Always Something Interesting

Koondoola

Having another go today at finding sciron. Parked at the NE corner again, this time following the firebreak in a NW direction, as suggested by Matt and Martin. Good looking spots on both sides of the track,

Firebreak, looking NW

Still plenty of wildflowers to enjoy

First item of interest is a Lycaenid behaving differently to boeticus, less frenetic. It's in the same area that I found agricola on the previous trip, but this looks a little large and lighter. It perches, and I can see two obvious spots on the underside of the forewing. I'd seen one of these earlier in the week, but had been unable to photograph it. Candalides acastus. I also stuff  up the photograph this time, in spite of it perching perfectly for me, I manage to miss focus on my first attempt, and by the time I got it sorted out the butterfly's gone. Ah well.

Ultimate fail! Candalides acastus - Blotched Dusky-Blue

It's 11:30, and getting warm. The bureau says 31.9C - but in my backpack it climbs to 34.5C. I'm not going to be too ambitious today.

Regrowth after fire

I discover an interesting looking area that had clearly been burnt some months back. Regrowth is beginning, but it's left plenty of bare patches. The Synemon moths seem to have taken it over, which makes life that much harder. If they are going to flourish like this, they need to stop behaving like butterflies. I keep thinking a Satyrid, maybe a small ringlet or a dark gatekeeper.

My route for today

There's an arrogant kershawi that's enjoying feeding from a flowering spike of Xanthorrhoea. It's a good looking specimen. Like many of the Vanessids, it has the habit of suddenly opening its wings for a split second, causing any number of slightly too late photographs. Thank god for digital photography - I finally manage to get a shot with wings spread.

kershawi feeding

Vanessa kershawi - Australian Painted Lady

Interesting to compare kershawi with the European version, cardui. The only apparent differences are the black ringed blue spots on the Aussie ones, which are just black filled on the European. Cardui does establish colonies on our western coast, and I have seen migrating specimens of Painted Ladies in some numbers arriving at Cottesloe beach from the west, possibly having crossed the Indian Ocean.

Vanessa cardui - Painted Lady

The popular Xanthorrhoea spike

There's a lone halyaetus enjoying the sparser undergrowth in this burnt area. Surprisingly this proves to be the only one of the day.

Hypochrysops halyaetus

I start walking up the hill - plenty of boeticus but they're looking the worse for wear. A handsome Banksia flower. These are the predominant trees in this part of the reserve, but few are in flower at the moment.

Banksia flower

The sea breeze comes in, and the temperature suddenly drops by around five degrees. It's 12:30 now, and I return to the fire regrowth area. Dozens of Synemon, then something different catches my eye. Flying like kershawi, but it's a touch smaller and duller in colour. As I though, villida.

Junonia villida - Meadow Argus

Snap a quick picture but I won't worry too much, I've got better in my garden. I think of it as the Small Tortoisehell of Australia, an insect at its happiest and most content in and around gardens.

Something on the Xanthorrhoea spike again, this time a skipper. It's cyanophracta, again my only one for the day, but I'm not really in cyanophracta territory - they've seemed to be much more numerous near the top of the hill. Looks good on the flowers.

Mesodina cyanophracta - Blue Iris Skipper

I'm still hoping for sciron,and I spot a different skipper - reddish brown in flight, unlike the grey-blue of cyanophracta, and perhaps a touch bigger. Certainly a new species for me, but the underside doesn't look like what I'm expecting for sciron - just a single white spot. Two species of Motasingha have been reported from the reserve - it'll be one of those.

Motasingha dirphia - Western Brown Skipper

Without the upperside it's difficult to be sure, but from the examples in the book it's closer to dirphia than trimaculata. That's what it'll have to be for now. Just the singleton, but it hangs around and perches helpfully. I've got a shot that I'm happy with.

Concentrated attention in the fire regrowth area

Two new species and a couple of nice photographs, that'll be enough for today. And just as I leave, a vicious looking fly which seems to have prey firmly in its jaws. It must be lunchtime . 

Searching for sciron

Koondoola. Target for the day, Trapezites sciron. I'm looking for something like this. Generally uncommon and very local, according to Braby. We'll see.

