To follow up on my brief teaser, I accompanied my partner Sarah on a business trip to Santa Fe which we subsequently combined with a holiday to visit New Orleans and Raleigh in North Carolina to see my sister. Perfect butterflying opportunity!
All identifications are tentative and I would welcome any corrections and or comments.
My ID’s have been derived from The Butterflies of North America - A natural History and Field guide by James A Scott and the website
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org which is great as you can filter by county to narrow the number of species. I have to say that the skippers and spread wings are bewildering!!!
On arriving in Santa Fe the weather was unseasonally hot with temperatures approaching 100F . Santa Fe normally experiences a Maritime temperate climate with chilly winters, and very warm summers and is located at 7,199 feet (2,194 m) above sea level, making it the highest state capital in the United States. The altitude makes it essential to take on board plenty of fluid and use copious amounts of sunscreen to protect you from the intense UV.
I did succumb to the altitude once and it made me feel very sick and resulted in a painful headache.
The town is the most un-American I have encountered with low rise adobe style buildings a small population with randomly arranged streets that are completely dominated by hundreds of art galleries and copious museums.
On the first day we took a guided tour of the town on a tour bus which gave me the opportunity to view some potential butterfly areas I had spied on Google earth. We were only there for four days and two areas stood out for subsequent exploration.
The first day we caught the bus up to the Botanical gardens on museum hill which is another 2000ft higher up and we both struggled with the altitude, having to take regular breaks. The visit was fruitful producing a number of Monarch
Danaus plexippus which proved very obliging, including one which posed outside the ladies loo which caused some amusement as I dashed in front of the queue for some photos! The only other butterflies were an elusive swallowtail and a Sulphur which both avoided the camera.
![P1070376.JPG (3.24 MiB) Viewed 482 times Monarch](./files/thumb_9960_6de4cedb81a44035e031d525ca042655)
- Monarch
On return to town we tracked a Western Tiger Swallowtail along the high street into the grounds of the cathedral where it nectared, somewhat appropriately, in the shrine to St Francis of Assisi but I could only get a distant shot on my iPhone, and as it turned out, despite seeing good numbers, it was the only one that ever stopped.
![IMG_0629.JPG (1.17 MiB) Viewed 482 times iPhone shot of Western Tiger Swallowtail](./files/thumb_9960_c634a3178cc2a15ef3034e65446ef4eb)
- iPhone shot of Western Tiger Swallowtail
On the next-day I walked to a recreation park and sat in the shade whilst watching a female Ruby Throated Hummingbird
Archilochus colubrid hunting insects to feed its young - I watched intently to try and spot where she returned to to see if I could find her nest but to no avail.
In the park I spotted a Clouded Sulphur
Colias philodice feeding on clover, a Variegated Fritillary
Euptoieta Claudia, Common Checkered-Skipper
Pyrgus communis laying eggs on some form of geranium and a Checkered White
Pontia protodice.
![P1070414.JPG (991.82 KiB) Viewed 482 times Clouded Sulphur](./files/thumb_9960_9002c31a67a091a83c3a44b5d7b5d503)
- Clouded Sulphur
![P1070410.JPG (1.9 MiB) Viewed 482 times Variegated fritillary](./files/thumb_9960_c30a6c68325b1575f7848e633c0751f9)
- Variegated fritillary
![P1070543.JPG (947.34 KiB) Viewed 482 times Common Checkered-Skipper](./files/thumb_9960_c68c3bbaf6ec2b4e02c09ddc0a4d17f4)
- Common Checkered-Skipper
![P1070346.JPG (977.94 KiB) Viewed 482 times Checkered White](./files/thumb_9960_65ab14ee612247572c386de7c5e89df9)
- Checkered White
On the other side of the park I managed to clamber down into a dried up river bed which looked promising and became very frustrated when both Mourning Cloak and Western Tiger Swallowtail zoomed past!
The riverbed continued up behind some houses and I decided that it was not wise to follow it too much further so I retraced my steps back to the road.
