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« BeginEnd »Moths of Pawnee Butte

• Hyalophora cecropia - Cecropia Moth - Thank you David Ferguson!
  
  Found hiking the Pawnee Butte Trail, Pawnee National Grasslands, Colorado - 6.4.9 Quote: 'Identification: Wings are dark brown to red-brown. The gray area outside the white postmedian band does not contain any red. Crescent spots on the forewings and hindwings are white, although occasionally the spots on the forewing may be reduced or absent.' End quote.
• Found hiking the Pawnee Butte Trail, Pawnee National Grasslands, Colorado - 6.4.9: Quote: 'Range: In the east Quebec and Ontario to Michigan, northern Wisconsin, and southeastern Manitoba. In the west: Alberta and Montanta south through the Rocky Mountain region to southwest Texas and into central Mexico.' End quote.
• Found hiking the Pawnee Butte Trail, Pawnee National Grasslands, Colorado - 6.4.9: Quote: 'Life history: Females lay one or two eggs at the base of larch needles, or on leaves and twigs of other host plants. Caterpillars hatch in less than two weeks and are solitary feeders. The cocoon is compact and spun close to the ground on the trunk or stem of the host plant or on nearby thick undergrowth.' End quote.
• Found hiking the Pawnee Butte Trail, Pawnee National Grasslands, Colorado - 6.4.9: Quote: 'Habitat: Woodland with poorly drained, boggy, acid soil; suburban gardens; and a wide variety of wooded habitats.' End quote.
• Found hiking the Pawnee Butte Trail, Pawnee National Grasslands, Colorado - 6.4.9: Quote: 'Wing span: 3 1/8 - 3 15/16 inches (8 - 10 cm)' End quote.
• Found hiking the Pawnee Butte Trail, Pawnee National Grasslands, Colorado - 6.4.9: Closeup of joining.
• Found hiking the Pawnee Butte Trail, Pawnee National Grasslands, Colorado - 6.4.9: Certainly not an uncommon insect, but a lovely creature, don't you agree.
• Callophrys affinis - Western Green Hairstreak - Thank you David Furguson.
  
  Found hiking the Pawnee Butte Trail, Pawnee National Grasslands, Colorado - 6.4.9 Thank you greatly to David Furguson, of the Rio Grande Botanic Gardens in Albuquerque New Mexico, for his identification of this specimen! The beautiful green on the outer body was a lovely treat. Per Dave who grew up with Pawnee Buttes as part of his stomping grounds, the butterflies flies there in late winter/early spring (mostly in April, but it varies from year to year, and stragglers can last into early June in some years). Larvae feed on Eriogonum". End quote.
• Found hiking the Pawnee Butte Trail, Pawnee National Grasslands, Colorado - 6.4.9: It isn't black or blue, it's beautiful! Blue-margined Ground Beetle (Pasimachus elongatus)
• Callophrys affinis - Western Green Hairstreak - Thank you David Furguson.
  
  This beauty stayed put for just a very few moments. We never got a clear view of the wings opened.