1/12 Seattle WBA Winter Party
1/16 Spokane 6:00-7:30 pm Housewarming / Open House / Potluck
2/18 – Seattle – For the Love of Pollinators
Seattle WBA will have a table at “For the Love of Pollinators” event 5:30 to 8:30 at Lagunitas Brewing Company, 1550 NW 49th St, Seattle. Tickets are $10 at brownpapertickets.com or $15 at the door. Proceeds benefit the Puget Sound chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers.
Wednesday Feb 20, Spokane: Dr. Gary Chang, Wool Carder Bees. Gary’s program will summarize his field study of the unusual behaviors of a relative newcomer to western landscapes, the European Wool Carder Bee, and it interactions with other species.
Wednesday, March 6, Seattle: “Dispersal – Isolation – Differentiation – Refugia: Explaining NW butterfly biogeography“
Jonathan Pelham will speak on the distribution of butterflies spatially and temporally: practical and theoretical considerations. The focus is primarily on butterflies in North America and their response to glacial advance & retreat as well as how corridors and barriers affect their dispersal.
Wednesday, March 20, Spokane: Photography Workshop. Jeanne Dammarrell, Carl Barrentine and John Baumann team up to offer three perspectives on photography of butterflies and moths. They will chat about their preferred gear, methods, software and field locations in the hopes that many more area naturalists will be inspired to try their hands and lenses at lepidoptera photography! Jeanne’s and Carl’s photos have been extensively published in field resources in print and online.
4/3 – Seattle Meeting with Julie O’Donald “Butterflies and Garden Habitat“
Join us in getting acquainted with 18 species of butterflies found in the Puget Sound Lowlands. The best native flowering shrubs and wildflowers for attracting butterflies will be included. Practices that help butterflies survive throughout the year and in all stages of their life cycle will be covered. Be part of the garden connection needed to keep butterflies in our neighborhoods. Julie O’Donald is a Community Wildlife Habitat Steward and Master Gardener with over 30 years of experience creating wildlife friendly gardens. She has focused on the use of native plants integrated with ornamentals to attract butterflies and pollinators. Julie’s garden has been featured in Pacific Horticulture and The Butterfly Gardener magazines, as well as the book, Butterfly Gardening: The North American Butterfly Association Guide, 2018.
Wednesday, April 17, Spokane: David Droppers will present an update of his program “A Dichotomous Key for Identification of the Blues of Washington“, in which all the species of the several genera of Washington’s Polyommatini tribe are described in vivid live photos and specimen photos. David is a long time member of WBA and the Lep- idopterist Society, and has taught classes and done extensive field work on western butterflies
5/1 – Seattle 7pm “Pollinators on Washington Department of Transportation Rights-of-way” with Kelly McAllister
Kelly McAllister is an Olympia native, descended from some of the earliest residents of Washington State, native Americans, a Hudson’s Bay Company employee and white settlers. He attended college at the University of Washington and received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1979. After three months in the Gulf of Alaska as a foreign fisheries observer aboard Japanese trawlers, Kelly landed a job with Washington State, in the newly formed Nongame Program of the Washington Department of Game. Kelly stayed with the agency as it went through a couple of name changes and he went from a rare species database biologist to an endangered species recovery biologist to a District Wildlife Biologist. After 26 years at the state fish and wildlife agency, Kelly joined the Washington Department of Transportation’s Fish and Wildlife Program, first as the agency’s Habitat Connectivity Biologist and now as its Fish and Wildlife Program Manager. Kelly is married and has a son, a daughter, three grandchildren, a miniature Australian Shepherd, and an Appaloosa horse.
Wednesday, May 15, Spokane: Bob Pyle’s Butterfly Big Year The renowned lepidopterist Dr. Robert M Pyle, PhD visits Spokane! None other than the founder of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, and much published writer in the science and lore of butterflies and Bigfoot, a poet and now novelist, Bob Pyle will talk to us about some of his recent writing and field experience. Further details will be announced. Don’t miss this one!
Wednesday May 15, Spokane: Bob Pyle’s Butterfly Big Year in Washington. The renowned lepidopterist Dr. Robert M Pyle, PhD, visits Spokane! None other than the founder of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, and much published writer in the science and lore of butterflies and Bigfoot, a poet and now novelist, Bob Pyle will talk to us about some of his recent writing and field experience.
June 28-30, Colville: Annual Study Weekend.
Other Events: Wednesday, May 8, WA Native Plant Society: Regina Rochefort, Cascade Butterfly Project in Tacoma. http://www.southsoundchapterwnps.org/index.htm
Saturday, May 11, Center for Natural Lands Management: Prairie Appreciation Day, Glacial Heritage Preserve, Littlerock, Thurston County.
http://www.prairieappreciationday.org/ A good opportunity to see westside spring wildflowers, and grassland birds and butterflies.
