Butterfly #1 [California Tortoiseshell], Canyon Creek Campground, Jefferson Co., Oregon on 7 June 2007 by Greg Gillson.Most birders have at least a passing interest in all forms of life. Many have become deeply immersed in butterfly and dragonfly identification. At this point, I have decided not to let my obsessions with birds extend to these colorful flying insects. But sometimes they demand attention. Such was the case on the Woodpecker Wonderland Bird Festival held last week at Camp Sherman, Oregon.
While leading bird tours in the Abbott Creek area of the now 6-year-old B&B Burn, I was impressed with the numbers of butterflies along the Metolius River at Canyon Creek Campground. So I took several photos of butterflies sunning themselves. Except for monarchs and swallowtail butterflies, I am pretty much ignorant of butterfly identification. In fact, I'm not sure what the differences really are between butterflies and moths.
So I present some photos here and hope that my readers will tell me what these are. For now, these are just "pretty butterflies" the same way that some people enjoy "pretty birds" without a strong need to name and chase them. If you know what these are, please use the "comments" link to post your response. Thank you.
Tiny little blackish Butterfly #2 [Two-banded Checkered Skipper], Canyon Creek Campground, Jefferson Co., Oregon on 7 June 2007 by Greg Gillson.
Another dark one, Butterfly #3 [Northern Cloudywing], Canyon Creek Campground, Jefferson Co., Oregon on 7 June 2007 by Greg Gillson.
The undersides of the wings were pale with orange dots on this on, Butterfly #4A [Dotted Blue (sp.)], Canyon Creek Campground, Jefferson Co., Oregon on 7 June 2007 by Greg Gillson.
This same butterfly had blue wings when open, Butterfly #4B [Dotted Blue (sp.)], Canyon Creek Campground, Jefferson Co., Oregon on 7 June 2007 by Greg Gillson.