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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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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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