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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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Nine butterfliers headed up the Beeline Highway into the Mazatzal Mountains on Saturday, March 14, 2026. There were a few clouds but it was mostly sunny and warm. We stopped first at Round Valley (RV) and walked around in the mesquite bosque but spent quite a bit of time watching mud puddlers along the banks of Sycamore Creek. We observed 17 species at that location. The group then moved up to Upper Sunflower Valley (USV) walking from the gate down the Old Beeline Highway to the USFS work camp. This higher elevation site produced 11 species several of which were not seen at Round Valley. We identified a total of 21 species on the trip. It was a great day for spring butterflies and to refresh our identification skills for the coming year. Here is a list of what was seen and where.
Pipeline Swallowtail RV USV, Southern Dogface RV, Dainty Sulphur RV USV, Orange Sulphur RV USV, Checkered White RV, Sara Orange Tip USV, Marine Blue RV, Empress Leila RV, American Snout RV, Variegated Fritillary USV, Red Admiral RV, Buckeye RV USV, Sagebrush Checkerspot USV, Variable Checkerspot RV USV, Painted Lady RV USV, California Patch RV (pictured), Weidemeyer’s Admiral USV, Queen RV, Funeral Duskywing RV, Arizona Powdered Skipper RV, Common/White Checkered Skipper RV USV
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