Trapezites sciron - Sciron Ochre

Those circled white spots on the underside should be distinctive. A touch smaller than cyanophracta apparently. According to Matt, the north-east of the reserve is the favoured area - he also comments that it should still be around. A bit of a worry, I had thought the reason I hadn't encountered it yet was because it was too early in the season.

Typical north east landscape

I haven't investigated the north-east before. I'd concentrated on the high ground on the western side, around the water tower - there were plenty of likely looking spots for butterflies there. I'd discounted the southern part of the reserve - it just didn't feel good. But I was keen to investigate the north east. I'd checked on the map, there appeared to be decent suburban streets nearby to leave the car - I'd just have to cross the busy Marangaroo Drive and I'd be right there.

Just off the firebreak

I was at the reserve by 0930. Here was the firebreak that Matt had suggested was the right area. It also featured heavily in the locations marked as successful on John Dover's 2005 paper in Biological Conservation. paper which studied the distribution of halyaetus in the reserve. What's good for halyaetus is good for sciron?

Enlarged thumbnail of Dover's halyaetus map showing concentrations of butterflies

 (I hadn't paid $30 for the paper, I'd just blown up the thumbnails in the Science Direct online abstract. Sorry, John)

Pattersonia extensive here

First thing noticeable was the abundance of the blue iris, Pattersonia occidentalis. There are plenty of individual plants throughout the reserve, but nothing like this concentration here. As the foodplant of the Blue Iris Skipper cyanophracta it comes as no surprise to find the reserve is something of a stronghold for this species.  cyanophracta? The cyano is easy enough, that's the blue, but what's phracta? φρακτός? This is some sort of covering or cloak, I think. Presumably referring to the blue cast on the underside.

 Different feel to the reserve here - full-on banksia woodland, much less of the Jacksonia that was common higher up. But none the less, the site certainly looked prospective. I'm looking out for a medium sized brown skipper, maybe a little smaller and darker than cyanophracta.



Very little happening here. Not even the boeticus that seemed to be up early in the other part of the reserve. I'm quartering the area for a good thirty minutes before I see my first butterfly that's not rapae. It's a Lycaenida, small, dark brown, not particularly mobile. Eventually it settles and I get a photograph. As I suspected, Neolucia agricola. Not great condition, but my first for the season.

Neolucia agricola - Fringed Heath Blue

I'm moving backwards and forwards through the bush, covering the area extensively. I'm there for an hour before my first Hesperida. Fast moving, but I lose it before I can confidently ID. It's quiet for another fifteen minutes. I decide to walk back up the hill to the water tower, exploring some areas that are new to me on the way. I'll return to this area later in the morning.

Halfway up the hill, there, around another concentration noted by Dover in his paper, I encounter several more agricolae.

agricola - distinctive double chevron on the underside

Upperside of agricola

Two males constantly bickering, but eventually I get some more photos. Getting closer to the top of the hill, there's another Lycaenida, this time it's halyaetus.

Hypochrysops halyaetus

Then as I reach the top of the hill, I encounter several more. The females don't appear that different from agricola in flight, it's only when they settle that the spectacular underside is revealed. The males are more distinctive, as they show turquoise in flight.

I return to the area where I found cyanophracta earlier in the week. This is a long way from the extensive areas of Pattersonia near the north-east entrance. The plant exists here,but not in anything like the same numbers. Sure enough, cyanophracta is still flying here.

cyanophracta

A Synemon sp, Not gratiosa, which I saw on my last visit. Is this possibly sophia or discalis? I don't really have a reference for moths in WA.

Sun moth - Synemon. Behaves just like a butterfly

A fine specimen of kershawi, and more halyaetus, Very cooperative today

Hypochrysops halyaetus - Western Jewel

Several specimens of boeticus that are beginning to look rather worn, but I find one that's in pristine condition.

Lampides boeticus - Long-Tailed Blue

I start to make my way back down the hill.  Certainly halyaetus is the commonest butterfly here today after rapae.

On the way back, I stumble upon a colony of cyanophracta nectaring. Several are flying here in a fairly restricted area, although there appears nothing particularly unique about the location.

