Spring 2015 – was a boom year for Painted Ladies and they were reported migrating throughout the state. Below are some of the observations. If you’d like to learn more about their migration, watch our program from December 2023 by Dr. Royce Bitzer titled The Vanessa Migration Project.
And then check out the observation at the bottom of this post from 1978 over K2
March 18
According to Facebook page “Monarch Butterflies in the Pacific Northwest”, Painted Ladies are headed our way.
“Not a Monarch, but another butterfly that migrates to the PNW from climes to the south. The Painted Lady is sometimes very common during summer in the PNW while in other years hardly any are seen. 2015 could be one of the ‘boom’ years with multiple reports of good numbers already being seen in southern Oregon. Let us know if you see any ‘ladies’ in your area!”
April 7
The Painted Ladies have made it to Washington! A good condition female was seen searching for host plants in a wheat field near Pasco WA on April 2.
Dr David G James
Associate Professor of Entomology,
Washington State University
April 20
Looks like it may be another good year for Painted Ladies!
I was in Anza Borrego Desert State Park in southern California in late March and early April. I saw an unusually large number of Painted Ladies (although not as many as the irruption year of 2005 when Lynn Monroe, compiler for 4th of July count, hardly knew how to quantify the enormous numbers). I expect we may see more than usual this year in Washington.
-Bob Vandenbosch
AND
Painted ladies moving north across SR 30 between Astoria and Portland, Oregon, Saturday April 18, in modest numbers. – Bob Pyle
April 21
From WBA members, Rayna and Jay Holtz on Vashon Island
Jay and I were surprised to see a Red Admiral on April 16 flying in sunshine on the Vashon uplands. I was even more surprised to see one on the beach yesterday, April 20, flying north. Half an hour later a second butterfly about the same size passed me, also flying north. The second one was past before I got a good look at it.
Maybe it’s going to be a good year for Red Admirables too!
Rayna
April 22
Reported on NorWest Leps discussion group:
At 1:40 pm at ~58 degrees F and calm, here in West Seattle (flying along a
residential street) I finally had my first slow and CONFIRMED Vanessa
cardui – Painted Lady, still flying north, but skipping, hopping and
zig-zagging a bit, stopping at least once to show me its white, dorsal
forewing leading edge white triangle getting it to species with relative
confidence. (How do others describe that white triangle?) The rest of my
countless sightings of possible V. cardui, were rapid fly-bys, mostly
headed straight north (one going south), with a few of their sister Vanessa
atalanta – Red Admiral / Admirables stopping to be identified to species
and a few, at best, educated guesses to V. cardui. A few Polygonia satyrus
– Satyr Anglewings wandering away from their preferred wooded edges and
openings were added to the mix for confusion.
-Stewart Wechsler
October 2018
Painted Ladies story by famous Spokane mountaineer in REI blog
Famous Spokane climber’s 1978 documentation of record breaking, high-altitude butterfly (Painted Ladies) observation makes it into REI Journal this week. The identity of the flock was determined from Kodachrome color-slide photos 38 years later!
Note: I have spent a couple years now scourging the literature, and unpublished accounts of a very small community of hyper-alpine entomologists, for highest-altitude insect records, and this K2 record continues to hold up.
https://www.rei.com/blog/climb/the-first-american-ascent-k2
James Bergdahl
Conservation Biology Center
Spokane, WA, USA, 99204