Recent news
Pivot Rock Canyon was warm and humid Saturday morning 8/23/2025. According to campers there was substantial rain the night before, but there was no flowing water in the Canyon in places where we have seen it in past years and overall conditions were still very dry. Although five avid trip participants gave it their best shot, the butterflying that morning was not great. The group saw only about a dozen individual butterflies representing six species: Two-tailed Swallowtail, Spring Azure, Painted Lady, Northwestern Fritillary, Mourning Cloak, Taxiles Skipper. Pray for more monsoon rain this year and next!
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Ten butterfliers met at Aspen Corner on 26 July 2025 for a walk led by Gail Morris and Marianne Jensen. The day was a tad windy but otherwise beautiful with wonderful views of the high San Francisco peaks to the south and Hart Prairie and various old volcanoes to the north. We identified more than 15 species of butterflies although some ID’s awaited close inspection of photos back at home. Highlights included Pine Whites (pictured) – one landed on Marianne’s pants! – and three species of Skipperlings. It was a very enjoyable and engaging morning and here is the full list of what we identified: Two-tailed Swallowtail (probable), Pine White (6), Dainty Sulphur (3), Orange Sulphur (1), Marine Blue (1), Melissa Blue (1), Silvery Blue (6), Greenish Blue (1), Boisduval Blue (2), Northwestern Fritillary (10), Mourning Cloak (1), Garita Skipperling (8), Russet Skipperling (1), Edward’s Skipperling (1),Taxiles Skipper (>20), Pacuvius Duskywing (1), Northern Cloudywing (1).
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Just a reminder that five of the SE Arizona butterfly counts will take place over the next month or so and you all are invited. The recent rains bode a good start to our Monsoon this year and it will be interesting to see how the butterflies respond. Consider joining one or more of these counts to find out first hand what the prognosis is for our local butterflies. Please contact the compilers for specific party assignments if you wish to participate. Compilation dinners follow most counts where you can find out what was seen by the other parties.
Santa Rita Mountains, Friday July 25, Compiler: Greg Greene (greenecycle at hotmail.com) - Covers many of the canyons: Gardener, Box, Florida, Madera, and Montosa along with the high country.
Sabino Canyon, Sunday July 27, Compiler: Greg Greene (greenecycle at hotmail.com)- Aside from Sabino Canyon proper and other lowland areas such as Loews Ventana, and Agua Caliente Park, count covers the high country along the Catalina Highway from from Molino Vista to top of Mt. Lemmon.
Ramsey Canyon, Tuesday July 29, Compiler: Doug Danforth (dougofbis at gmail.com)- Covers the east side of the Huachuca Mountains from Ramsey Canyon to the Mexican border and east to the San Pedro River. One of the top counts species-wise in the nation.
Portal, Friday Aug 1, Compiler: Lori Conrad (lconrad6853 at gmail.com)- Chiricahua Mountains from Portal up to Rustler and Barfoot Parks. Had the top species count in 2023 for the U.S.
Patagonia, Tuesday Aug 5, Compiler: Rich Bailowitz (rbailowitz at gmail.com)- Covers Patagonia and vicinity. This count is consistently in the top three for species in the nation and most years is number one!
Check the SEABA website (www.seaba.org/naba-counts) for further info on these counts including meeting and compilation dinner times and locations.
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