Diario del proyecto CVC Butterfly Blitz 2022

Our 15th OOTW is this European Common Blue, seen by Fozia (@fozia).

There are a lot of interesting things about this newly introduced species, some of which we discussed in our post earlier this year. It has turned up at a few more locations in the watershed this summer, making me wonder if its range in Mississauga is expanding or if more people noticing it. What do you think?

Besides adding a new location for this species, the main reason I wanted to highlight this observation was to give me a chance to talk about blurry photos.

Fozia’s photo of this Common Blue is definitely fuzzy. No judgement here—I’ve taken many photos like this. Sometimes butterflies just don’t cooperate and sit still! If you’ve been to an in-person butterfly event with me, you’ve probably heard me say that photos don’t need to be perfect to identify a butterfly. For some species, even a blurry photo will do if the distinguishing features are visible.

Most blurry photos with good IDs that I see are Monarchs. But this European Common Blue observation is another great example. As noted in the comments on the observation from a helpful iNaturalist user, you can see the row of orange dots along the edge of wing as well as a middle white patch just inside those dots. There are no other butterflies in our area that look like this, so we can say that it is the European Common Blue.

Three blurry butterfly photos from our project. Can you identify the species?

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not recommending that you don’t try to get good photos when observing butterflies. It is always easier to identify a species from photos that are in focus and show all the relevant features. But if it comes down to a choice of letting your subject get away or snapping a less than perfect photo, I’d always recommend going for the less than perfect photo.

You may not need a wonderful photo to ID some butterfly species, but you’ve got to get an excellent shot if you want to win the best photo prize in the 2022 Butterfly Blitz! Don’t forget to register to join us at Terra Cotta CA on September 17th to find out who wins each of this year’s six prizes. See here for more details: https://cvc.ca/event/butterfly-blitz-wrap-up-event/

And if you’re the kind of person whose photos always turn out great, enter our photo contest—running until September 8th. Find out all the details here: https://cvc.ca/contest-rules/

Hello Butterfly Blitz enthusiasts! It’s hard to believe it, but there are only two weeks to go in the 2022 Butterfly Blitz. Even though the summer is coming to an end, we’re still enjoying seeing all your beautiful butterfly observations—keep them coming!

Our 16th OOTW is this Black Swallowtail seen by Terence (@tezster). Terence spotted this butterfly at the MacEwan terrace gardens at Riverwood , where he takes many lovely photos. About his picture-taking, Terence says: “Photography has always been a hobby of mine, but I only started dabbling in wildlife photography during the pandemic, as a way to get myself to spend more time outdoors, and learn more about the natural world”.

We’ve heard from several of you that the pandemic encouraged you to get outside and connect with nature. We also saw a jump in Butterfly Blitz observations in the past two years. It’s wonderful to see people appreciating the natural world around them, including small wildlife like butterflies and other insects.

The Black Swallowtail is part of a group of species that all look very similar, known as the Pipevine Swallowtail mimicry complex. Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars eat plants with toxic chemicals, and by retaining those chemicals in their bodies, they make themselves unappealing to predators. This might sound familiar as its also what happens with Monarchs and Viceroys – Monarchs get chemicals from milkweed and Viceroys mimic Monarchs.

In addition to Black Swallowtails, the species that look very similar to Pipevine Swallowtail include Red-spotted Purple, the black form of Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, and Spicebush Swallowtail. Those species are seen above in that order, with photos by @tezster, @bevlynn99, @brendavr, and @samos16.

Spicebush Swallowtail used to be a species that was rarely seen in our area, but they are becoming more common as their range expands northward. They even seem to be breeding here – as shown by this caterpillar seen recently in Mississauga. Isn’t it beautiful?!

Don’t’ forget to register for the wrap up event if you’d like to hear more interesting facts about butterflies as well as summaries of what we’ve found throughout all four years of the Butterfly Blitz. We’ll be getting together at Terra Cotta CA on September 17th, and we’d love to see you there.

