Ladies Dance

[Mark Walker]

Arroyo Seco, Monterey Co. CA  4/14/01

Typical spring weather on the central coast.  One day of torrential rain,
the next a day of cloudless blue sky, and the next a day of heavy fog
followed by hazy sunshine.  It was on this final day that I had a chance to
break away from my busy working schedule and get a little lepping in.  Well,
not so much lepping - but a lot of hiking.

I trekked in from the Arroyo Seco trailhead - if you haven't visited this
part of Monterey county in California, it is some incredible country.  The
trail ventures into the Ventana Wilderness area of the Santa Lucia
mountains.  The mountains in this part of the range go above 4000 ft. -
which is pretty tall when you start at sea level.  The forest here is thick
and already leafed out - a combination of deciduous, evergreen, and
chaparral.  There is a deep gorge here, and the river is swollen from the
recent rain.  I don't know if/when the river dries up (Arroyo Seco), but it
isn't going to be dry any time soon.  There are many deep swimming holes
between the rapids.  Normally I'm a fish, but this day wasn't warm enough to
justify the long and dangerous hike down into the gorge.

I thought the sun would grow stronger, but it just never happened.  All the
leps I saw were weak in flight, and very few in number.  Surprisingly, 90%
of every lep was female (good day to be a lep I guess).  That was enjoyable,
being the hetero guy that I am.  This part of the season is mostly quiet
anyway, but I expected quite a few more blues, orangetips, and elfins.  I
was stoked to find a species of Dudleya - and even more stoked to find
Philotes sonorensis shortly after.  The NPWRC site doesn't include Monterey
county, so I don't know if it's been recorded here before.

I hiked for about 5 miles, and then had to head down to pick up my children
in Bradley.  I have family there - which is amazing, since the population is
only 49.  Four of those 49 are kin.  There are lot more rattlesnakes in
Bradley then there are people.

Here's my list:

Papilio eurymedon (Pale Swallowtail)
Anthocharis sara (Sara Orangetip)
Satyrium melinus (Gray Hairstreak)
Incisalia augustinus (Brown Elfin)
Celastrina ladon (Spring Azure)
Philotes sonorensis (Sonoran Blue)
Glaucopsyche lygdamus (Silvery Blue)
Plebejus icarioides (Boisduval's Blue)
Plebejus acmon (Acmon Blue)
Coenonympha tullia california (California Ringlet)


Mark Walker
Oceanside, CA  

 
 ------------------------------------------------------------ 

   For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:

   http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/lepsl