Butterfly Decline in Arizona
Coldwater Farm butterflies have declined over the past few years. This year (2015) was the worst with many of my butterfly/bee flowers going untended. For instance, Mourning Cloaks (Nymphalis antiopa) were present only in late spring and early summer. In earlier years, the Mourning Cloaks were so abundant that I had nominated they to represent the Agua Fria River ecosystem. Perhaps butterfly numbers will rebound in 2016, but knowing nothing of the specific causes of the decline, I have no assurance they will. Click here for a checklist of the butterfly and moth species known to live in Arizona. Here are pictures of a few of the common butterflies and moths (Please excuse the fx experiments).
Buckeye Butterfly
Huge catterpillar
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly) on Butterfly Bush
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Monarch Butterfly
Buckmoth
Moth
Mourning Cloak FX
Cabbage White Butterfly
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Buckmoth
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Mourning Cloak Butterfly
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Acmon Blue Butterfly (?)
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Buckeye Butterfly
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Moth
Buckmoth
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Two-tailed Swallowtail (AZ State Butterfly)
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Red Admiral Butterfly
Monarch butterfly at Coldwater Farm.
Tiny catterpillars on grape leaf
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Tiny catterpillars on grape leaf
Melissa Blue Butterfly?
