National Pollinator Week June 20-26, 2021
Morristown, NJ – The North American Butterfly Association (NABA) announces its participation in National Pollinator Week June 20-26, 2021. “Butterflies pollinate plant life on managed lands like parks and gardens, but also seed crops like kale, sage and cilantro,” said Dr. Jeff Glassberg, NABA founder and president. “And they play an essential role in the environment as early indicators of ecosystem health,”
NABA is pleased to participate in Pollinator Week, designated by the US Congress 14 years ago. This designation marked a necessary step toward addressing the urgent issue of declining pollinator populations. Pollinator Week is an international celebration as people in organizations like NABA promote pollinator health with garden tours, farm walks, and educational events promoting important ecosystem services provided by bees, birds, bats, beetles and butterflies.
NABA’s member chapters actively work in a multi-level approach: to halt and reverse the decline of butterflies, to conserve and protect the habitats upon which they depend, to include citizen science in monitoring programs, as well as in education, grassroots conservation and habitat restoration efforts. For more about joining NABA or supporting the 100-acre National Butterfly Center www.naba.org
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The weather was perfect this year! 13 Participants started up the Col. Devin Trail from Washington Park Trailhead and were surprised how lush this area is despite the lack of much rain. 19 species of butterflies were seen within the group, with no real surprises this year, but I think Ticket Hairstreak and Western Tiger Swallowtail were the favorites.
Total list: Two-tailed Swallowtail (3), Western Tiger Swallowtail (1), Mexican Yellow (1), Queen Alexandra’s Sulphur (10), Bramble Hairstreak (2), Thicket Hairstreak (1), Marine Blue (6), Spring “Echo” Azure (8), Acmon Blue (3), Zela Metalmark (15), Northwestern “Atlantis” Fritillary (7), Mylitta Crescent (3), Red-spotted Purple (3), Weidemeyer’s Admiral (4), Arizona Sister (7), Mourning Cloak (3), Silver-spotted Skipper (9), Northern Cloudywing (2), Common Checkered Skipper (1).
I want to thank all participants for a great trip! Hope you will come out again soon!
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Saturday July 24 Sabino Canyon Summer, compiler Mary Klinkel: grizzledelfin at gmail.com
Saturday July 31 Santa Rita Summer, compiler Mary Klinkel: grizzledelfin at gmail.com
Monday Aug 2 Ramsey Canyon, compiler Doug Danforth: dougofbis at gmail.com
Friday, Aug 6 Portal, compiler Lori Conrad: lconrad6853 at gmail.com
Monday Aug 9 Patagonia, compiler Rich Bailowitz: rbailowitz at gmail.com
Both Ramsey and Patagonia will have compilation dinners, but all attendees must be fully vaccinated.
Save the dates!
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Fourteen fully-vaccinated butterfly enthusiasts journeyed up the Beeline Highway on Saturday looking for butterflies at two locations. The first was Round Valley which was hit hard last summer on the east side of the highway by the Bush Fire. We walked around for about an hour looking that the fire-damaged vegetation and saw only four species of butterflies: Marine Blue, Dainty Sulphur, Queen, and Empress Leilia. We then moved on to Upper Sunflower Valley where we walked down the old Beeline Highway to the Forest Service Camp. There we saw a few more species but still not a lot: Elada Checkerspot, Marine Blue, Acmon Blue, Queen, and Cloudless Sulphur. After a rattlesnake encounter early on, we encountered many small checkerspots and spent a good deal of time refreshing our memory of the distinguishing differences between Elada and Tiny Checkerspots. In the end, it seemed all we had seen were Eladas. Although this area was not hit by fire the lack of rain in the preceding winter and monsoon seasons meant the landscape was really dry with few nectar sources. Some birding was also done and was reasonably productive: https://ebird.org/checklist/S86860160. The day was warm with thin clouds, pleasant conditions for our first field trip since COVID hit and very welcome chance to get together and butterfly.
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9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Saturday, March 20
9 a.m. to Noon Sunday, March 21
Visit our annual plant sale and choose beautiful spring plants to enhance your butterfly, hummingbird, and bee friendly gardens. Plant prices range from $10.95 to $21.95. New this year; “Grab & Go” Plant Kits with 1-gallon host and nectar plants. Grab & Go 4-packs available for $40, 8-packs available for $80. Our resident Master Gardener will be on hand to answer your questions and help you choose the right plants for your garden!
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Phil McNally, who gave a presentation in February about his new book: "Butterflies of the central Arizona Highlands" lets us know that to order the book, one needs to go to centralarizonabutterflies.com. On the homepage there is a button in the lower right corner that says "Purchase Book". Or click on the "read more' button below.
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Chris Kline, founder of Butterfly Ridge, Ohio, has been using homemade baits to attract butterflies for years. The process is fairly simple; make a banana/brown sugar/dark beer smoothie, add a little yeast and then let it sit there for a month or so.
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Adriane Grimaldi, a CAzBA member, is selling her personally designed 2021 Butterfly Calendars for $20 each. Features Arizona butterflies! 10% of the sales from CAzBA members will be donated back to CAzBA. They make great Christmas gifts for a butterfly enthusiast. Add extra $5.00 if you'd like it mailed. Email ah5150@yahoo.com if you would like to order one. Paypal account is ah5150@yahoo.com or payment can be when delivered.
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One of our members Tom Lazzelle passed away recently. Tom had a dry sense of humor and was very interested in butterflies and natural history in general. He will be missed!
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Dear CAzBA members and supporters:
CAzBA has a butterflying trip to the Superstitions scheduled for 28 March. Please note that trip has been cancelled. Although these trips are outside – a relatively safe place to be – the expected number of participants and other factors make it unlikely we can run it in a way that conforms to CDC guidelines for minimizing transmission of the COVID-19. Hence, we will not lead a trip to the Superstitions this month.
This trip was to be the first of our monthly trips for 2020. We hope conditions will change so that we can safely run future trips but please check for updates on those trips on our website (cazba.org) and on our Facebook page.
I am sure many of you saw the email recently sent to NABA members, but, if not, I have appended it below this note. It promotes getting out and butterflying, obviously alone or in very small groups, during this time when many of us are “sheltering-in-place.” I fully endorse this. On a trip to the Mazatzals last week I counted 16 species and I was not trying all that hard. It was a wonderful antidote to the stresses of this difficult time.
Stay safe and healthy.
Ron Rutowski
President, Central Arizona Butterfly Association
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Bond with Butterflies.
Everyone here at NABA hopes that everyone, including all NABA members, stays safe during these difficult times.
The advice being given to slow the spread of Covid-19, is to stay home. While this is good and important advice, what is really meant is to avoid contact with other people, and the best way for most people to do this is to stay home – don't go to the supermarket, don't visit other people. However, as butterfliers, you have another option – go butterflying!
Yes, this is a good time to visit natural areas where there will be few, if any, people. If you do encounter people in a large natural area, it will be easy to avoid contact with them. And, because automobile traffic is almost non-existent, you may be able to roam farther afield than you could have when slowed by traffic. In addition, there may be close family members that live with you -- a spouse, children, parents -- who haven't completely shared your enthusiasm for butterflying. This is an opportunity (one that we wish we didn't have) to encourage them to get out of the house and join you in your pursuit of natural beauty. So, to revisit, maybe you can bond with butterflies and bond with family members at the same time!
Consider your safety; consider the safety of others.
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