Big Butterfly Year: Boyce Thompson Arboretum (the butterflies)

Today was the 4th or 5th (I forget) annual butterfly count at BTA, co-sponsored by the Central Arizona Butterfly Association (CAZBA). I have participated in all of them but one, pretty good since I've lived in Ohio the last three years! We had 15 people or so who gathered to count butterflies. It is similar to bird counting. We have a formal 15-mile diameter circle that we work within and then report our findings to the North American Butterfly Association. The circle center is Superior High School. Believe or not, I did not win the prize for the person who traveled farthest to particpate. We had a couple from England who participated!
I was not the count coordinator (had that job when I worked at BTA!) this year, so I am not sure exactly how many butterflies were counted, but between all the different teams, there were about 40 species reported, which actually exceeded a lot of folks expectations, considering how dry it has been locally, as well with all of the nearby fires. Will have to wait for Dave Powell to share the final numbers.
The team I was with, Karen and Sharon from Tucson, Marceline VandeWater, and the British couple spent the morning roaming around BTA. Then went to Jade Grill in Superior for lunch. The owner of the JG is Lucy Wing. When I worked as the education coordinator at BTA, Lucy was on the BTA Board of Directors and was always very supportive of the programs I developed, especially the school programs. BTA's education pavilion is named for the Wing Family. Good folks. And Lucy whips up a yummy Chinese BBQ Bun to boot!
After lunch our team went up to Devil's Canyon. We were hoping to see Arizona Sister for me to get a picture. Marceline saw a Sister, but it did not cooperate for the pic. In the backs of our minds we were also hoping for Arizona Giant Skipper, a special prize we saw at Devil's Canyon on the count three years ago I think. No Arizona Giants, but had a good time all the same. Made a quick stop at Oak Flats on the way back to BTA, but didn't really see anything of interest except for some handsome little caterpillars. Will post a pic in case any of you are cat experts.
For me personally, I saw 22 species, fourteen new to my big butterfly year, and managed to get pictures of 13 of the 14, although one pic is so bad, the only way you can tell what it is is by knowing what it is ahead of time! Hopefully tomorrow morning before my 10AM butterfly walk I can get pics of number 14 (*), and a better pic of the Golden-headed Scallopwing. The other BBY newbies seen today were: Empress Leilia, Queen, Ceraunus Blue, Arizona Powdered Skipper, Fatal Metalmark, Sheep Skipper, Orange Skipperling, *Acacia Skipper, Eufala Skipper, Common Sootywing, Elada Checkerspot, Erichson's White Skipper, and Leda Ministreak.
I needed today in the worst way. Was so much fun spending the day with so many friends, friends who share my interests in learning about nature. In all honesty, it felt like I had never left the area. It was a great feeling. I know eventually I will develop these type of friendships in Ohio (have already started to a small extent).
WARNING: Philospohical Moment ahead, REDUCE SPEED! Something that my kids do not really appreciate I think is how much we (my family) has moved over the years. And yes, it has been a burden, especially financially. But you know what, I have friends in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, California, Colorado, and Indiana who I know would do their best to help me in a pinch if they could. So, I try to convince my kids, we are not moving, we are casting the blessing net a little bit bigger!
Well anyways, I better start uploading some of today's new BBY's, its going to take awhile and I got a big day tomorrow! I'll put some pics here and some on Butterfly Rider facebook page.