Olallie Butte Report - Marion County, Oregon USA

[Patricia & Jeff Harding]

   Dan Thackaberry and I walked up on Olallie Butte, in Eastern Marion
County, on the crest of Oregon's Cascade Mountains today.   It is a
volcanic cone that rises to about 7000'.  There were not too many
butterflies in the air - the summer has been cool and the snow pack has
lingered.  Most abundant were lupine or acmon blues, Icaricia acmon or
I. lupini.  Dan collected some of each, and I may have photos of I.
lupini.  This would be the western edge of acmon's range according to
Opler in the new Peterson Guide to Western Butterflies.  There were also
a few Milbert's Tortoiseshells, Nymphalis milberti.

There was one duskywing, tentatively identified as Erynnis propertius,
interesting because there is no nearby oak habitat, but there were
chinquapins, and we wonder if this could serve as a host plant.

While we were at the top, a white blasted by, presumably Peiris
occidentalis, but it could have been one of several others, which could
have been county records for Marion and/or Jefferson County (they meet
there at the top).  Dan missed it with his net, and I was too encumbered
by the camera and binoculars to swing my net effectively, and it left
the area.  We hung around for almost an hour, but it never returned.

We found only three other species - one each Speyereia hydaspe, Lycaena
mariposa and Ochlodes sylvanoides.

Not much variety, few numbers, but a few good ones in a nice walk with
spectacular views of much of Oregon.
Cheers, Jeff