DMXA - Fleeing to Needles (4/20/01)

[Mark Walker]

Day Three:

On Friday morning Dave arrived in Las Vegas sorry that he didn't bring
warmer clothes.  The wind was blowing, the sky was gray, and the temperature
was in the 50's.  Not exactly excellent weather for butterflying.  The
forecast was worse.  Nothing but rain for Saturday all the way from
Washington to Baja California.  I told him about my experience with the
Indra Swallowtail.  That didn't make him feel any better.

As soon as we packed his gear (including a 150 watt mercury vapor bulb with
ballast), we headed towards the Colorado River.  The sky would be no better,
but the temps were heading for the upper 70's there.  We crossed the river
below Lake Mojave, and actually saw a little sunshine.  In Arizona, we
stopped to see if anything was flying - or crawling.  The first thing we
noticed were the thousands of White Lined Sphinx (Hyles lineata) larvae all
over the desert.  Surprisingly, we also found Queens (Danaus gilippus),
Checkered Whites (Pontia protodice), Dainty Sulphurs (Nathalis iole), and
Mormon Metalmarks (Apodemia mormo) accompanying the ten zillion Painted
Ladies (Vanessa everywhere).  Nastra julia and Hylephila phyleus were also
flying farther down the river.  Dave also had his first experience with one
of our western vipers - fully equipped with rattle.  He had wondered if we
might see one, but I don't think either of us thought we'd encounter one on
our first day out.

Less than satisfied with our daylight activities, we holed up in Needles
until sunset.  The sky actually cleared up and we drove on up to higher
ground where we set up a fantastic light rig.  We found the eastern Colorado
desert - like the rest of the desert for that matter - to be surprisingly
green and lush.  We hoped this would produce some interesting nighttime
visitors, particularly from the genus Schinia.  We were not disappointed.
Besides the 300 Hyles lineata adults that covered our sheets, faces, and
jackets (yes, we were reduced to wearing jackets in the low desert), we saw
at least 3 different Shinia's - maybe as many as 8.  We were totally
clueless as to their identities.  It didn't matter.  There's nothing quite
like sitting around a lighted sheet in the farthest reaches of remote
desert.  The air was crisp and sweet from all of the flowering bushes, and
the only sound to be heard was the quiet fluttering of 300 drunken White
Lined Sphinx (and the humming of the 2300 watt generator, along with the CD
player cranked to 13).  We daydreamed (nightdreamed?) of the days to come,
and tried not to think too hard about the impending forecast.

Mark Walker.

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

   For subscription and related information about LEPS-L visit:

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