Wings Over the Blue Mountains
Washington Butterfly Association Ninth Annual Study Weekend
Dayton, Washington June 27 – 29
Join us as we return to Dayton and the Blue Mountains, site of the second WBA Annual Conference, where butterfly diversity is impressive. Habitats we will visit include Tucannon Valley meadows, riversides and woodlands, as well as high elevation rocky areas, giving us the opportunity to see a wide variety of butterfly species. The Blue Mountains are notable for the high diversity of butterfly species and as long as the sun is shining, the habitats we visit will display a good representation of this. Some of the notable species we expect to see, that don’t occur in too many other places in WA.
Species we can expect to see, as listed by David James, include: “Ediths Copper (Lycaena editha), Hesperis Fritillary (Argynnis (Speyeria) hesperis) and perhaps the Great Basin Fritillary (Argynnis (Speyeria) egleis). It should be “fritillary heaven” with Hydaspe, Great Spangled and Zerene all guaranteed to be present! Five species of Swallowtails should also be present as well as the two Parnassian species and a myriad of Blues and Hairstreaks! If the sun shines we can guarantee you’ll see anything from 30-50 species”.
Conference program
Friday Evening
Butterflies of the Blue Mountain Region presented by David Nunnallee. Dave will share his excellent photos of the butterflies occurring in this region and give tips on identifying them. He will also review the habitats of our Saturday and Sunday field trips and why they are unique. Dave in the founding vice president of WBA and current coordinator of field trips. He has spent the past several years photographing and researching immature stages of butterflies of Cascadia for an upcoming book.
Saturday Evening
Keynote speech: The Impact on Butterflies of Habitat Changes by Dr. David James. David is Associate Professor, Department of Entomology at Washington State University. He has done significant research during 2004-2007 on butterfly species incidence and abundance prior to and after a major fire, “the school fire”, swept through the Blue Mountain area. His data documents the patterns of recovery and/or changes after forest fires. He will also address the impact of logging, pesticides and other habitat changes to butterfly populations. David has also spent the past few years photographing and researching immature stages of butterflies of Cascadia for an upcoming book.
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