Nothing aside from the usual suspects on the slope today, but the real find was a sunny patch of scrub oak along the southwest side of the main trail surrounding the observatory that was absolutely teeming with hairstreaks. I spent over an hour in that one spot tapping, tracking, photographing and identifying. I saw a number of pairs of males locked in aerial combat as I saw yesterday. Unfortunately, Oak hairstreaks were not invited to this party. I identified at least 5 Banded and 8 Edwards HS and some were doing a very curious thing. A number of these hairstreaks, especially Edwards, seemed to be nectaring at buds on the scrub oak. There were also ants crawling about the buds (look for them in photo) so I imagine they were secreting something sweet. I took a few videos of this which I will post separately.
Edward’s HS (Satyrium edwardsii) ‘nectaring’ at oak bud
Oak Hairstreak Study 