Wednesday 9/4 – Seattle WBA Meeting 7 pm – “”Share the Wealth“
Wednesday 9/4 – Seattle WBA Meeting 7 pm – “Share the Wealth”
Washington Butterfly Association > Wednesday 9/4 – Seattle WBA Meeting 7 pm – “Share the Wealth”
Carolyn Heberlein August 28, 2019 Meetings, Posts
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.
9/18 – Spokane Meeting 6 pm – “Sharing the Wealth“
SHARING THE WEALTH
Spokane’s Washington Butterfly Association chapter welcomes you and your friends to an all ages show and tell experience about Eastern Washington or other area butterfly sightings our local naturalists have gleaned from field time on the 2019 season so far (It’s not over yet!) Arrive at our meeting place at the Corbin Art Center, 507 W 7th Ave, Spokane, WA at 6:00 pm, Wednesday, September 18th, for an enlightening update on summer field trips shared by our members, reports from the conference in Colville and news from our many personal forays about the Inland Northwest. Despite the fact that several of our early season trips were cancelled due to cold, wet weather that persisted later into the season than usual, we had some important field encounters with many of our less common western butterflies, even including the now scarce Monarch butterfly. Please join us, and do bring a thumb drive or photo CD with your own sightings to share on our screen. We’d love to hear from you!
10/2 – Seattle Meeting 7 pm – David Droppers
“Butterflies of the Deep, Dark Woods – Finding Butterflies Where Few Have Looked”
with David Droppers
David Droppers has been combing the relatively unexplored Mountain Loop Highway in Snohomish County for butterflies. That’s right, the cold, wet, dark, coniferous woods of western Washington! What could he possibly hope to find there? Allow David to introduce you to the Mountain Loop Highway, it’s enchanting trails, and the many surprises he has made. It may just inspire you to create your own butterfly survey!
Share this:
10/16 – Spokane Meeting 6 pm – “Down And Dirty” with Nan Vance
Great Golden Digger Wasp Join us for a great upcoming presentation called “Down & Dirty”, given by Nan Vance, PhD, Research Plant Physiologist, emeritus, USDA Forest Service. This presentation will consist of a close up look at bees and wasps on and in the ground in a talk that hopefully demonstrates the need for total habitat protection, not just flowers. Habitat that considers the reproductive aspects of these bees and wasps’ lives is essential to the survival of so many wild native solitary bees and beneficial wasps; also pollinators and most ground nesting. Through this presentation we hope that you will get a glimpse of what it takes for these insects to ensure another generation, and we hope it might expand individuals current way of thinking about these hard working little creatures.
Nan Vance – Deschutes National Forest Nan Vance, PhD, Research Plant Physiologist, emeritus, USDA Forest Service, was a science and English teacher, research plant Physiologist and pollination ecologist with the Pacific Northwest Research Station located on the Oregon State University campus for 18 years including 7 years as team leader of the Biology and Culture of Forest Plants Team. She is a member of graduate faculty Forest Science Department and Plant Physiology Program at Oregon State University. Her scientific publications include physiological and pollination ecology, and restoration of specific native flora of the Columbia basin.
Since retirement Nan Vance has pursued her passion for photography in the field of native plants and their relation to insects. She is concerned about their mutual survival so she hopes that through more intimate photography she can shed some light on the intricate relationship between flower and insect and what it takes for each to survive and thrive.
11/6 – Seattle Meeting 7 pm – Gypsy Moths – with Sven-Erik Spichiger
Sven-Erik Spichiger will be our speaker. His topic will be ‘Pest detection and response in Washington with a focus on Gypsy Moth Eradication.’
This talk will highlight the role of the WSDA pest program, give an overview of the environmental threats that WSDA responds to, and focus on the IPM approach used to keep gypsy moth out of WA State for over 40 years
Highlighted Pests: European Gypsy Moth, Asian Gypsy Moth, Hokkaido Gypsy Moth, Citrus Longhorned Beetle, Japanese Beetle, Asian Giant Hornet, and Spotted Lanternfly
He will bring three drawers of the ‘just Butterflies’ that he collected in Hong Kong since all talk is no fun.
12/4 – Seattle Meeting 7 pm – “A Moth Calendar” with David Droppers
The changing of the seasons is something we look forward to, especially us naturalists. The timing of organisms, from the blooming of wildflowers to the arrival of migratory songbirds, and the emergence of butterflies, is known as phenology. It can be predictable, informative, and even help with tough species’ identifications. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that moths also have a predictable phenology, with this moth watcher anticipating the arrival of special species throughout the season. Learn how to the tell the calendar by ways of the moth, and look at your porch light for what your moth visitors could be telling you about the seasons!
Dec. 18, Spokane: No Meeting