We recognize Sue Orlowski as one of the key original members of the Spokane area WBA membership group. In her Board work, field work, recruiting efforts and broadly shared photographs, she may be the best recognized of Spokane area members today. She truly outdid herself this past season by submitting over 300 Eastern Washington butterfly sightings scattered over five counties, complete with all the details we locals would need to follow in her footsteps, material submitted complete with all the latitude, longitude and elevation details so that Jon Pelham can readily enter each of these sightings into his statewide database and atlas. In sheer numbers, she may have equaled Tom Rogers’ lifetime tally of entries in one season!

More than just a soloist, Sue is also the best sort of WBA team player, someone who has helped recruit new members, Board members and many an enthusiastic field tripper. Our current president is one of her recruits: thank you, both Sue and Mary! She also was one of the producers of the 2019 Study Weekend in Colville-the last one before the pandemic! She may also be one of few G’Numers also to have had a photo published on the cover of the summer 2015 issue of -Butterfly Gardener, the nationally-circulated NABA members magazine. She confesses her dedication to butterflies began as a spinoff from birding, but let no one call her -a birder gone bad! Thank you, Sue Orlowski, for sharing your love of butterflies, birds, dragonflies, bees and …..Nature… with all of us!

Sue Orlowski, lower left, serving on the WBA Board at the Colville Study Weekend, 2019. (Photo by Allan Latimer)

David Droppers must be reckoned as one of the leaders among Washington states of incoming generation of younger – than age 70 – lepidopterists! A WBA member since near our group’s inception, David must first be recognized in the field as the man with the fastest net, bar none. Scarcely a swallowtail or hairstreak eludes him. He leads field trips, teaches classes on butterflies and moths and varied settings, and makes himself readily available to share material from his fieldwork in WBA monthly meetings. Most recently, we appreciated his presentation and excellent photos documenting his years of fieldwork exploring -Butterflies of the Deep, Dark Forest. Years back, David contributed a gem of local butterfly taxonomy to the WBA website, -A Dichotomous Key to the Blues of Washington State, well worth the viewing if you haven’t seen it. He has volunteered thousands of butterfly identifications for our area photographers on the BAMONA website, where he has served as our regional point man for almost a decade. WBA stands by David in enthusiastic appreciation for all he has shared with us celebrating our rich butterfly and moth fauna.

David is currently pursuing a teaching certificate to teach biology to high school students, hoping to ensnare more young ones into butterflies and moths, or insects and the natural world at the very least. His enthusiasm is contagious. He says his only regret is that he is human – a human life is far too short to properly enjoy the butterflies of Washington, let along the Pacific Northwest, North America, and the world.

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