Columbia Lily

Erika and I found Columbia Lilies along the roadside in the Kennedy Flats area west of Olympia on 17 June 2020. They seemed to be fairly common, although they are rare in other areas, since people often dig them up to plant in gardens. The plant grows in western North America, from British Columbia to California. In Washington, they are encountered in coastal marshes, low and mid-elevation forests, and subalpine meadows.

Banded Skimmers

.

A few days of sunshine and 80 degree temperatures brought out a myriad of dragonflies. We found two females on 23 June 2020 at the Darlin Creek Preserve south of Olympia. The first is an Eight-spotted Skimmer, a common species of western North America from southern Canada to the Mexican border. Males sport bright white wing marks around their black patches. The second species looks quite similar. Note that this next dragonfly has black wingtips, a field mark of a female Common Whitetail. Males have much larger, black wing bands and develop white abdomens.

Twelve-spotted Skimmers are found across all of the United States except Florida and northwestern Washington. Records exist in the Vancouver/Portland area and up the Columbia River Valley. These dragonflies are even found in parts of southern Canada, so they should be found in the Seattle/Olympia area too. I will keep my eyes open. Males have white spots in their wings alternating with the black bands. As you can see in this final photo, female Twelve-spotted Skimmers are quite similar to female Common Whitetails. Note that the whitetail’s abdomen have yellow spots along their sides, while Twelve-spots sport almost unbroken yellow abdomen stripes. I took the Twelve-spotted photograph on 13 June 2016  in Dakota County, Minnesota.

Polyphemus Moth

On 23 June 2020, I was walking across a suburban parking lot. I stumbled upon this Polyphemus Moth, Antheraea polyphemus. Polyphemus refers to the one-eyed cyclops who invited Odysseus to lunch. The moth has a large eye in the center of each hind wing. Antheraea is derived from the Greek for  flowery, brilliant color. Presumably the moth “eyes” discourage predators. If I were a flycatcher, I would think twice about attacking this moth. Some variation exists in this moth's appearance. Note the amazing, comb-like antenna, which are used to sense sex pheromones.

Polyphemus Moths are common across North America. I am surprised I have never seen one before. They are found in every Canadian Province and all but two southwestern American states. This moth inhabits woodlands, orchards and wetlands. If they were more common, this species might cause damage to trees. They may cause damage to California plum orchards. Caterpillars eat entire leaves, and then cut off the leaf stem so it falls to the ground—perhaps to eliminate signs of feeding (Butterflies and moths).

Adults are attracted to night lights. Adults do not feed. I came upon this moth around 9:30 in the morning. This individual was in ragged shape. Probably it survived the night. Usually adults emerge from the cocoons in the late afternoon. Mating occurs during the ensuing 24 hours, usually that evening.

Red-veined Meadowhawk

On 18 June 2020, Erika and I discovered this dragonfly at Olympia’s Priest Point Park. I initially believed this was a female Cardinal Meadowhawk, which are infrequently observed. When I posted the top image in the Western Odonata FaceBook page, several red flags became apparent. The base of the abdomen seems too swollen for a Cardinal Meadowhawk. The legs are black, unlike the colored legs of the Cardinal Meadowlark in my last post. The abdomen sides are quite dark in a Red-veined Meadowhawk. In the second photo, note that there are no black marks in the wings and the red wing stripes reach all the way to the black spots near the front-wing tips. All these field marks add up to Red-veined Meadowhawk. Curiously, Erika and I found this species on 1 August 2019 at the same location—practically on the same perch.

Cardinal Meadowhawk

Near home in Olympia on 18 June 2020, Erika and I found several Cardinal Meadowhawks. These common dragonflies are fairly easy to identify. For one thing, they one of the few spring meadowhawk in the area. Note also the relatively conspicuous yellow spots on the sides of the thorax. The females, which are either brown or reddish (and possibly polymorphic) are less often observed than are the males (Paulson 2009).

Lorquin’s Admiral

On 17 June 2020, while walking along a dirt road in Kennedy Flats west of Olympia, Erika and I found several Lorquin’s Admirals. These butterflies are fond of mud, where they presumably sip moisture or drink minerals. They also feed on various plants, but also bird droppings and dung. These admirals are common in a wide variety of habitats, even urban settings, from western Canada south through the Rocky Mountain West south to California.

Western Forktail

On 18 June 2020, I found this male Western Forktail in a flood control pond about a mile from our home. Only three forktail species inhabit Olympia. These damselflies are relatively easy to tell apart. I was, however, concerned about the blue sides to this ode’s thorax—this color should be green. Dennis Paulson explained to me that the blue indicates that this individual is probably a young male whose sides will become green. This small species is fairly common across much of western North America. Males are less often encountered than are females. Sometimes at ponds no males are observed. Females only need to be fertilized once in their lives, and can store the males’ sperm for future use (Paulson 2009).

Spotted Towhee

This Spotted Towhee is just recently out of the nest. The plumage and dark eyes are confusing. The bird does have large, white tail spots which help with identification—along with upset parent towhees in the nearby bushes. Interestingly, when a baby bird squawks, birds of many species are often attracted. Spotted Towhees are among the most common birds at our backyard feeders. Erika and I took this photograph on 17 June 2020.

Savannah Sparrow

As was the recent Savannah Sparrow post, the bird, we found at the Nisqually wildlife refuge on 16 June 2020, is one of the small, pale western races. Erika and I discovered this sparrow during our effort to record a singing Common Yellowthroat. BirdNet, our bird song identifying app, concurred with our yellowthroat identification but indicated a Savannah Sparrow song was also present in our recording. Directly behind us, actually. Note the relatively long claws on the hind toes of this bird. Long claws are often present in ground-foraging birds.

Brown-headed Cowbird

On 16 June 2020 at the Nisqually national wildlife refuge, this Brown-headed Cowbird appeared to be auditioning for Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks. These cowbirds usually walk rather than hop and are known to run after insects (Lowther 2020). You may recall that cowbirds lay their eggs in other birds’ nests. Ornithologists have listed at least 220 host species (although not all of these raised the young cowbirds to fledging).