Observation date: March 18, 2021
Submitted by: 1tom2go
Specimen type: Photograph
Observation notes: small, about 1 inch, white with orange, black, and white tips, gray body, flying low to ground, fairly fast
Status: Resident
Verified by: stevecary
Verified date: March 24, 2021
Coordinator notes: it is difficult to distinguish Southwestern from Desert orangetips; I have to study my field guides (I use Glassberg's 2nd edition) very hard to be confident. For both species the orange patch is bigger & bolder on males than females. You got a female. Then, between the orange patch and the wing edge there is a row of black spots, a row of white, another row of black and then white at the margin. On Desert Orangetip females the widest white band is at the edge. On Southwestern Orangetip, the widest white band is between the two black bands. Thanks for submitting!
