Spring is springing!

(For you birders who only want to hear about birds skip to next paragraph
and stop there.)

(Butterfliers excuse extra details for the birders.)

Though we have had a number of warmer (over 55 degrees F) sunny days in the
last week when my butter-fly-ometer hit the "fly mark", it was today at 1:35
pm PST I finally have my first butterfly flight report for the year:

Species: California Tortoiseshell - Nymphalis californica (prefered larval
host plant - Ceanothus sp.)
Tribe / Family: Nymphalinid tribe of Nympahlids - Nymphalinae of Nymphalidae
(you could think of them as the Winter-flying Dead Leaf-wings (camoflaged as
dead leaves with scalloped edges when wings closed)
Site: Seattle's Orchard St Ravine pocket park in West Seattle
Latitude: 47.5 degrees North
Altitude: about 350 feet

Also heard there:
"Dzweep!" call of Hutton's Vireo

Other Phenology notes:
yesterday first bloom:
Beautiful Bittercress / Slender Toothwort - Cardamine pulcherimma / C.
nutallii
(host and possibly nectar plant for Margined White butterfly - Pieris
marginalis / (Mustard White - P. napi) at Camp Long -West Seattle - planted
stock
First bloom open of Tall Oregon Grape - Mahonia aquifolium / Berberis aq/ -
among our better early nectar plants for butterflies and flies in better
drained sunnier sites in Western WA, also for E WA Ponderosa Pine to Douglas
Fir and riparian zones.

First Rubus spectabilis - Salmonberry bloom for year about 4 days ago in an
extra warm microhabitat by west side of a stone building (Camp Long lodge).
The first Rufous Hummingbird might be following soon!

I'd send links to photos of these species on request. (I can't remember if
links are rejected by Tweeters listserve.)

I look forward to hearing other reports, especially for firsts for year and
area.

Thank you!

-Stewart

Stewart Wechsler
Ecological Consulting
West Seattle
206 932-7225
ecostewart at quidnunc.net

-Advice on the most site-appropriate native plants
and how to enhance habitat for the maximum diversity
of plants and animals
-Educational programs, nature walks and field trips
-Botanical Surveys



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