January 24

Twenty-one of us met for our annual winter party at the home of Jim Flynn and Marissa Benavente. Highlights, as usual, were great company & conversation, great food, and, of course, the white elephant exchange. “Gifts” ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime. At one end was a talking caterpillar. At the other were some lovely butterfly pins and some great books, including Life Histories of Cascadia Butterflies. For general interest rather than exchange, Stewart Weschler brought a live Mourning Cloak he’d found on the street and is keeping in his refrigerator till spring.

From Goldendale, Jim Reed has joined us the last couple of years (combining it with visiting his son who is attending WWU in Bellingham). Unfortunately, the party is always too far away for most of you. (However, there’s always our annual conference to make up for it.)

March 28

Bob Hardwick’s collection of more than 7,000 butterflies will be displayed at the United Methodist Church in Gig Harbor from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

April 1

Pollinators: Garden and Habitat Restoration. Julie O’Donald will identify a variety of pollinators that may be found in Puget Sound gardens and natural areas. Photos and identification of bumblebees, butterflies, wasps, flower flies and more will be included. Landscape features that promote healthy pollinator populations will be discussed. The program will provide a look at native plants beneficial to pollinators and show ways to incorporate native plants into garden and park landscapes. This program has been updated to include more information on native plants. Julie O’Donald is a Backyard Wildlife Habitat Steward and Master Gardener with over 30 years experience creating wildlife friendly gardens.

May 6

The Cascades Butterfly Project: Monitoring Butterflies as Indicators of Climate Change with Regina M. Rochefort, science advisor and plant ecologist at North Cascades National Park. The Cascades Butterfly Project is a long-term citizen science project that monitors butterfly populations in the Northern Cascade Mountains of Washington.

September 2 & 29

Share the Wealth! Always an entertaining, fun and educational program. Bring your photos to share with us for education, entertainment or identification.

Everyone works together to make this fun. Bring photos in digital, slide or printed form to be identified or just shared. This informal meeting gives members a chance to get to know each other better. All levels of photography and butterflying are encouraged and appreciated.

Oct. 7: Nate Haan about Checkerspots

Nate will share with us his experiences rearing Edith’s Checkerspot in the lab and greenhouse. He also will give an overview of some of the experiments he has been conducting to learn more about the relationship between checkerspot larvae and their host plants. Many Edith’s checkerspot larvae in our area feed on various species of paintbrush (Castilleja spp.), which are root parasites on other plants. Therefore even though the larvae only feed on Castilleja, the identity of the plants that Castilleja parasitizes could indirectly affect checkerspot larvae. He will share methods and preliminary results of an experiment that explores these interactions. Also he will give an overview of a field experiment that he is currently conducting to measure the effects various host species and environmental variables on Taylor’s checkerspot larvae. 

November 4

Gary Bernard: Cool Ants on Hot Desert Sand, Cool Moth Pupae, Hot Vision, and Blind Vanessa cardui.

How do ants survive the afternoon heat, running around in the Saharan Desert? How do tropical moth pupae keep from being cooked by the sun? Answer: High-tech layered overcoats. Heat is required for high-performance vision of flying butterflies and moths. Watch them heat up. Another requirement for good vision is proper diet. Beware of commercially supplied lab diets for rearing Vanessa cardui.

December 2 – Wild Australia: the West with David and Jo Nunnallee