July 12, 2025

By John Baumann, Trip Leader

Spokane area WBA field trips concluded this summer with a truly Big Bang on July 12. At my suggestion, our threesome agreed to avoid risk of drought conditions on Mt Spokane by driving north through Newport, WA, to Bonner County, Idaho, where a great green flood plain known as Big Meadow lies nestled in the Purcell Trench about 8 miles WSW of Priest Lake. This land, owned by the Kalispel Tribe and open to visitors for field trips, is being restored by the tribe from pasture, and, at its forested edges, is home to a richness of butterfly fauna hard to equal anywhere else at our latitude. We did not see the Meadow Fritillary, which I have seen here in the past at this point in the season, but we did see 22 species in all, a few of which were great finds. We saw simultaneous irruptions of European Skippers and Edith’s Coppers, meaning countless numbers of each. We were also able to spark discussion of our possible Atlantis Fritillaries and Northwestern Fritillaries with carefully discerning input from Caitlin Labar, Jon Pelham and others, leading to a conclusion that we had almost certainly seen A. atlantis, and had also very likely seen A. hesperis, as certainly as one could tell from photos, American Silver Bordered Fritillaries, and several of the Inland Northwest’s least common skippers, such as Coras/Peck’s Skippers, the Long Dash and the Dun Skipper also presented themselves that day. A really grand adventure!

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