Oregon and Washington Butterfly Photos - Brush-footed Butterflies

by Will Cook

Here's a selection of images from a trip to the Portland, Oregon area, July 29-August 9, 2006. I ranged as far as Mt. St. Helens (Washington), Bend, and the NW Oregon coast (which was lacking in butterflies). Locals say that 2006 was a very poor year for butterfly numbers, and I believe them, though I still saw plenty of cool stuff. I also found a couple of odonates, too, which are appended at the end of the Skippers page. All photos were taken using a Nikon CoolPix 8800, the majority with a Nikon 4T close-up lens attached. The camera settings are encoded in the EXIF data in each jpg image, readable with image browsing programs such as the free one I recommend, FastStone. Identification help is appreciated!

Swallowtails and Whites | Coppers | Hairstreaks | Blues | Nymphalids | Skippers

Nymphalidae - Brush-footed Butterflies

Heliconiinae - Heliconians and Fritillaries

Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele leto)

Leto Fritillary (Speyeria leto), female
Camp Sherman, Jefferson Co., OR 8/1/06

Often considered to be a subspecies of the Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele leto). Females are quite different from the eastern US version of Great Spangled Fritillary. The eastern and western populations were lumped because they intergrade where their ranges meet.

Hydaspe Fritillary (Speyeria hydaspe)
Camp Sherman, Jefferson Co., OR 8/1/06.

Hydaspe Fritillary (Speyeria hydaspe)
Camp Sherman, Jefferson Co., OR 8/1/06.

Hydaspe Fritillary (Speyeria hydaspe)??
Deschutes National Forest, Deschutes Co., OR 8/2/06.

Hydaspe Fritillary (Speyeria hydaspe)??
Camp Sherman, Jefferson Co., OR 8/2/06.

Looks like something took a big bite out of the wing!

Hydaspe Fritillary (Speyeria hydaspe)??
Mt. Hood, Clackamas Co., OR 8/8/06.

Western Meadow Fritillary (Boloria epithore)

Western Meadow Fritillary (Boloria epithore)
Mt. Hood, Hood River Co., OR 8/7/06.

Also known as the Pacific Fritillary.

Nymphalinae - True Brushfoots

Hoffmann's Checkerspot (Chlosyne hoffmanni)
Mt. Hood, Hood River Co., OR 8/7/06.

Netted (more on that below).

Field Crescent (Phyciodes pulchellus owimba)

Field Crescent (Phyciodes pulchellus owimba)
Jefferson Co., OR 8/2/06.

Also known as P. campestris. The underside of the antennal clubs in this subspecies are orange, as you can see here, but are black in the other subspecies.

Mylitta Crescent (Phyciodes mylitta)
Tualatin NWR, Sherwood, Washington Co., OR 8/5/06.

Variable Checkerspot (Euphydryas chalcedona)
Mt. St. Helens, Skamania Co., WA 8/3/06.

Variable Checkerspot (Euphydryas chalcedona)
Mt. St. Helens, Skamania Co., WA 8/4/06.

See my page on Variable Checkerspot (Euphydryas chalcedona) for more photos.

Hoary Comma (Polygonia gracilis)
Jefferson Co., OR 8/1/06.

Hoary Comma (Polygonia gracilis)
Mt. Hood, Clackamas Co., OR 8/7/06.

Hoary Comma (Polygonia gracilis)
Jefferson Co., OR 8/1/06.

Green Comma (Polygonia faunus)
Silver Falls State Park, Marion Co. OR 7/31/06.

(Polygonia faunus)

Green Comma (Polygonia faunus)
Jefferson Co., OR 8/2/06.

Same individual as below.

(Polygonia faunus)

Green Comma (Polygonia faunus)
Jefferson Co., OR 8/2/06.

The lichen-green bands on the underside of the wings are just amazing. Green Comma was high on my want-to-see list. I've looked for them unsuccessfully for years in North Carolina, where they're very rare.

California Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis californica)

California Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis californica)
Mt. Hood, Clackamas Co., OR 8/8/06.

A fresh California Tortoiseshell rivals the spectacular Green Comma for beauty. The first one you see is just amazing. Then you see another, then another, then another dozen, then a hundred. After a while you can get jaded to their beauty. In boom years, it's by far the most common butterfly in the area. I saw more than 10 times as many as the next most abundant species.

California Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis californica)
Mt. Hood, Clackamas Co., OR 8/8/06.

See my California Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis californica) page for many more photos.

Limenitidinae - Admirals and Relatives

Lorquin's Admiral (Limenitis lorquini)

Lorquin's Admiral (Limenitis lorquini)
Mt. Hood, Clackamas Co., OR 8/8/06.

Lorquin's Admiral (Limenitis lorquini)

Lorquin's Admiral (Limenitis lorquini)
Mt. Hood, Clackamas Co., OR 8/7/06.

We found this beautiful and fresh, but unfortunate, individual on the pavement in the highway median. Though still alive, it had apparently been struck by a vehicle and its abdomen was crushed. We posed it here on Dave McNeese's butterfly net, before he added it to his collection.

A quick detour... This was my first trip ever with a butterfly collector. Dave McNeese, who has been collecting butterflies since he was a kid, invited me to come along on a trip to Mount Hood on August 7.

Here's Dave McNeese with two able assistants, his stepdaughters Katie (right) and Alyssa -- all three are very enthusiastic butterfly net swingers! It was a lot of fun, though quite different from my trips with watchers or photographers, since there seemed to be three nets swinging at all times. I may have missed a few shots when a net came whomping down on my target, but they missed netting a few by patiently waiting for me to take a photo.

I only photographed one butterfly after it'd been netted (the Hoffman's Checkerspot), but a few of them, such as the Lorquin's above and a Mariposa Copper, ended up in little glassine envelopes soon after I took their photo.

Satyrinae - Satyrs

Northwest Common Ringlet (Coenonympha tullia)

Common Ringlet (Coenonympha tullia)
Tualatin NWR, Sherwood, Washington Co., OR 8/5/06.

Northwest Common Ringlet (Coenonympha tullia ampelos)

Common Ringlet (Coenonympha tullia)
Tualatin NWR, Sherwood, Washington Co., OR 8/5/06.

Common Wood-Nymph (Cercyonis pegala)

Common Wood-Nymph (Cercyonis pegala)
Jefferson Co., OR 8/1/06.

The ones in Oregon look so different from the Common Wood-Nymph in North Carolina that they're almost unrecognizable.

Small Wood-Nymph (Cercyonis oetus)

Small Wood-Nymph (Cercyonis oetus)
Jefferson Co., OR 8/1/06.

ID by Jonathan Pelham.

Small Wood-Nymph (Cercyonis oetus)

Small Wood-Nymph (Cercyonis oetus)
Jefferson Co., OR 8/1/06.

Also known as the Dark Wood-Nymph.

Great Arctic (Oeneis nevadensis)

Great Arctic (Oeneis nevadensis)
Mt. Hood, Hood River Co., OR 8/7/06.

Great Arctic (Oeneis nevadensis)

Great Arctic (Oeneis nevadensis)
Mt. Hood, Hood River Co., OR 8/7/06.

Swallowtails and Whites | Coppers | Hairstreaks | Blues | Nymphalids | Skippers


Comments? Questions? E-mail me at cwcook@duke.edu

North America Butterfly Photos | Carolina Nature Photos

All photographs and text ©2013 by Will Cook unless otherwise noted.