The Pipevine Butterfly

As you've seen this past month, the butterfly show has kicked into full gear and I won't be done for awhile with the finds.

Another rare treat to our desert is the Pipevine Butterfly.  It's large blackish blue with dazzling dots.

Last year I hadn't seen many of them but this year, they've been everywhere!  In fact, this butterfly stopped by El Presidio one day and had the residents oooing and ahhing.  I was shocked.  Why?

This particular butterfly is threatened or endangered in some areas, but I don't think it is here as it has a large range to flutter about.

This butterfly loves all kinds of plants like the infamous butterfly bush, vincas, lantanas, verbena, and milkweed.  But there are certainly many more plants that it will visit.   It's tricky here in Arizona because in spring, we love our wildflower gardens but we can also pick millions of other themes for our places.....like the Butterfly Garden!!!  My Butterfly Garden hasn't begun yet because the fountain hasn't gone into the space....but when it does, these colorful and magnificent plants will go into that spot. 

September is the month of the butterfly here.  An explosion really.  And if you set your garden up right , your guests will feel like they're walking in one of those cheesy Disney movies. Plus you'll be the talk of the neighborhood. Today's photo shoot was taken at the Ash Canyon B & B.  And the garden is by Mary Jo.  

Stay tuned for more....

The Sky Is A Flutter

Variegated Fritillary

In 2008 on the Amazon river, we saw many butterflies puddling along the clay shores.  Fast forward to the future and Southern Arizona during the summer of 2012 and we saw the same exact thing happening here on our roads.  There were so many magical butterflies around us.  This truly has been the year of the butterfly.

I write this post on Saturday after the weekend I took these pictures and wish I could have filmed the activity.  My friend Jen and I pulled the car over and took a closer look......there were literally hundreds of them puddling along the road. Big ones, small ones, blue ones, orange ones......

Sulphur butterflies graced the skies but so did many many others.   If you look around the yellow ones closer, you'll see several other kinds of flutters.

While our exotic Butterfly Magic house is about to open on the first of October, I'd like to recommend Mother Nature's show going on right now.  It's free and won't cost you a penny.  These shots were taken on the Patagonia Sonoita trail.

And where there are butterflies and moths, you'll find loads of caterpillars of all kinds. This Wooly Bear was all over the place on our hikes.  We had to be careful not to step on them.

And now for the good pics.  Incoming!!!!  If you look closely at the shot, you'll notice a fight for the flower.  Do you see the little beetles on the flower? 

Variegated Fritillary

The sky was very very active.  Everywhere you turned we found butterflies and much like the hummingbirds, it was hard to figure out where to point the camera.  These images capture the beauty, but what you don't see or feel during this shoot are the chiggers biting me up and down my legs.  It has been a super wet summer here and life is very active.

In fact on this early morning while I write this post, I'm debating whether or not I should just let myself heal more.  The issue? My other half actually has the day off today.  This may be a day for the Phoenix Aquarium as the rain has caused severe flooding alerts.  Last night a wash filled too quickly and carried a car off.  The husband survived with a broked pelvis as he hung on for life for hours while his wife didn't make it out of the car in time.  Sadly, she was carried away with her vehicle where she drowned. That was here in Tucson by Avra Valley road.  And in Phoenix a technician was caught in the middle of a raging wash.  He went to the top of his heavy utility vehicle and was stranded for hours until he was finally rescued.

So this rain has been serious business with Flood Advisories throughout much of the weekend and into the next couple of days.  It's cloudy outside.  I fed the birds.  Need to do pruning but the mosquitoes are out of this world.  But on this trip last weekend, after our hike here, we went wine tasting in Sonoita.  Not a word Gaelyn:) Does wine count as a snack?:) And I bought a bottle of wine with my friend Jen.  We think we may actually read and crack that bottle open today and just chill instead of run around the grasslands and "desert" we live in today.  But the PROBLEM???  With massive weather systems like this.....

......comes random butterfly making and they sure do like it because it was happening all over.  We have had Giant Swallowtails all over our property laying eggs right now.  The butterflies live for about 2 weeks and then die.  I found one dead on the courtyard and felt really sad because we had been watching this one lay eggs all over my kumquats and tangerine bushes.  It was like Charlotte's Web. Okay but I just got off topic....back to the rainy weather.....

Big storms from the south in Mexico bring cool shorebirds to our desert and today I may end up going to the Sweetlands looking for that Sabine Gull and other tropical birds.  This year in Arizona we've seen the Purple Gallinule and Roseate Bill!!!  Such beautiful rarities from places like Florida and other tropical nations.

My point is, if I even have one, that as much as I'd like to sit on my duff and do nothing, there is so much out there right now to be seen that if I did sit here all day, I'd be missing out and feel guilty because this isn't going to last forever as it is like a treasure grove of discoveries.  How's that for a run on sentence?

The desert is dangerous, exciting and full of wonder......and full of bugs right now.  This is the high time to watch butterflies here.  We have so many in Southern Arizona.  So if you come to visit during September, remember your bug spray and get ready for some incredible finds. 

The Checkered White Butterfly

In the heart of Tucson during an overcast day, I discovered a white light sight fluttering about the wildflowers along the Santa Cruz river.

I didn't know what it was.  I had never seen it before....until now.  Can butterflies, like birds, be said to be "lifers"?

I was alone.  There was a slight breeze as I stood at amazement of this graceful dancer from flower top to flower top.

People think the desert to be harsh and void of life, but it's not.  Especially not now with the dwindling monsoon storms.  The rain makes everything green and alive.

I forgot about my stresses for the day and was in complete "WOW!" of this butterfly.  In some places this a protected species. And just when you've thought you seen it all......

Checkered White Butterfly