The 2022 Butterfly Blitz may be almost over, but we are still seeing many wonderful observations come in. This includes our 17th Observation of the Week— this Common Buckeye seen by Nick (@nickuzhov).

Common Buckeye is one of the handful of breeding migrant species found in our area. These species can’t survive the winter here; some adults move north each summer from their permanent southern range. However, there is no guarantee that you will Common Buckeyes every year in the Credit River Watershed. They were last seen in the 2020 Butterfly Blitz and are generally observed in the area one out of every two to three years.

You might wonder why a species that is not commonly found is called the Common Buckeye. There are several other Buckeye species in North America, but you’d have to travel south and/or west to see them. Of these species, Common Buckeye is the most widespread—leading to its name. The next most abundant is the Gray Buckeye, which looks very similar to the Common Buckeye but is found in western North America.

When you do see a Common Buckeye, the distinctive colouration and giant eyespots make it hard to mistake it for anything else! Nick explains how he found this particular butterfly:

“There is a small wooded park close to my home, I can say almost downtown Mississauga, next to the Cooksville creek.

Even though I know it quite well and for years, it doesn't stop surprising me with new species of birds, butterflies and other animals.

Just this summer, I saw my first European common blue and the buckeye there.

I have been mostly working from home for the last 2.5 years. It was a quiet and sunny Friday, so I spent my lunch hour going for a walk in that park.

There is a wide rectangular clearing, and there I saw a butterfly. I realized it was something unusual, unknown to me. I was lucky as it didn't shy away very much and after I took a picture of it with wings folded, in maybe 2 min I took one more with the wings wide open.”

Some describe Common Buckeye as an easily approachable species that is less inclined to fly away quickly than other butterflies. This matches Nick’s experience, and might explain all the beautiful iNaturalist photos of this species where they are posing nicely for the camera!

Which butterflies do you think are the best subjects for photos? Let us know in the comments.

Welcome to the 18th and last Observation of the Week (OOTW) for the 2022 Butterfly Blitz. This week, we’ve chosen a crescent as our OOTW, observed by Madison (@mgard1).

Crescents are difficult to tell apart, so we’re unsure if this crescent is a pearl or a northern crescent by this photo alone. While many butterflies are similar in colour and pattern, the northern and pearl crescent can sometimes be identical, especially so late in the season. So identical in fact, that these species were only recently declared separate species. Read more on these species in a 2021 OOTW journal post.

Our observer, Madison, is new to the butterfly blitz this year and was eager to meet likeminded people through our in-person wrap-up event. Our wrap-up event was held at Terra Cotta Conservation Area on the final day of the blitz (Saturday, September 17th).

Madison says: “… this was my first year participating in Butterfly Blitz and I got involved later in the season compared to some other participants but I love getting out into our local parks and outdoor spaces and figured this was a great opportunity to participate in citizen science, when I went out to the wrap up event I was unsure what to expect but it was great to meet some likeminded people that I only knew through iNaturalist prior to attending an in person event. Definitely looking forward to participating more actively next year.”

We are looking forward to seeing Madison out at our events and viewing more of her observations on iNaturalist next year. And of course, we also hope to see YOU out there too!

During the wrap-up event, we were also lucky to award some great prizes to our outstanding participants. These awards and award winners were:
• Most species: Bev Lynn observed 45 species of butterfly
• Most observations: Julie Power had over 230 observations from her wildflower garden
• Rarest species: As observed by Don Scallen, there are only two previous records of the Dorcas Copper in the watershed, in 1998 and 2016
• Lucky day: Kevin Kerr made 13 observations of 9 species on July 10th
• Best photo: Christine Elliott captured a stellar photo of a Common Wood Nymph.

Each winner was awarded an Annual Conservation Park Membership for access to select CVC and TRCA Conservation Areas and a framed butterfly photo by Robert Noble.

If you missed the wrap-up event and would like to learn more about the 2022 Butterfly Blitz findings, be sure to watch the wrap-up presentation.

Until next year, thank you for your participation in this year’s project & happy hibernating!

Your Butterfly Blitz team,
Laura, Lindsey & Kristen