A Day in the Life… with apologies to the Beatles. And the beetles.

My field season here in southern California is in full swing. I’m out doing butterfly research in the Santa Monica Mountain Range several times a week (6 out of 7 days last week, 3-4 during a normal week). I often joke that butterfly work is much more pleasant than, e.g. bird work since butterflies sleep late and don’t typically fly during bad weather. While I can’t argue that my job is pretty darn pleasant, it’s still a lot of work and makes for some long days. I thought I’d keep track of a typical day in the field and share it here. I find it incredibly interesting how different a field day is for people who study different organisms, or who work in different parts of the world. If you want to share what your field day is like leave a comment!

5:30 AM- Awake.
6:00 AM- coffee and smoothie for breakfast while answering emails
7:00 AM- put together gear for the day. Refill camelback and water bottles (minimum of 3 liters of water for the day). Check sunscreen supplies. Pack extra socks. Put together food for the day. Restock glassine envelopes.
7:30 AM- double-check today’s field sites. Plan to visit 3 of my 23 sites. Today’s sites are in the western portion of the mountain range.
7:45 AM- load up the car and leave the house. Stop to fill the gas tank.
9:00 AM- arrive at site one. Slightly too cool for butterflies, so plan to spend a few minutes exploring a different section of trail. Do so, then discover I’ve accidentally spent almost an hour on ~1/2 mile of trail. Oops.
10:00 AM- 11:50- survey site 1. Count 16 species (and 95 individuals), including 2 of the Griffith Park 10. Cover ~3.5 miles.
11:50- water break for my field assistant.

My field assistant assessing abiotic factors affecting diversity.

11:55- drive to site #2.  No time for lunch, so snack in the car while driving.
12:25- arrive at site 2. Count 11 species, 145 individuals. Over 100 of those are Hedgerow Hairstreaks. Overhear 2 dudebros who clearly have no concept of how sound carries in a canyon. Enjoy watching them look uncomfortable when I call them out on the racist stuff they were saying as they walked down the trail. Cover 4.5 miles of trail.

Hedgerow Hairstreaks nectaring on buckwheat flowers.

12:45- Water break for my field assistant.
2:50- drive to site #3
3:20- arrive at site #3. Stare, agog, at how dry it is compared to the last visit 3 weeks ago. Admire the beautiful, clear view of the California Channel Islands. Count only 5 species of butterflies (30 individuals), marvel at how many of those are migrating Painted Ladies. Cover 2.5 miles of trail.

Channel Islands from the western portion of the Santa Monicas

4:25- Water break for my field assistant.
4:30- Check the traffic report and see that it will take two hours to get home. Drive to the grocery store for snacks for my field assistant and me.
6:45- home.
6:50- prepare dinner for my field assistant

My field assistant, performing olfactory surveys of mammal diversity in sandstone canyons.

7:00- enter today’s data
7:30- document voucher specimens
7:45- shower, dinner.
8:15- answer emails
8:30 PM- read journal article
9:30 PM- bed.

Spring Has Sprung

It’s springtime!  Right?  Wherever you are I’m sure you’re looking out the window to glorious sunny days filled with warmth and butterflies. Unless, of course, you are most of my family or friends (Hi Erik!) looking out the window to several inches of snow and mercury in the single digits.

Actually, down here in the City of Angels, it’s been feeling like spring for about a month or so.  I’ve been out in the field almost non-stop in recent weeks, and the butterflies are definitely out stretching their wings.  Non-butterfliers may not realize it, but butterflies have seasons, just like fish and birds.  Some butterflies are on the wing most of the year in southern California but quite a few are restricted to just a few months or even weeks of the year.  Most of my favorites fall into this latter category, and happen to fly in the spring.

A couple of weeks ago I was at the UCLA La Kretz Field Station and was delighted to see the first Sara Orangetip, Anthocharis sara, of the year flitting around the yard.  This delightful little species drifts by so quickly that most casual observers don’t have time to notice the lovely orange wingtips that give them their names.  They fly by so quickly that they’re often, in fact, confused with moths.  

Anthocharis sara, Sara Orangetip. Photo taken in the Santa Monica Mountains

Sara Orangetip has shown up at almost all of my 25 field study sites over the last 3 weeks.  Today I revisited a sight that was among the first where Sara was flying and saw only a couple of individuals, meaning that this species is quickly coming to the end of its flight season.  If the weather cooperates we may get a partial second brood of this gorgeous springtime bug.  Anyone who is still flying today is frantically looking for a mate or for mustards to lay eggs on, before their offspring hibernate in the pupal stage.

I’m very disappointed, and slightly worried, not to have seen any Sonoran Blues (Philotes sonorensis) so far this year.  This tiny but spectacular member of the Lycaenidae has a tight link to its larval host plant, members of the genus Dudleya.  I’ve seen records that this animal is out and about elsewhere in the southwest, but so far none have shown themselves on my Santa Monicas surveys.  The mountain range is experiencing a loss of Dudleya habitat due to fires, which may be impacting this butterfly as well.  It would be great to have time to survey more comprehensively for this beautiful butterfly but for now I’ll have to hope for incidental sightings during regular survey days.

If there was any doubt at all about whether or not spring had arrived, today’s find put an end to that speculation.  While surveying on the Mishe Mokwe trail I lucked onto the fist checkerspot of the season, the Gabb’s Checkerspot, Chlosyne gabbii.

Gabb’s Checkerspot, Chlosyne gabbii. Photo taken in Santa Monica Mountains. Ignore the chipped thumbnail.

This photo doesn’t do justice to this lovely and well-behaved animal.  I say well-behaved because, like most checkerspots, they readily come to flowers, making them quite easy to observe (and chase.  Ahem).  I spent most of my PhD years chasing close cousins of this species, and several outings chasing this animal in particular.  Seeing one never ceases to bring a smile to my face- I’ve been grinning since about 11:30 this morning knowing that it’s now checkerspot season.