western brown elfin ~ 06/03/14 ~ Pinnacles

western brown elfin

Callophrys augustinus (aka Incisalia augustinus iroides)

I followed a tiny dark shadow through the CA buckwheat patch.  In the bright sunlight, I wondered if it might be a hairstreak, like the mountain mahogany or hedgerow.  Nope.  It was so dark, the flash even went off in the second pic, highlighting the Impressionist painting vibe I get under certain lighting conditions.  It surprised me that it's on the wing now, since I last saw brown elfins at Pinnacles in early March.  This one looks pretty fresh, except for the huge bite out of its left wings - that's probably why I was able to approach it several times to take pictures.  This must be a second generation.  Let's see if there'll be a third, or even a fourth generation this year.

western brown elfin on ceanothus ~ 03/24/14 ~ Bass Lake

western brown elfin on ceanothus

Callophrys augustinus (aka Incisalia augustinus iroides) on Ceanothus sp.

As I was trying to get pictures of the unusual-to-me ceanothus, she flew right into focus and sat there.  No nectaring, no laying eggs.  Guess she wanted her picture taken.  So I did.

buck brush

Ceanothus cuneatus var. cuneatus

Rhamnaceae

Now, back to the ceanothus.  Grrr.  I'm most familiar with the buck brush found at Pinnacles in San Benito Co., and it happens to be the last place I saw a western brown elfin.  C. cuneatus is the only sp. on their plant list, which seems odd to me considering Calflora has 82 records of native Ceanothus spp./var. (some are outdated, but still!).  At Pinnacles, the flowers are whiter, the leaves are shinier, and the stems are browner... and there's quite a bit of variation as I just noticed.  I think lots of people are confused about Ceanothus ID, myself included, and many online pictures are too inconsistent to be helpful.

OK, I'll admit, there's a part of me just wishing this to be a different sp.  I did drive over 3 hours, up the hills, suppressing awful memories of childhood car sickness every single time we visited the Sierras (ah, now I remember why I generally avoid the area like the plague).  I want to find something different, dang it!  I tried to convince myself that this is mountain whitethorn (Ceanothus cordulatus). However, it didn't particularly have any thorns, the bushes were taller than me (Jepson eFlora states C. cordulatus is generally < 1.5m), and the leaves are not 3-ribbed from base.  Anyone have a better guess?  Big bushes like these were blooming everywhere in open sunny areas.  It was really stunning.

western brown elfin ~ 03/09/14 ~ Pinnacles

western brown elfin

Callophrys augustinus (aka Incisalia augustinus iroides)

posted 03/20/14 - Eh, it's not as flashy as its Callophrys cousin, the bramble green hairstreak, but I'll take it anytime.  Upon closer inspection (click pic to enlarge), the pink and purple wing scales remind me of Claude Monet's Grainstack (Sunset).  Butterflies were impressionists way before the art movement.  Plus, orange antennal tips always slay me.  Dip your tips in orange, baby.