While there were no official group field trips since—well, all of them were cancelled—some members have gone out individually to some of our regular sites and reported back.

Okanogan County, June 19, Cheryl Bellin and Jim Rauh

A roadside seep prior to the main meadow was where Jim netted the main goal for the visit, a Meadow Fritillary, Boloria bellona! I thought I’d share the exciting news to keep the interest up for our trip to the area next year! This is the first time we’d seen this fritillary in Washington state. Interestingly, this butterfly was a resident in our yard back in Maryland. I saw one other lesser fritillary in the mead- ow area within a fenced off wetland so unable to confirm.

A few photos shows it was quite fresh and bodes well for this timing next year all things being equal.

We saw 21 species for the day. New for us this year beyond what we’ve seen in the Methow were several Northern Checkerspots, Chlosyne palla.

Meadow Fritillary. (Cheryl Bellin)

Mount Townsend, NE Olympics, July 30, Regina Johnson

The last 5 times WBA has scheduled a field trip to this site for the first weekend in August, it has rained. So of course this year it did not rain in the first weekend of August. But not wanting to bet on that, I went on the preceding Thursday—not just because of the weather curse but also overwhelming use of the trail and parking area on weekends in even normal times. It. Was. Glorious. The trailhead parking was full by 9 am but there weren’t that many people on the trail, and the people I did see, all masked up and stepped aside to pass. Wildflowers were peaking. Butterfly numbers were not huge but species diversity was good with 13 species I felt confident identifying on the wing. Noteworthy is the Spangled Blue, numerous just below the summit on just-blooming Cushion Buck- wheat. There were Mountain Parnassians, Vidler’s Alpines, and a flyby of what must have been a Chryxus Arctic. Along with dozens of fritillaries, mostly Arctics and Hydaspes but there could have been other species too. For some reason, most people’s goal for this hike is seeing Seattle from the summit. I don’t get it.

You’re in the Olympics! People come from all over the world to see them! Endemic butterflies and wildflowers! And you want to see Seattle??

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