Barry Marts and I escaped the heat of our immediate area on Sunday and spent a great afternoon looking for high elevation specialties in Canaan Valley NWR. We were not disappointed. Harris’ Checkerspots were abundant. Several FOY species were seen and photographed including a Pink-edged Sulphur which I had only seen at the highest elevations in Tucker and Pendleton counties until now. Granted the 3,100 ft elevation in Canaan Valley is high but still a thousand feet lower than those locations I’ve seen this species at before. Pink-edged Sulphur has a very, very clean ventral hindwing with a single white cell spot. It has a wider pink edged border than found on fresh Clouded or Orange Sulphurs. Clouded and Orange Sulphurs also have more small ventral markings than Pink-edged. I’ve included a side by side comparison below. Pink-edged Sulphur is a special butterfly in WV and you have to travel well north into Pennsylvania and the Canadian border states before it is typically found. Other notables included Atlantis Fritillary, Silver-bordered Fritillary, Baltimore Checkerspot, Common Ringlet, European Skipper, Long Dash and a “pocahontas form” Hobomok Skipper. The weather was party cloudy, a little breezy but temps topped out at 80 so it was not too hard to take(:>
Tally:
Click on any image below to enlarge
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