Rain, rain came to stay.

12 years ago

Finally the rains have come and stayed around for three days so far. A couple of flash down pours and some fairly constant rain separated by a lot of light sprinkles throughout both days and nights. Lake Ladobe has been three quarters full twice, and is still half full now in a light drizzle. As its still plenty hot here, it will be interesting to see if it all triggers a bunch of lep activity the next few weeks. Hope so, it's been a mostly lep free year around here.

We've all heard the chide about the old sap running through the trees. Wonder what my neighbors think of a geezer happily wondering around in the down pour getting drenched through and through with his walker over and over again? LOL

I've thought about going to my storage and getting out a fishing pole, sit on the bank with a float on the line and see what they say. Some would probably call to have me fitted for a straight jacket and carted away to a padded room... a couple that are more fun loving friends I'd bet would come over to ask how the fishing is and ask if I have a spare pole. ;)

Larry

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Comments (13)

terrene
12 years ago
Glad to hear you are getting some rain! Glorious rain! We have been getting a lot of that lately here in the northeast US, but I still don't take it for granted. Just have to deal with weeds, mold, malfunctioning gutters, etc.

Hope you see lots of leps and other wonders of nature...
Ament
12 years ago
I'd gladly join you along side the bank, with a pole and bobber, a cuppa joe too. It's gotten quite hot up here in SD. I'm bakin' my rump off today. :/ No rain for days here. LoL All I ever see is the little cabbage whites! I gotta get more variety planted to draw things to me. Maybe next year...

Hope you get to enjoy some beauties Larry! Snap some photos too! Haha! Sure would be a sight to see you roaming back and forth in the rain though. First thing that came to mind was a time Oh, I'd say abou 19 yrs ago in a down pour of rain gully washer type... Ditches were absolutely full! When it finally slowed down where it wasn't pounding rain I went out to dance in the rain, then puddle stomp, then play in the ditches filled nearly armpit high with water! Hehe! Great times! Enjoy the water Larry!

~Tina
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Jennifer, Thanks for the seed report on SESE. About 6 or 8 weeks ago I saw the handwriting on the wall with the coming pandemic and ordered my seeds for both the 2020 and 2021 garden from them. I'm glad I did. And, see there, I am being optimistic and believing I'll survive the pandemic or I wouldn't have ordered seeds for next year. I'm glad you're seeing signs that people are being proactive, and I hate that churches may not be able to have their usual Easter-related services and activities. We have to remember that a pandemic is such an incredibly danger public health risk and daily life, as we know it, is changing a lot. I know that people are not used to quarantining, and I'd rather be out and about than stuck at home all the time, but I truly feel the time to stop going out as much as possible and to stay home as much as possible is now. The new cases in Texas are exploding now, and many of them are community-acquired, meaning that the patient had no known contact with anyone else who has been diagnosed with the disease, did not travel anywhere outside the local area and, thus, obviously became infected from someone in their local community. I expected the numbers to move pretty fast in TX once I saw the initial reports, but they're increasing probably a little more quickly than I was thinking they would. At least we are not in the same condition here yet as a few other states like Washington, California, New York, New Jersey, Florida and Louisiana. Texas was ahead of OK by only a couple of weeks in terms of COVID-19 cases spreading, so we still have a chance to react quickly here and maybe have it not get as widespread as quickly. I am not going to violate anybody's privacy here, but want to say that our family knows some people who are ill, have been tested and are awaiting their test results. It is shocking when you hear news like that, and that is especially true when it is people just like you who have been pretty careful, only going to work and back home again, and just grocery shopping or buying gasoline as needed---no travel, no going to the mall or the gym back when those still were open, no obvious crossing paths with infected people as far as they knew, etc. I think for most people in north central TX near us, the time to stay home and stay away from people probably was about 2 weeks ago, and now that they have community spread, it is almost too late. Their governor is issuing new directives and restrictions almost daily, so maybe they can halt the virus' spread. In OK, if we all start being as proactive as possible now, maybe most of us can avoid the virus as it makes its first official round through our state. OK hasn't had too many cases yet, but I've noticed that as soon as one case pops up in any given county, a second or third one is not far behind. 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No entity---no city, state, county, hospital, fire department, police department, nursing home, etc. has enough PPE stockpiled to deal with this crisis. Since most of it is made in China, and China has been shut down production-wise since early January, there's no quick relief in sight either. I fear for all our first responders and medical personnel. Jen, I agree that modern-day technology offers us options not available in previous times of crisis. I'm glad you're finding a way to make it work for you. Larry, I totally understand how you feel. Tim and I said we wouldn't go out and about when the virus started getting close to home, and then he took a week of vacation and we went somewhere pretty much every day, even knowing we might be exposing ourselves to infection. Sometimes being bad is fun, and I'm glad we were able to eat at a couple of our favorite restaurants in Texas before the governor shut them down at mid-week last week. 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butterflymomok
12 years ago
You have used words to paint another picture for us. Had me chuckling to see you out there hobbling around in the rain, and sitting by Lake Ladobe with a fishing pole in hand. Is that worms in the can beside you? You have an old hat with lures on it? And is that a bottle of your favorite brew?