Mesodina cyanophracta

Mesodina cyanophracta

I evntually return to the original target area. It's still quiet, in spite of looking prospective, but today isn't the day. I put the camera away and return to the car. It's one o clock. Temperature was fairly cool throughout, rose to around 23 degrees, sunny periods with patchy cloud.

Three and a half hours. One new species (for the year), better photographs of two existing (cyanophracta and halyaetus). But no sciron.

A - north-east firebreak. Extensive Pattersonia
B - concentrations of agricola
C - original location of cyanophracta, many halyaetus
D - cyanophracta colony

Two new species at Koondoola

Koondoola is about a 35 minute drive for me, so I arrive around 0945, having driven against the traffic. Monday, October 12th.  It's still school holidays so the road works on Reid Highway aren't causing the chaos they will next week.

Koondoola Regional Bushland

The reserve is past its floral best - the Kangaroo Paws are looking decidedly worse for wear. There's a blue flying quickly around a native pea plant but it's refusing to settle. I net it - Lampides boeticus, as expected. Several more, always associated with a pea. I don't bother to investigate further if the behaviour is consistent - fast, jinking flight up to three metres. There are other Lycaenidae reported from this location, but I'm going to assume boeticus unless the behaviour is different.

Native pea - Fabaceae

I move up to the higher part of the reserve. Some open areas that would seem suitable for Hesperidae. It's getting hot - 33 degrees is forecast for today. Apart from rapae and boeticus, it's all pretty quiet.

Lampides boeticus - Long Tailed Blue

I flush a group of five or six quail from the undergrowth. Hadn't seen them before. Brushed a fast-moving tick from my sleeve. Today I'm wearing gaiters over the long pants, long sleeve shirt and the floppy hat, with a DEET based insecticide sprayed over me from head to foot. I need to find a strategy to beat the vicious biting ticks - the bites take weeks to stop itching and heal, in spite of trying a number of different ways to remove them successfully without them injecting more venom.

Nasty Tick - Avoid

Something flies past quickly - Orange and Black. Another kershawi?  A bit bigger perhaps. Aha - Danaus chrysippe. Seen a couple this season already. Strange butterfly, some years it's common, even in the city, other years don't see a single one. This one's not stopping for a photograph.

Interesting. A dark skipper. It perches on a small kangaroo paw. It moves, then settles again. Drop the net and trekking stick, fire up the camera. A quick record shot to identify it if it flies off, then a progressive approach, shooting as I go. Get up real close, can't see well enough through the lens, but I know there's enough detail recorded to identify it with when I get back. Definitely not argenteoornatus, so it's a new species for me.

Hesperidae - which one?

From afar, a demoleus swallowtail. Have seen one everytime I've been here. Absolutely no chance of getting close, it's moving very quickly, and some fifty metres away.

A flash of colour, a reddish-orange. I've seen one of these before - the colour disappears as soon as the insect settles. It's a day-flying moth.

Synemon sp. Sun Moth

I move to the highest accessible point of the reserve - there's a fenced off water tower right at the top. Something flying here that's Lycaenidae, but not boeticus. Appears quite pale in flight - it settles about two metres high, also on a pea plant. A flash of turquoise - unquestionably my first ever halyaetus. I fumble with the camera and it's gone. Disappointing.

Hypochrysops halyaetus - Western Jewel

Hotter. I would have quit by now if it hadn't been for the skipper and this halyaetus. I return to where I saw the skipper again. I'm waiting by a stinkwood bush when something lands at eye height right next to me. Without moving, I can see the underside clearly. It's definitely halyaetus, a female this time, the upperside is brown rather than turquoise - I can see one side is a little damaged. This time the camera is ready. Good shots.Research back at base shows this is the principal foodplant. Did I miss ovipositing?

Jacksonia sternbergiana - Stinkwood

Midday. That's enough. There's a bottle of water in the car - it's hot, but I'm parched. I identify the skipper back at home. There's an unmistakeable blue cast to the underside - cyanophracta. Two new species, reasonable shots of both. A successful morning - I'll be back.

Mesodina cyanophracta - Blue Iris Skipper