Upcoming events
SW Monarch Study has invited CAzBA to join them on a trip to the Desert Survivor's Nursery down in Tucson. Plant wizard, Jim Verrier, Nursery Director, will enlighten us with a wide variety of milkweeds and other butterfly host and nectar favorites. Desert Survivor's is a native plant nursery that grows organic, pesticide-free plants. This is a morning you won't want to miss as planting season is right around the corner. The nursery is just west off Exit 259 on I-10 in Tucson at 1020 West Starr Pass. Meet in the parking lot at 9:30 a.m. This trip is limited to 25 people. For more information or to sign-up, please email coordinator Gail Morris at gail-marie@cox.net
Brochures on how to create a Monarch Waystation and information on how to plant a butterfly garden will be available.
We will have a carpool going from the Phoenix area meeting at Papago Buttes Church of the Brethren, 2450 North 64th Street in Scottsdale. (Northwest corner of 64th St & Oak). Meet at 7:15 a.m. - we leave promptly at 7:30 a.m., and should be back around 2pm. Bring a sack lunch, water and snacks.
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Spring starts early in the Upper Sonoran Desert. By March many wildflowers are in bloom and on warm days the spring butterflies – Orangetips, Marbles, Spring Azures, Variable Checkerspots, etc. - are out in force. This month the CAzBA field trip is to Round Valley in the Mazatzal Mountains, just at the upper elevational limit of the Sonoran Desert. Here, there is stream-side riparian vegetation, stands of mesquite on the flood plain, and hillsides dotted with cacti and annual wildflowers, all of which makes for a rich and accessible butterfly community. Depending on the flow in Sycamore Creek we may walk to the entrance to beautiful Log Corral Canyon which comes into the lower end of Round Valley. This area is about 50 miles from Phoenix where the Bee Line highway crosses Sycamore Creek before the road climbs to Sunflower Valley. We will gather at the Denny's on Shea Blvd. in Fountain Hills at 8:30AM. Wear sturdy shoes, bring water, snacks and close focus binoculars.
We ask for a $5 donation.
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On Saturday April 14th we will hike a part of the AZ/Highline trail in pursuit of early butterflies. We should find several species of Duskywings this early in the year. Also Mountain Checkered Skipper who uses Cinquefoil as hostplants and Viereck's Skipper might be out. This is a joint fieldtrip with the Arizona Native Plant Society.
Please wear sturdy shoes and a hat, bring water, snacks and a sacklunch. A pair of close focusing binoculars will be handy too. The trail is moderately steep in places, but we will take our time. Meeting place is Denny’s on Shea Blvd in Fountain Hills at 7:00am or at the trailhead at 8:45am.
Details to get to the trailhead: Drive to Payson, go straight at the hwy 260 intersection. After 3/4 mile turn right onto Houston Mesa Road. Cross all 3 "water crossings", and after about 8 miles turn left at the stop sign. The road now turns into a dirt road. After about 1 miles turn right towards Shadow Rim Camp and Washington Park Trailhead. Follow this road up for about 5.5 miles until the right turn-off to the Washington Park Trailhead (marked). Instantly turn left again and you will find the trailhead well marked.
We ask for a $5 donation per person.
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Join us for an early season trip to Green’s Peak Road in the White Mountains. We will be looking for early season specialties including Rhesus Skipper, Mountain Checkered-Skipper, Anicia Checkerspot, Morrison’s Skipper, and Alberta Arctic, along with other possibilities. We will meet at the Denny’s in Fountain Hills (Shea near AZ 87) at 6:00. It will take about 3 hours to get to Green’s Peak Road, leaving us with plenty of time to look for the specialties. We should be back in Fountain Hills between 8:00 and 9:00 depending on people’s desire to stop for dinner. Please wear comfortable, sturdy boots, as we will be walking on some rocky terrain. Other than the rocks this will be easy walking, though we will be above 8000 feet. Plan to bring lunch, as we will not be near any restaurants while looking for the butterflies.
We ask for a $5 donation per person.
