Twins…. & Me Still Learning to ID…

02May08

Hi actually I have twin daughters. I think most of you know that by now and both are completely level headed and adorable. I’ll maybe one day discuss two of the people I’m probably the most proud of however, that will have to wait. Instead I’ll toss up three difficult species that I struggle to identify especially in the field.

First, those darned squirrels! I think I finally got it figured out. I was lucky enough to get a shot of a Douglas squirrel recently so I can show a comparison.

The Douglas Squirrel

The Red Squirrel

Sure you say the lower guy does look a little more red… well, give it about a month and the coat of the Douglas is going to go more and more red as the summer winds on. So how to tell? First, it is a Red squirrel or Douglas squirrel if they have that wicked cool white eye line. Then next step… see the black line on the upper guys belly? It’s a black line that separates the upper color with his lower white belly. That’s what a Douglas squirrel has that a Red won’t and never will. So if your lucky enough to see that tummy line it’s an easy ID.

Now birds; the House Finch vs. the Cassins Finch. A few things tell you the difference; the Cassins has a more distinct eye-line and at least locally, a more distinct face pattern. The breast of the House Finch has more markings on it and the Cassins Finch has a rather clean and reddish breast. The tell tale sign that tells me every time however is the line of the beak. It’s almost an arch on the House Finch but only slightly goes down on the Cassins Finch. Here are a couple of shots to compare.

House Finch

Cassin Finch

Top View Cassin Finch.

Now lastly butterflies…. This one really got me! Not having the trained eye of a scientist It took me a lot of time to be able to distinguish these two butterflies. I understood they were different but how? Both are Tortoiseshell butterflies and fall under the small group of brush-footed butterflies. A tortoiseshell simply looks funny when it is closed – it’s brown and mottled on the underside of it’s wings. It did not help that both landed on a nearby tree in a single group. I actually created circles so you can idenify the similar butterflies with the wings open and with the wings closed.

The original shot of both Compton and California and now my marked up version…

The hints are in the circles I put on the photo. On the right is a Compton because when its closed you see the mark that looks a little like a check mark (in butterfly circles it’s called a comma) that is only on the Compton. The second indicator is the two circles on the left butterflies – there should be really distinctive white marks in that circle and since there aren’t it’s a California Tortoiseshell.

Here is a photograph of a Compton Tortoiseshell while open. Other than those two indicators I can’t tell the difference.

 

Okay now that you know here are a few pretty shots I got of the butterflies who covered an entire bush I think overall I saw on one bush about thirty butterflies.

(p.s. This is a closed California butterfly – no comma – and it’s my favorite shot.)

Hopefully I didn’t confuse anything and I got it right and if not someone out there will correct me!

peace….

Filed under: Bird Watching, Local Birds, Pacific Northwest, Uncategorized   |  14 Comments
Tags: brush-footed butterflies, butterflies, California Tortoiseshell, Cassins Finch, Compton Tortoiseshell, Douglas Squirrel, Finch, House Finch, Local Wildlife, Red Squirrel, Squirrel, Tortoiseshell Butterfly, Wildlife