Coast Range CA Butterfly Counts - Benicia's Journal

Thank you to Paul for sending this on.

Benicia, CA. Yr. 22, 38.0691°, -122.1847°, Center at Dillon Point trailhead, Benicia State Rec. Area. See 1998 report for habitats. 03 June 2022; 1000-1700 hrs; sun AM 76-100%, PM 76-100%; 65-75°F; wind 0-15 mi/hr. 11 observers in 5 parties. Total party-hours 19.5; total party-miles on foot 15. Observers: H. Blank, C. Chang, I. Goines, J. Heyse, Paul Johnson (contact info removed by me, pls reach out if you need it), S. Lissick, L. O'Brien, A. Pearson, K. Ravipati, T. Seher, S. Seth.

Pipevine Swallowtail 4, Anise Sw. 8, W. Tiger Sw. 22, Two-tailed Sw. 2, Checkered White 17, Cabbage Wh. 88, 'Pacific' Sara Orangetip 2, Orange Sulphur 6, Gray Hairstreak 2, E. Tailed-Blue 1, Spring Azure 8, Acmon Bl. 2, Field Crescent 1, Mylitta Cr. 14, Variable Checkerspot 9, Red Admiral 5, Com. Buckeye 17, Lorquin's Admiral 2, California Sister 2, Monarch 3, Com. Checkered-Skipper 9, Sandhill Sk. 11, Rural Sk. 75, Yuma Sk. 2, Umber Sk. 24. Unidentified: Papilio sp. 1, Pieridae sp. 4, Nymphalidae sp. 7, Grass Skipper sp. 1.

Total 25 species, 349 individuals.

Field Notes: 17 species and 109 individuals observed at John Muir National Historic Site. Also seen during count week: Gulf Fritillary.

Hello, all interested Benicia butterfly observers and counters!
For 2023, the Benicia Count is on June 16th. Please prepare by contacting count organizer Paul Johnson ahead of the date- pm me for his email information if you don't have it already.

Tagging top observers for Lepidoptera in the Benicia area. Apologies if I’m tagging you and you already know all this or are not interested. LMK if you want me to stop tagging you (please put that in the comments so I see it in there next year) or if there is someone who wants to be tagged!. -Cat

@robberfly @euproserpinus @sarabseth @djrawlinson @djrawlinson @ameet @greengras2000 @ouzel @alicecaste @poppycorners @icosahedron @john91 @hfabian @kevinhintsa @silveradojim @sciencebabe @megsquitophd @naturalisttrent @rhislop @levinletlive @hasfitz5 @moraga4monarchs @edoswalt @ammoph11

Paul Johnson's email on 21-11-19
Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for your participation in the 2021 Benicia Butterfly Count, which includes the entirety of John Muir National Historic Site (JOMU). This was a tough year for all the counting parties, meaning it was a tough year for the butterflies! I appreciate all the effort that went into searching, even when there were few butterflies to be found. We did a really good job of covering the count circle which is, after all, what butterfly counts are all about.

I'm attaching a couple PDFs with count results. One shows the results split up into 22 different areas, and then summed up into 3 or 4 major zones, with a grand total. This year we had 23 species and 206 individuals. Sorry, I don't have a summary document with all the data for the entire Benicia count circle, but we've had several years with 35+ species and 350+ individuals.

The second PDF shows the summary data for just JOMU, for all 19 years we've been counting there (2003-2021). This year at JOMU we had 10 species and 28 individuals. The averages for the previous years were 18 species and 104 individuals.

Here are some highlights:
This year we got the first record of Checkered White at JOMU (not just for the count, but for the JOMU butterfly inventory). This brings the total number of butterfly species recorded at JOMU to 42. Unfortunately I got that after the rest of my group departed so they didn't get to see it.

We had 2 Monarchs! I think one of these was the only Monarch I saw on any of the 29 butterfly counts I did in 2020 and 2021. The fact that this one was in the town of Martinez is likely a sign of more and more people rearing Monarchs at home and releasing them... time will tell if that is helping or hurting the long term survival of the species.

Best of all, three parties got to see Yuma Skipper!

If you notice anything in the data that seems amiss, please let me know ASAP. (@euproserpinus)

Here is how the butterfly count report entry will look, pending future edits:
Benicia, CA. Yr. 21, 38.0691°, -122.1847°, Center at Dillon Point trailhead, Benicia State Rec. Area. See 1998 report for habitats. 14 June 2021; 0930-1630 hrs; sun AM 76-100%, PM 76-100%; 70-83°F; wind 0-25 mi/hr. 21 observers in 5 parties. Total party-hours 15; total party-miles on foot 14. Observers: K. Baker, C. Chang, A. Demartini, B. DeWitt, S. Eyes, A. Galgani, L. Goni, E. Grant, Z. Henke, J. Heyse, Paul Johnson (5000 Highway 146, Paicines, CA, 95043; paul_johnson@nps.gov), J. Kaiser, E. Lugo, T. Powers, T. Seher, S. Seth, J. Singh, S. Sloan, A. Sprague, G. Strykers, S. Suresh.
Pipevine Swallowtail 2, Anise Sw. 1, W. Tiger Sw. 14, Two-tailed Sw. 3, Checkered White 10, 'Margined' Mustard Wh. 2, Cabbage Wh. 43, Gray Hairstreak 2, W. Pygmy-Blue 1, E. Tailed-Bl. 8, Acmon Bl. 21, Gulf Fritillary 1, Mylitta Crescent 1, Com. Buckeye 1, Lorquin's Admiral 3, Monarch 2, Mournful Duskywing 1, Com. Checkered-Skipper 16, Fiery Sk. 3, Sandhill Sk. 4, Rural Sk. 19, Yuma Sk. 9, Umber Sk. 12. Unidentified: Papilio sp. 1, White sp. 10, Blue sp. 1, Nymphalidae sp. 1, Grass Skipper sp. 14. Total 23 species, 206 individuals. Immatures: Variable Checkerspot 100 caterpillars on Scrophularia californica. Field Notes: Conditions very dry, season advanced, nectar sources limited. Butterfly numbers noticeably low throughout the circle, but better geographic coverage than in recent years. Day cut short by high winds in the afternoon.

And here are links to iNaturalist observations during the count from several participants, including the JOMU Checkered White record:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2021-06-14&place_id=any&subview=table&user_id=catchang

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2021-06-14&place_id=any&subview=map&user_id=badewitt&verifiable=any

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2021-06-14&place_id=any&subview=map&user_id=sarabseth&verifiable=any

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2021-06-14&place_id=any&subview=table&user_id=euproserpinus&verifiable=any

Thanks!
Paul