Dave
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Recent events
Our Annual Membership Meeting will be held on Saturday, January 28th, from 2 till 4pm in the Papago Buttes Church of the Brethren, 2450 N. 64th Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85257 (On the NW corner of Oak and 64th St. (This is about a mile north of the Desert Botanical Garden). We will vote in the new board, have the treasurer go over the treasurer's report and talk briefly about our plans for the upcoming year.
Guest speaker: Dr Ron Rutowski.
Title: Was Darwin right that butterfly colors are a signal used in their sexual behavior?
Summary: Charles Darwin published a couple of books in the mid-1800's that laid out his ideas about the process that produce evolutionary change, natural and sexual selection. He relates a variety of observations on on the behavior and coloration of butterflies and uses these to support his ideas. How accurate were these observations? Have his ideas about the role of butterfly coloration in their sexual behavior been borne out by the scientific work done since then? This will offer answers to these questions supported with images and videos of butterflies and their mating signals and behavior. This topic is appropriate this time of year because the 152nd anniversary of Darwin's birthday is February 12.
Bio: after earning his doctoral degree at Cornell University, Dr. Rutowski joined the faculty in the life sciences at Arizona State University. There he has been engaged for more than 30 years in research on vision, visual signals, and mating systems of animals, especially butterflies and other insects. He has published extensively in this area and is an internationally recognized contributor to this field.
Feel free to bring a friend or two and don’t forget to check out the booktable with our 2012 calendar, jewelry, books and art.
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At this meeting we will evaluate our efforts, fieldtrips and meetings of the past year. We also will talk about the upcoming election of the board and membership related issues. Members and non-members will be able to show-off their most beautiful, interesting, cutest photos of butterflies, moths or caterpillars in a photo presentation. We will be selling our 2012 Butterfly Calendar, fieldguides, jewelry and some butterfly related art on our "booktable". We will also trade host plant cuttings and seeds. There will definitely be time to socialize with drinks and munchies provided.
LOCATION:
Papago Buttes Church of the Brethren
2450 N. 64th Street
Scottsdale, AZ 85257 (One half mile north of McDowell Road on 64th Street. this is about a mile north of the Desert Botanical Garden).
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Join us on our final field trip of 2011 on October 29, as we tour some of our members' butterfly gardens. We will have learned about gardening for butterflies from Kirti Mathura, and we will have a chance to see different interpretations of butterfly gardens. We will meet at Papago Buttes Church of the Brethren, 2450 N. 64th Street, Scottsdale, at 9 a.m. to form carpools to travel around the valley. For more information please contact Laura Miller at Lmiller133@cox.net
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Currently as the senior garden coordinator at Singh Farms, and formerly as senior horticulturist, educator and curator of shrubs at Desert Botanical Garden (DBG), Kirti has many opportunities to impart her plant knowledge to the public. “My goal is to inspire enthusiasm for desert plants and help people understand our unique soil, climate and growing seasons,” Mathura explains. “With those basics under your belt, anyone can create beautiful, flourishing gardens.” Tonight she will focus on native herbal plants that are used by butterflies as host plants or for nectar, and discuss the Green Bridges program created by the Native Herb Conservation Committee of the Herb Society of America.
This meeting will be held at the Papago Buttes Church of the Brethren, 2450 N. 64th Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85257 (On the NW corner of Oak and 64th St. (This is about a mile north of the Desert Botanical Garden).
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Please consider joining us at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum on Saturday September 10 as we tackle our 5th Annual Butterfly Count. Counting starts at 8:30AM sharp, so arrive a little early. Meeting place: visitor center of Boyce Thompson Arboretum. The total count circle has a 15 mile diameter and we will conduct a one-day census of all butterflies sighted within that circle. Volunteer participants will be assigned to a leader and will be working a part of the count circle area. For lunch we will get together in a local restaurant in Superior or you can bring your own. Here we will exchange findings & information.
79 species of butterflies appear on the Arboretum's checklist, while the record for most species observed in a single day is 44 by Marceline VandeWater during the same count last year! Xami Hairstreak is one of specialties that has been found in the past at the BTA.
The Arboretum is located on US 60, about 20 miles east of Apache Junction. Hope you can join us!
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