Fieldtrip report 22 March - Round Valley by Ron Rutowski
18 CAzBA members and friends, traveled up the Beeline Highway to see what was flying on this nice spring day with only a scattered thin cloud cover. Having had relatively little rain this winter, the wildflowers were not abundant but there were enough to pull out the butterflies when the sun was fully out. Our first stop at Round Valley included a walk up a dry wash where as usual this time of year the Variable Checkerspots were out in force. We even located some large larvae on their foodplant: Chaparral Beardtongue. A small splinter group scrambled up to a nearby hilltop, where males of the Pipevine Swallowtail and California Patch were particularly active defending their territories. Later in the morning the group moved up to Sunflower Valley and saw a few species typical of elevations higher than Round Valley as we walked along the now closed "old" Beeline Highway. All counted, we observed 29 species, which is close to the maximum of 31 seen on this trip in previous years .
Pipevine Swallowtail, Two-tailed Swallowtail, Sleepy Orange, Dainty Sulphur, Southern Dogface, Cloudless Sulphur, Mexican Yellow, Orange Sulphur, Spring White, Checkered White, Spring Azure, Marine Blue, Martin’s Blue, Western Pygmy-Blue, “Siva” Juniper Hairstreak, Sagebrush Checkerspot (pictured), Zela Metalmark, Elada Checkerspot, Variable Checkerspot, Queen, American Snout, Empress Leilia, California Patch, Painted Lady, Satyr Comma, Red-spotted Purple, Mourning Cloak, Common/White checkered-Skipper, Meridian Duskywing.
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