It reminds me of one of my favorite songs. Bet you see more leps in the coming days. The rains here bring them out of hiding.

Here is a link that might be useful: I love the rainy night
MissButterfly
12 years ago
Hehehe!!

You could call it 'virtual fishing' Larry!

Congrats on the rain - I hope it brings you many leps!

Sherry
ladobe
Original Author
12 years ago
Almost unbelievably its still raining here both day and night. We are still geting fairly heavy constant rain or sprinkles separated by dark overcast and some long periods of bright sunshine. The winds have come back so by my standards its not all that warm either, in fact at night when I go out its very noticeably quite cold with just a golf shirt and tennis shorts.

So it hasn't cleared up long enough to spur any new lep activity except for all the larva off my Lantana taking refuge and wandering on my patio. I haven't even bothered to determine the adults that visit from dusk on for a couple of hours every night, but probably Noctuidae.
ladobe
Original Author
12 years ago
Surprisingly the 6 days of wonderful rain didn't really spark any new lep activity so far despite over a week of relatively hot (90 degree) bright sunny days since. The nectaring plants that lost all of their flowers during a couple of the heaviest down pours are not coming back either other than a few small flower heads on my Lantana. So all I've seen the past week was a few Hesperiidae in pursuit of rubbing belt buckles, two more D. plexippus passing through (numbers 3 & 4 for the entire season), two Vanessa cardui and one V. carye which I guess was our all there was for the fall migration, and today a single Brephidium exilis found my Lantana. Even more surprising to me is no strays or even migrating birds at all have been seen. Easily the worst lep season I've seen on the Mojave in the 20+ years I've lived on it. Since last year was almost as bad, I guess if I want to see leps next year I'm going to have to travel to find some. And so it goes...

Larry
butterflymomok
12 years ago
Larry,

I don't understand why there aren't more leps around your place. I am seeing quite a few here. Yesterday, I got out and drove two and a half hours to a WMA I had never visited before. I was in search of the Hesperidae leonardus. The area reflects the drought we have had this summer. All the small pine trees have died. The WMA is on a hill with two fingers of water on each side. You can't see the water when on top, you have to stop at an overlook. There was lots of sneezeweed in bloom. And whereas the leps around here don't find it particularly attractive, there were lots of bugs nectaring all over it. One bug that I have only seen once before, was the Brephidium exilis. So when I read your post above, I knew what you were talking about! In fact, I didn't have to look up any of the names. The Brephidium exilis were mixed in with Echinargus isola yesterday. Interesting ... exile and isolate. The E isola were more heavily marked than any I had ever seen, so I know they are probably a subspecies. My Kaufman's doesn't give subspecies very often.

Now, as to the Hesperidae leonardus, I'm pretty sure I got some photos of the "pawnee" subspecies, but not the "montane pawnee". I am waiting on definite verification before I post the photos.

There are so many places to explore here in Oklahoma. I still want to see the Megisto rubricata. Hopefully, I'll accomplish that one next spring.

Funny thing happened yesterday. While I was driving around the WMA, I ran into another Lep friend from here in Tulsa! I had not found the H leonardus yet, and he had. So he told me where they were. Found out he's a personal friend of Kenn Kaufman.

