just see the flower sticking up through some other plant. There's really not much to the rest of the plant anyway, but in this photo you can see the whole thing. It is also called Wild Hyacinth and comes in white as well as various shades of blue to purple.

This may look like another photo of the bedstraw at the top, but this plant is much larger growing to almost tree-size. It is called Chamise, Adenostoma fasciculatum. Another name for this plant is Greasewood as the plant is very flammable as though it did contain grease. There are several plants in the southwest that are called greasewood for the same reason. Chamiso comes from the Portuguese word chama meaning "a flame." The fasciculatum part of its latin name comes from the fact that the leaves are very needle-like. This is the first of the photos that I took in Oak Canyon.

Another Oak Canyon plant is this Silver Puff, Microseris lindleyi. It can be found all over California and other parts of the West. The buds will open to a yellow flower followed by these silvery seed heads. A very striking plant.

I found this plant along the road leading to the Oak Canyon Nature Center. It took me awhile to figure out what it was. I went back a week later to take more photos, but the plant was gone! A victim of the weed-whackers. Finally, I found it was Snakeroot or Purple Sanicle, Sanicula bipinnatifida. I hope to see another one somewhere someday.

And last but not least, this bit of the fauna of Palos Verdes. I nearly stepped on him! He sat there and let me take several photos before straightening himself out and swiftly slithering into the bushes.