On August 5th, a large group of WBA members gathered in an 8-car caravan to drive up Bethel Ridge east of White Pass. The area was still enveloped in Canadian wildfire smoke, so the promised views of Rainier, Adams and Rimrock Lake were invisible. But, the butterflies were not deterred so neither were we.

We counted 24 species of butterflies, including 4 greater fritillaries, 3 hairstreaks, and 4 sulphurs, including the Queen Alexandra’s Sulphur, uncommon in Yakima County and not previously recorded on Bethel Ridge. While there, we netted 50 Coronis Fritillaries for David James to tag for his migration study. Many more eluded our nets.

The same area was revisited by Bob Pyle 10 days later, with an additional 11 species recorded, including both the Large/Common and Small/Dark Wood Nymphs and the Hoary Comma. A very rich area for butterflies!

Watch Al Wagar’s video of the trip….

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