Photo was taken by Tamia Marg, May 1, 2020 along Grizzly Peak Boulevard. Check out www.NHWildlife.net for more photos of wildlife in and around Claremont Canyon.
Who would have guessed, our most commonly seen butterfly in spring, the variable checkerspot (Euphydryas chalcedona), is beautifully decorated on both the under side and the upper side! According to Arthur Shapiro’s Field Guide to Butterflies of the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento Valley Regions, both sexes of this species are avid flower visitors in the wild but are rarely found in gardens, unless your garden is close to a canyon. Could the author be thinking of Claremont Canyon? Variable Checkerspots produce one brood per year, often laying eggs on a local favorite Mimulus aurantaicus, or sticky monkey flower.