Sandy
ladobe
Original Author
12 years ago
Sandy,

Normal for B. exilis in the west-southwest after the rains is great abundance to the point of blanketing nectar plants with dozens to hundreds of individuals. A swing of the net catches dozens at a time IOW. So only one is unusual when considering the hours a day I am outside now that it is starting to cool off.

Only E. isola alce occurs in our area, so that would be what you saw. Their heavy markings are a dominate trait, but there could be variable clines maybe. Their "squared" wings and dark markings make them pretty easy to not confuse at first glance with other "blues".

As you know I'm not a Hesperiidae expert by any means, but based on the work of two old friends (I do currently have in hand and not in storage) that do agree with pawnee/montana being subspecies of leonardus, they suggest doubt that you got a picture of a Hesperia l. montana in that WMA even if 2.5 hours west of you. Per them that sspp is very restricted to the South Platt River around Pikes Peak in CO. They do go into some detail on the differences between the three subspecies and why, why another is not accepted, but also suggest there is a huge problem with interblends in this species over vast areas in NA. Anyway, FWIW.

Larry
butterflymomok
12 years ago
Larry,

The Leonardus I found have the markings of the montana pawnee. I'm aware that these are not in any way connected to the small population around Pikes Peak. However, it is interesting that I couldn't locate any photos that matched the Leonardus I found. The picture of the Pawnee in Kaufman matches to a "T". But, when I went on line to try to find a photo, I couldn't. I end up back at the montana pawnee. So, I may submit my photo to Bugguide, as their photo base for Leonardus is limited, as is NABA, BAMONA, and any other database on the web. And, yes, I read about the interblending of the species. Quite interesting. I can't pretend to understand the limiting of the species, except that DNA has been checked. I've read quite a bit lately about the small amount of difference in DNA it takes to establish a new species/subspecies. Currently, Mark Dreiling from Bartlesville (who does a lot of blacklighting), has a moth that may be a new species. He has a pbase gallery.

I have only seen the one Brephidium exilis here locally. It was in my yard with a large population E isola alce. The one I saw was a county record, and the first seen this far east in Oklahoma.

I was south and west of Tulsa, not too far from the Texas border when I went on my outing. It's within the range for the B exilis. I also found out that the elusive Ambliscirtes linda have been spotted there. So, I'm sure I'll go back--most likely in the spring.

This is my week to travel to Ohio. I head out on Thursday, and will travel through St. Louis, Chicago, and then to Cleveland. There are some butterfly houses along the way, so I'll stop off and enjoy some tropical B-flies. And, hopefully, visit Elisabeth on the way home. No computer. I always leave home without it!

Sandy
ladobe
Original Author
12 years ago
Sandy,

They do talk quite a bit about sspp montana and some "blends" in the central mid to eastern range of this species do show signs of it, some are very similar in markings and color. But they also still stand that the true to form montana are only found in a very limited area. A key might be size as montana are smaller, although with normal species variations the difference may not be conclusive. They say mid north central to east is another blend zone for this species where almost all individuals have leonardus and pawnee traits. The overall gist of it is that this is a very variable species that would take someone with a lot more experience studying Hesperiidae than me. Andy, are you out there? LOL

Brephidium exilis has been recorded as far north as Nebraska in your area, but it is more a S-SW species here. It could be wider spread, but it's mall size probably means it often goes unnoticed. Conrats on the E. isola alce county record.

That WMA sounds like it is in the wrong and opposite direction for Amblyscirtes linda, but then my trusted resource book I checked is 30 years old and probably out of date.

You know how I feel about most B'Houses, so I'll leave it at that. Hope you do get to see Elizabeth though. Have a safe trip.

Larry
butterflymomok
12 years ago
Larry,

Got the news back from Andy. Definitely, H leonardus leonardus, known as the "midwest blend". My friend Jim got a photo of a Hesperidae meskei meskei, which is a state record! Makes me want to go back tomorrow.

Sandy
ladobe
Original Author
12 years ago
Sandy,
You contacted Andy and I was just joking about him. He is the man when it comes to Hesperiidae worldwide. I'll have to remember to sent you the names of some more experts.
Larry
butterflymomok
12 years ago
I didn't contact Andy, John did. And Andy got right back to him!

Andy and Nick Grishin are the guys we usually turn to for help with skippers.

Sandy

Rain, rain came to stay.

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