Field Notes - Great Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) on coneflowers in permaculture gardens.
Large butterfly, marked as shown on the underside. Spotted sipping water at mud at the edge of a creek (intermittent flow, but flowing all summer this year) in a mixed conifer forest with Gambel's Oak, chokecherry, and other shrubs in understory. Map location is approximate.
Great Spangled Fritillary on thistle.
First encounter of the season, five American Coppers depicted (including one nectaring at Solidago juncea), and one observed.
With Jason King. – https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/30777894