My next destination was Fort Marcy Hill, an old earth hill fort built to defend the town which had looked promising on the tour - little did the guide know that I was not that interested in the various sculptures he pointed out during his tour!
A walking pedestrian in one hundred degree heat and no sidewalks is obviously something of a novelty in Santa Fe as at least four cars beeped me as they passed by!
I climbed the three hundred or so steps to the top of the hill stopping to watch the numerous lizards of various species but no butterflies until I got to the top.
![IMG_0689.JPG (2.66 MiB) Viewed 482 times View from Fort Marcy Hill](./files/thumb_9960_5716424d5278892f716579e860b716b0)
- View from Fort Marcy Hill
On reaching the top of the hill four or five variegated fritillaries were ovipositing on some pretty unappetising host plants, and as I photographed them, trying to avoid numerous annoying burrs catching on my legs, I spotted a couple of blues which turned out to be Lupine Blue
Plebejus lupini and Ceraunus Blue
Hoemiargus careens. There proved to be a good number of these blues around which in the whole trip proved to be one of the more numerous butterflies I encountered as it's fair to say that no butterflies were found in huge numbers. Another of the Clouded yellows also appeared and led me a merry dance but eventually settled to reveal itself as - I think - an Orange Sulphur
Colias eurytheme
![P1070538.JPG (1.23 MiB) Viewed 482 times Lupine Blue](./files/thumb_9960_cad5b71a2b16d2223d931a9bc4b821bd)
- Lupine Blue
![P1070601.JPG (923.8 KiB) Viewed 482 times Lupine blue](./files/thumb_9960_206f4d0c0e802bd945655f4da61f565c)
- Lupine blue
![P1070611.JPG (1.07 MiB) Viewed 482 times Ceranus Blue](./files/thumb_9960_b14821c2f52328dfba51aece520d9c30)
- Ceranus Blue
![P1070586.JPG (1019.75 KiB) Viewed 482 times Ceranus Blue](./files/thumb_9960_b8af15adec6fa99cc3147c744478c7b9)
- Ceranus Blue
![P1070487.JPG (1.26 MiB) Viewed 482 times Orange Sulphur](./files/thumb_9960_01572152ee3747dc45007ab9c35d75dc)
- Orange Sulphur
As I was photographing the blues something caught my eye that at first I thought was a fly, but that subsequently turned out to be the most diminutive butterfly I have ever seen, the Western Pygmy-Blue
Brephidium exilis. It makes the small blue look a giant - probably only half the size, not blue and a complete gem - one of the stars of the holiday.
![IMG_0692.JPG (385.19 KiB) Viewed 482 times Western Pygmy Blue](./files/thumb_9960_ad294419806794d299b368c65c67657f)
- Western Pygmy Blue
![IMG_0693.JPG (357.19 KiB) Viewed 482 times Western Pygmy Blue](./files/thumb_9960_463c9a92758ccd9880d36ce795946a70)
- Western Pygmy Blue
More Skippers were evident at this location - all of which I think were Common Checkered-Skipper
Pyrgus communis Calthough one looked much more brassy.
![P1070549.JPG (1.13 MiB) Viewed 482 times Common Checkered Skipper](./files/thumb_9960_00cee3fd80db6c2674678473fa3f619b)
- Common Checkered Skipper
![P1070507.JPG (886.36 KiB) Viewed 482 times Common Checkered-Skipper](./files/thumb_9960_bc842055f88c489aa852d64311d0b982)
- Common Checkered-Skipper
During my time at the fort I again was teased by Mourning Cloak, Western Tiger Swallowtail and this time Pipevine Swallowtail too. One that did stop very briefly was a pristine West Coast Lady
Vanessa annabella which sadly only gave a fleeting glimpse.
![IMG_0700.JPG (443.34 KiB) Viewed 482 times West Coast lady](./files/thumb_9960_a722781c9ac4bea352a191ac82d413b0)
- West Coast lady
Day Two to follow
Kind regards Mark
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)