The count circle includes Sabino Canyon proper as well as all the areas along the Catalina Highway up to Mount Lemmon itself. There are two Sabino Canyon counts, one in the spring and one in the summer. The spring count which has already been run this year, finds most of its species in the lower parts of the circle, while this summer count does much better in the higher and cooler elevations. Compilation dinner TBA.
Contact Greg Greene if you wish to participate in this count.
As expected, the butterfly survey results were notably low, though it was not quite as bad as I had anticipated. There were, however, a few exciting finds. Edwards' Skipperling has only appeared on the count one other time (2018), and Moon-marked Skipper is also quite rare for the area and has only been recorded twice during the count (2019 and 2022). Lyside Sulphurs were also present in good numbers, resulting in our highest summer count for the species.
Several species that we typically expect to see were absent, including a number of Lycaenidae such as Reakirt's Blue, Leda Ministreak, Gray Hairstreak, and, of course, Colorado Hairstreak. Overall, conditions never seemed especially productive at any site, which has been the trend for the past month or so. Despite that, it's somewhat surprising that we recorded the fifth-highest total number of individuals over the nearly 20 years of surveys, while tying for seventh in species diversity. We had another excellent turnout this year, allowing us to cover a large area, which undoubtedly contributed to those totals.
There is certainly a great deal to consider given the prolonged lack of rainfall over the past few years. It will be interesting to see how the monsoon develops over the next several weeks and whether butterfly numbers begin to rebound. Here's hoping they do.
Without further ado, here are the official results of the 2026 Summer Sabino/Catalina Mtns. butterfly count:
Swallowtails (Papilionidae)
1 Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor) 46
2 Two-Tailed Swallowtail (Papilio multicaudata) 4
3 W. Giant Swallowtail (Papilio rumiko) 3
Whites and Sulphurs (Pieridae)
4 Checkered White (Pontia protodice) 1
5 Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) 1
6 Orange Sulphur (Colias eurytheme) 8
7 Southern Dogface (Zerene cesonia) 10
8 Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) 80
9 Lyside Sulphur (Kricogonia lyside) 318
10 Mexican Yellow (Eurema mexicana) 14
11 Sleepy Orange (Abaeis nicippe) 17
12 Dainty Sulphur (Nathalis iole) 6
Sulphur sp? 3
Hairstreaks and Blues (Lycaenidae)
13 'Siva' Juniper Hairstreak (Callophrys gryneus siva) 1
14 Arizona Hairstreak (Erora quaderna) 3
15 Western Pygmy-Blue (Brephidium exilis) 1
16 Marine Blue (Leptotes marina) 7
17 Ceraunus Blue (Hemiargus ceraunus) 11
18 'Echo' Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon echo) 280
Blue sp? 8
Metalmarks (Riodinidae)
19 Nais Metalmark - (Apodemia nais) 17
Brush-footed Butterflies (Nymphalidae)
20 American Snout (Libytheana carinenta) 4
21 Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia) 4
22 Bordered Patch (Chlosyne lacinia) 4
23 Tiny Checkerspot (Dymasia dymas) 23
24 Elada Checkerspot (Texola elada) 20
25 Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) 8
26 Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) 11
Tiny/Elada Checkerspot 10
27 Gray Buckeye (Junonia grisea) 2
28 Arizona Sister (Adelpha eulalia) 2
29 Empress Leilia (Asterocampa leilia) 8
30 Nabokov's Satyr (Cyllopsis pyracmon) 12
31 Queen (Danaus gilippus) 11
Skippers (Hesperiidae)
32 Dull Firetip (Pyrrhopyge araxes) 2
33 Silver-spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) 1
34 Desert Cloudywing (Achalarus casica) 2
35 Northern Cloudywing (Thorybes pylades) 11
36 Acacia Skipper (Cogia hippalus) 17
37 Golden-headed Scallopwing (Staphylus ceos) 6
38 Mournful Duskywing (Erynnis tristis) 2
39 Pacuvius Duskywing (Erynnis pacuvius) 24
40 Common Checkered-Skipper - (Pyrgus communis) 1
41 Common Streaky-Skipper (Celotes nessus) 1
42 Common Sootywing (Pholisora catullus) 4
43 Edwards' Skipperling (Oarisma edwardsii) 1
44 Orange Skipperling (Copaeodes aurantiaca) 3
45 Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus) 6
46 Taxiles Skipper (Poanes taxiles) 29
47 Moon-marked Skipper (Atrytonopsis lunus) 2
48 Large Roadside-Skipper (Amblyscirtes exoteria) 1
49 Bronze Roadside-Skipper (Amblyscirtes aenus) 1
Total Individuals: 1072
A heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who came out this year and took part in this year’s count!