The Xerces Society of Invertebrate Conservation published a report earlier this year entitled State of Butterflies in the United States. The report presents an analysis of 20 years of data from community science programs across the USA that monitor butterflies, and it reaches some startling and disturbing conclusions, like this one: “Overall, butterflies across the U.S. are declining at a rate of 1.3% per year – leading to a 22% reduction in combined abundance over the 20-year time period.”
This report is freely available here: https://xerces.org/publications/scientific-reports/state-of-butterflies-in-united-states. It includes specific conclusions about declines in southwestern butterflies (e.g. the Empress Leilia shows one of the highest rates of decline among butterflies in the region) and a lengthy list of positive actions people and organizations can take to help recover butterflies.
Everyone interested in butterflies is strongly encouraged to read this report.
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Fifty years after the startling discovery that monarch butterflies spend winters in the forests of Mexico, photographer and National Geographic Explorer Jaime Rojo reveals this winged wonder of the insect world in new ways with never-before-seen visuals. Tag along with conservationists and citizen scientists who are helping this species avoid catastrophic threats, all through Jaime’s beautiful photos and videos.
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CAZBA led the 2025 fall butterfly count at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum on Saturday, September 6. Although we had only 5 participants in the count this year, we managed to get it done. All our usual locations were counted: the grounds of BTA, the Picketpost Trailhead, Queen Creek (aka Apache Tears) riparian area, the town of Superior, Oak Flat, and Upper Devil’s Canyon. Up to the time of the count the monsoonal rainfall in the count area had been disappointingly low. So, we did not expect to see high numbers of butterflies and the results met that expectation. The compiled tallies revealed that we saw only 83 individuals in 15 species, but there have been previous years when we have seen fewer. Most abundant were Sleepy Oranges and Empress Leilias, and there were notable sightings of Tailed Oranges by Marceline VandeWater on the grounds of BTA. For more details, please attend the 2025 summary of Central Arizona counts that will be presented by Ron Rutowski on Saturday, October 18. The time and place for that summary is here: https://cazba.org/Events_view.aspx?Eventid=3295. Hope to see you there!
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