Author: tatumjb352

2025 October 27

    Marie O’Shaughnessy sends a photograph of a Blue-eyed Darner  from McIntyre reservoir today:

Blue-eyed Darner  Rhionaeschna multicolor  (Odo.: Aeshnidae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

2025 October 24

   Aziza Cooper photographed this handsome caddisfly on Mount Douglas on October 23:

Caddisfly  Limnephilus sp.  (Tri.: Limnephilidae)   Aziza Cooper

2025 October 23

   Jeremy Tatum writes:  There were two Juniper Carpet moths at my apartment building in Saanich this morning.  Here is one of them. 

Thera juniperata   (Lep.: Geometridae)  Jeremy Tatum

2025 October 22

   Marie O’Shaughnessy visited McIntyre reservoir, October 21.  She writes:  As soon as the sun came out at 2 pm, I saw two Cabbage White butterflies. as well as one Cardinal Meadowhawk, one Blue-eyed Darner in flight, and two other darners which flew by rapidly and I was unable to identify.

Cabbage White Pieris rapae  (Lep.: Pieridae)  Marie O’Shaughnessy

Cardinal Meadowhawk  Sympetrum illotum (Odo.: Libellulidae)

2025 October 20 evening

   Val George writes: This moth, Sunira decipiens, was on the wall of the nature house at Swan Lake this morning, October 20.

Sunira decipiens  (Lep.: Noctuidae)   Val George

2025 October 20 morning

   Jeff Gaskin reports a Cabbage White from Cuthbert Holmes Park yesterday, October 19.  The butterfly season may not be quite over yet, so keep looking, and see if we can record the date of the last butterfly of the year.

2025 October 18 morning

   Winter Moths usually start to appear in mid-November, so, if you see a moth in October that looks like a Winter Moth, have a closer look – it may be a Juniper Carpet, like the one shown below, which was at Jeremy Tatum’s Saanich apartment this morning.

Juniper Carpet  Thera juniperata  (Lep.:  Geometridae)  
Jeremy Tatum

2025 October 17

   Jeff Gaskin reports a Cabbage White today on Wascana Street in the Burnside/Gorge area, and a Blue-eyed Darner in the Gorge Park.   He also reports that Kirsten Mills saw two Cabbage Whites on McKenzie Avenue between Glanford Avenue and Rainbow Street today, as well as a Mourning Cloak on Glanford Avenue, just south of Vanalman Avenue.

2025 October 16

   Val George writes:  This moth, Xanthorhoe defensaria, was settled in the grass at Clover Point yesterday, October 15.

Xanthorhoe defensaria  (Lep.: Geometridae)  Val George

   Gordon Hart was at McMicking Point today, where he saw a few Cabbage Whites, and photographed this Drone Fly:

Drone Fly Eristalis tenax   (Dip.: Syrphidae)   Gordon Hart

2025 October 15

    Jeff Gaskin reports sightings of seven Cabbage Whites in the last two days in various locations, and another two were reported by Marie O’Shaughnessy, so keep reporting this species.  It is evidently not yet finished for the year. Jeff also reports a  California Tortoiseshell at McMicking Point on October 14.  He writes that there was Ivy nearby.  This is the fifth California Tortoiseshell reported since September 19 – so keep an eye out for this one, too – especially at clumps of Ivy in flower.