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The weather was very pleasant today but started a litle chilly at 58F! 8 participants started up the col. Devin Trail from Washington Park Trailhead, taking it slow as the trail seems to get steeper each year (or are we getting older?) 27 species of butterflies were seen, with Weidemeyer’s Admiral and Thicket Hairstreak being the most exciting, but Northwestern Hairstreak the favorite photo-op.
Total list: Two-tailed Swallowtail (4), Western Tiger Swallowtail (2), Pipevine Swallowtail (2), Checkered White (1), Dainty Sulphur (3), Orange Sulphur (4), Southern Dogface (3), Mexican Yellow (4), Queen Alexandra’s Sulphur (3), Sleepy Orange (1), Northwestern (Bramble) Hairstreak (1), Thicket Hairstreak (1, pictured), Marine Blue (2), Lupine Blue (3), Spring “Echo” Azure (16), Zela Metalmark (4), Mylitta Crescent (3), Gray (formerly Common) Buckeye (7), Red-spotted Purple (2), Variegated Fritillary (1), Weidemeyer’s Admiral (3), Arizona Sister (13), Mourning Cloak (1), Funereal Duskywing (2), Silver-spotted Skipper (14), Northern Cloudywing (2), W/C Checkered Skipper (4).
I want to thank all participants for a great trip! Hope you will come out again soon!
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On Friday, April 10 the Sabino Canyon Spring Butterfly Count was run and compiler Greg Greene reports that 27 people divided into 14 parties recorded a record high count of 68 species! This count covers much of the Santa Catalina Mountains and foothills from Agua Caliente and Sabino Canyon up to Mt Lemmon. The summer version of this count will be run in late July.
This is also a heads-up about the 5 SE Arizona counts which will be run in late July and early August. Counts are open to all. They are fun, but importantly, the data compiled helps to give us an idea of how our butterfly populations in SE AZ are doing, especially with the effects of climate change. Please mark the dates down on your calendars and feel free to contact the compilers if you wish to participate.
-Friday July 24 Sabino Canyon Summer (Santa Catalina Mts and foothills) Compiler Greg Greene (greenecycle at hotmail.com)
-Tuesday July 28 Ramsey Canyon (covers east side of Huachuca Mts and San Pedro River) Compiler Doug Danforth (dougofbis at gmail.com)
-Friday July 31 Santa Rita Mountains Summer (Madera, Box, Florida, Montosa Canyons) Compiler Gerry Wolfe (azgervic at yahoo.com)
-Tuesday August 4 Patagonia Compiler Rich Bailowitz (rbailowitz at gmail.com)
-Friday August 7 Portal (covers east side of Chiricahua Mountains) Compiler Lori Conrad (lconrad6853 at gmail.com)
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CAZBA had a wonderful field trip last Saturday, April 18 to Rackensack Wash and Sears Kay Ruins. Myself and Dr. Ron Rutowski helped lead this fun and engaging hike. We had great weather and almost as many people attended as we saw # of species of butterflies. Great to see so many new faces. 19 people in all attended. We saw 21 species of butterflies. - Adriane Hopkins
Pipevine Swallowtail, Two-tailed Swallowtail, Checkered White, Dainty Sulphur, Orange Sulphur, Southern Dogface, Sleepy Orange, Marine Blue, Gray Hairstreak, Empress Leilia, California Patch, Common Buckeye, Queen, Variable Checkerspot, Variegated Fritillary, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Arizona Sister, American Snout, Funeral Duskywing, Fiery Skipper.
Also, we saw larvae of the Pipevine Swallowtail and the Variable Checkerspot.
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