Dogtown

One of the nicest things about living in Sonoma County is the very real chance of seeing a California Dogface Butterfly. The male is iconic, with the dorsal forewings showing a doghead silhouette framed by velvety black over orangish yellow, with a shifting shimmer of purple. An exquisite creature! But I actually prefer the unmarked female: the most delicate lemon-yellow, and a graceful swooping flier that you just have to see for yourself. These two definitely check most of the boxes required of our State Insect... except for the rather important one of visibility. Very few people will ever seen one. Our Dogface is not really rare, but is mostly restricted to the wooded foothill canyons where they can find False Indigo, where they fly unseen.

Fortunately, this unusual pterid-- bigger, longer-lived and a much stronger flier than any of the related white or yellow butterflies--is vigorous enough for occasional individuals to fly off- reservation, where an alert naturalist might see one flying in city neighborhoods. When I was 8, I netted an immaculate male in a neighbor's yard in Central Los Angeles; likely an individual that started out 20 or 30 miles away in the San Gabriels. In Santa Rosa we are much closer to the butterfly nurseries, and I see them in our neighborhood every week or so throughout their long flight. Starting in February, I can usually see them in the hills; later and until frost, just about anywhere in the county.

Like many others, I hope to take a few pictures when I see a choice butterfly. With Dogface this can be very frustrating. The commonest sort of sighting is of a rather high-flying yellow or orange butterfly on a beeline flying past and then away. They never seem to settle! Of course they do, but where is a mystery to me. The butterfly is regularly seen in Hood and Sugarloaf Parks on warm days in February before any of the important annuals bloom. My first photo ops have been on March's Blue Dicks and Hairy Vetch in the hills, and then a bit later on Wild Radish in the Laguna de Santa Rosa. As summer develops, they can be occasionally be seen a singletons anywhere in the county, and visiting many sorts of flower. Regrettably, these encounters--even if they add up pleasingly over a whole season-- are hard to predict and can never be counted on. If you are seriously intent on Dogface, it's all about thistles.

Our native Cobwebby Thistle provides a magnificent setting for a Dogface image; but sadly these are never very numerous and their season short. Happily, the more vigorous invasive thistle species thrive in our region; starting with the unlovely Italian Thistle, continuing with Milk Thistle and reaching a peak at summer's end with Bull Thistle and the (native) Douglas Thistle. About 1/3 of the Dogface/flower images on Inat involve Bull Thistle! These two provide satisfaction until fading in October. After that point I'll continue to see them flying until frost, but I'll not be needing my camera.

It is my impression that the last several years have enjoyed a bit of a Dogface boom in Sonoma County.
Shortly after moving here in 1983 I saw one in my neighborhood. Certainly in those first decades here I was working long hours, but I never saw another. Since 2011 I've been looking systematically, but only saw one or two each season. The last two years have been fantastic, and I've had hundreds of sightings, with scores within our northeast Santa Rosa neighborhood. Other Inat correspondents locally have also done very well, so I don't think my own experience is just a fluke. I had been apprehensive that our 2017 and 2019 fires might have damaged or even destroyed their false indigo nurseries, but that's clearly not the case. As these
grow in brush-choked canyons, perhaps the cleansing fire actually benefitted this reclusive plant?

Hard to say, given the fact that-despite yearly proof in the appearance of Dogface and Silver spotted Skippers- it is so hard to locate, and impossible to survey, our False Indigo. I've never found any in Hood or Sugarloaf Ridge Parks despite a decade of looking! Just as well. Most of the decline in butterfly populations is due to habitat loss, and the narrow canyons that support False Indigo are relative safe from the developers for the moment. But I've gotten a few plants from the plant sale at the Hallberg Gardens, and I'm hedging my bets.

Posted on October 26, 2023 12:38 AM by icosahedron