The first SE AZ butterfly count for this year, the Sabino Canyon spring butterfly count, has been scheduled for Thursday, April 4. This count which aside from covering Sabino Canyon proper also covers all areas along the Catalina Highway right up to the top of Mount Lemmon (of course, at this time of year it might be a bit early for butterflies at 9000 feet). In addition, lower spots such as Lowe's Ventana Canyon Resort and Agua Caliente Park will be covered. This count is open to everyone, so please contact compiler Greg Greene, greenecycle@hotmail.com if you are interested in participating. You might have a favorite place you'd like to cover or Greg can assign you to one that needs coverage. There will be a compilation dinner after the count so we can share our count sightings.
29 people participated in this year’s count, split up into 10 groups. The above average rainfall for the previous four months (Dec 2023-March 2024), combined with below average temps for each of those months has resulted in noticeably fewer butterflies at this time of year, even in the lower elevation (midtown Tucson). While a survey later in April may have resulted in more individuals and potentially more species, we would have missed the window for things that normally fly at this time. A major weather system that pushed through the area three days beforehand may have also resulted in the absence of a few species which were seen the week prior. The weather during the survey was nearly perfect (sunny and a high of 83degrees) and if we had 3-4 more similar days prior I suspect numbers would have been better all-around but when looking at the bigger picture it’s all quite interesting!
There was one new species added to the count, Theona Checkerspot, which has never been recorded on the spring or summer counts. This species was presumably only known from Peppersauce Canyon, and may have expanded its range after the Bighorn Fire in 2020. iNaturalist records seem to support this with 1 record from the front range in 2020 followed by numerous records in 2022 & 2023. The host plant for this species, indian paintbrush (Castilleja sp.), is a fire adapted species that readily reseeds after these events. It will be interesting to see whether this species continues to maintain the range extension or contracts over time.
Butterflies seen and counted:
Swallowtails (Papilionidae)
Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) 10
Two-Tailed Swallowtail (Papilio multicaudata) 26
W. Giant Swallowtail (Papilio rumiko) 7
Whites and Sulphurs (Pieridae)
Checkered White (Pontia protodice) 13
Spring White (Pontia sisymbrii) 14
'Desert' Pearly Marble (Euchloe hyantis lotta) 41
'Pima' Desert Orangetip (Anthocharis cethura pima) 11
'SW' Sara Orangetip (Anthocharis sara thoosa) 25
Southern Dogface (Zerene cesonia) 11
Mexican Yellow (Eurema mexicana) 6
Sleepy Orange (Abaeis nicippe) 88
Dainty Sulphur (Nathalis iole) 5
Hairstreaks and Blues (Lycaenidae)
Great Purple Hairstreak (Atlides halesus) 8
Brown Elfin (Callophrys augustinus) 21
Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus) 3
Marine Blue (Leptotes marina) 141
Western Pygmy-Blue (Brephidium exilis) 2
'Echo' Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon echo) 47
Reakirt's Blue (Echinargus isola) 2
Metalmarks (Riodinidae)
Fatal Metalmark - (Calephelis nemesis) 1
Brush-footed Butterflies (Nymphalidae)
American Snout (Libytheana carinenta) 4
Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) 6
Theona Checkerspot (Chlosyne theona) 5
Fulvia Checkerspot (Chlosyne fulvia) 8
Sagebrush Checkerspot (Chlosyne acastus) 57
Tiny Checkerspot (Dymasia dymas) 20
Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) 1
Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) 12
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) 27
Red-spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis) 1
Empress Leilia (Asterocampa leilia) 102
Queen (Danaus gilippus) 1
Skippers (Hesperiidae)
Arizona Powdered-Skipper (Systasea zampa) 11
Sleepy Duskywing (Erynnis brizo) 37
Meridian Duskywing (Erynnis meridianus) 2
Mournful Duskywing (Erynnis tristis) 6
Funereal Duskywing (Erynnis funeralis) 6
Desert Checkered-Skipper (Pyrgus philetas) 1
Common Streaky-Skipper Celotes nessus 3
Orange Skipperling (Copaeodes aurantiaca) 9
Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus) 16
Species Total 41
Total Individuals 840