Elver av gull

Noen bilder fra min helgetur ned til Shell Creek, San Luis Obispo fylke. Tidlig vår langs den sentrale kysten er fantastisk, og bakveiene var fulle av blomstervoktere. Det var dusinvis av biler okkupert av familier ute på en helgetur, many had packed lunches and sat to watch the flowers grow. While I am happy to see people enjoying the natural beauty, it is difficult to see the damage their trampling can cause. Men, if more people could get out to appreciate nature, perhaps it would be easier to protect. The flowers were so bright and dense it was difficult to focus on moths, and after a few hours I started to go a little snow-blind (or as it shall forever be now known, flower-blind). Here are a few feeble attempts to capture the beauty.

(more images after the break)

Most likely a Schinia species feeding here.

Heliothodes diminutiva

Heliolonche joaquinensis

Xanthothrix neumoegeni

This is Adela thorpella, or a fairy moth. Note the incredibly long antennae.

The full list of Lepidoptera seen for the day:

Møll

Heliothodes diminutiva(Noctuidae)

Heliolonche joaquinensis (Noctuidae)

Heliolonche modicella (Noctuidae)

Schinia crotchii (Noctuidae)

Schinia amaryllis (Noctuidae)

Schinia pulchripennis (Noctuidae)

Xanthothrix neumoegeni (Noctuidae)

Axenus arvalis (Noctuidae)

Achyra occidentalis (Crambidae)

Adela thorpella (Adelidae)

Sommerfugler

Danaus plexippus

Vanessa Atalanta

Coenonympha tullia

Anthocharis sara

Colias eurytem

Everes amyntula

Glaucopsyche lygdamus

Plebeius Azmon