August 8, 2024 Our Steptoe Butte State Park trip was a success, the weather was great and we had a wonderful time scouting the area for butterflies! Our findings included four different swallowtails, some blues, a fritillary, a crescent, a green hairstreak and more. The coolest part about our trip was the busy hill-topping and…

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May 31, 2024 Our Swakane Canyon field trip moved instead to Yakima Canyon, visiting Ringer Loop and Umtanum Recreation Area. Sadly, Swakane Canyon is very dry this year. The canyon has dependably been a magnificent area for puddling parties with good diversity and incredible abundance. Very few moist areas were present this spring, and a…

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May 20 – Yakima A Monday WBA Field trip is not normal, but sometimes necessary to get good, sunny butterfly weather in our fickle eastern WA spring. Monday May 20 was sunny, but as we gathered in the Snow Mountain Ranch parking lot at 10am, the blustery and strong wind did not bode well. However,…

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May 3: South Fork of the Ahtanum River near Tampico, WA I have lived in Yakima since 2007 and thought I knew all the good butterfly places. Turns out I was wrong. On 13 April I found myself on the south side of Yakima, along the Ahtanum River near Tampico exploring a forest road in…

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July 5 Led by David Droppers The Big Four Ice Caves trail is a short trail located along the Mountain Loop Highway in Snohomish County. It’s one of the ten trails I’ve been investigating for my Mountain Loop Highway butterfly project, now in its seventh year! The highlight of the trail is that the climate…

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Two carloads of butterfliers headed out June 3, 2023 for the Boulder and Cub Creek field trip. Sunny skies, 65-80 degrees, and good company made for a wonderful day. Two low elevation seeps provided roadside viewing along Boulder Creek of 16 species including three species duskywings and swallowtails in abundance. Julia’s Orangetips, Large Marbles, Field…

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Study weekend provides opportunities for friends living at a distance to see each other while enjoying butterflying at its best. As Sunday morning came to a close, some departed early to head home and in saying goodbye a few of us missed the caravan to the next stop. While heading up the road we anticipated…

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July 15, 2023 – Trip Leader: David James About a dozen butterfliers joined me on a sunny July Saturday for this first-time field trip to three locations spanning 2,000 ft elevation along First Creek off Reecer Creek Road, near Ellensburg, WA. All three locations had an abundance of flowers and butterflies and we ended up…

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June 24, 2023 – Trip Leader: David James Bethel Ridge, west of Yakima along Hwy 12, is always a good place to find butterflies during the summer. And it lived up to its reputation on our late June field trip. We saw 20 species in the sunshine from swallowtails, to whites, sulfurs, checkerspots, blues and…

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It sounds like the title of a Fairy Tale. On June 1, 2023, a small group gathered on a sandy beach below a rocky outcrop along the Klickitat River in South Central Washington hoping to catch a glimpse of Washington’s newest resident. Like so many newly arrived Washingtonians, its home territory was in California. Somehow…

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WBA members visited San Juan Island for a two day field trip and were treated to educational, observational and experiential adventures on May 31 & June 1. The Island Marble Butterfly, Euchloe ausonides insulanus, is currently known to live only on San Juan Island. It was placed on the Endangered Species List in 2020. Known…

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On Thursday, May 18th, the WBA field trip to Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve enjoyed a beautiful sunny day exploring the mysterious mounds set in a Western Washington prairie just south of Olympia. The trip was led by Regina, WBA Treasurer and Gnum editor, who is the Assistant Natural Areas Ecologist for Western WA. She…

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