Lorquin's admiral ~ 05/31/13 ~ Hatton Canyon

Lorquin's admiral perched on western dogwood

Limenitis lorquini perched on Cornus sericea ssp. occidentalis

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Lorquin's lacks the black.  Lorquin's lacks the black.  Lorquin's lacks the black.  I made up this mnemonic a couple years ago when I was trying to remember the difference between these admiral butterflies and the very similar looking California sister.  I've repeated it constantly.  Still, it hasn't really helped me differentiate Lorquin's when they're quickly flying past, so this is my first confirmed sighting.  I'm fairly sure I've seen Lorquin's before but usually guess they're the more common CA sister.  The lacking the black refers to the orange going all the way to the wing tips, without a thick dark border as is found on CA sisters.  Both butterflies tend to be in flight at the same time, too. Apparently, Lorquin's are Batesian mimics of the CA sister.

western dogwood ~ 02/04/11 ~ Hatton Canyon

western red-twig dogwood
Cornus sericea ssp. occidentalis
Cornaceae

OK, I'm getting pooped out on ID'ing plants for today. Does anyone know what these are? The green to red stems were gorgeous!

ps 02/10/11 - I originally posted this as unknown green and red stems. Thanks to Cindy at Dipper Ranch, I was able to track down the ID. I did a search query on which kinds of Cornus are found in this area and the subspecies occidentalis is the only one on record. That's good enough for me. As is becoming my custom, I obtained the common name from Jepson; I didn't like red-osier as a descriptor, because it makes it sound like it's a willow. I've made the corrections to the ID above and made a comment below.

mountain dogwood
Cornus nuttallii
Cornaceae

I always heard Yosemite had great dogwoods but had never been there in the spring. Wow! The bracts look like fluttering, white butterflies perched en mass on large trees, straight out of a fairytale. While trying to find a good photo specimen, I noticed how irregular every "bloom" was.