Meeting Place: 9:00 AM at USFS restroom at White Rock Campground at Peña Blanca Lake. Directions: From exit 12 on I19, turn west (right) on route 289 (Ruby Road) and proceed 9.7 miles until you come to a Y. Turn left onto Ruby Road and proceed 0.2 mile to the rest room at White Rock Campground. Driving time from the intersection of I-10 and I-19 to Pena Blanca Lake is about an hour and 10 minutes.
Late spring at Pena Blanca Lake is a good time to visit. We will be looking for butterflies as we walk around the north side of Pena Blanca Lake. We will park at two different locations on the lake and walk for periods of time at each stop with a restroom break between stops. On Tuesday, 5/7 we found small numbers of individuals of 25 species.
The first stop will be walking on mostly level dirt ground, and the second stop is walking on a paved trail. Bring plenty of water, lunch, binoculars, and cameras.
Photo: Marine Blue (Leptotes marina) © Gerry Wolfe
The day was quite warm, in the high 80's F by the end of the field trip. We first searched for butterflies near the White Rock campground, followed by the area around the gravel parking lot on the south end of the lake, and finished with both sides of the cove at the Lower Thumb Picnic area. A few of us also stopped at the butterfly garden at Tumacácori NHP on the way back home. The group found and identified 34 species. The species marked with * were not seen by the entire group. Butterflies identified:
Pipevine Swallowtail Battus philenor
Black Swallowtail Papilio polyxenes
Checkered White Pontia protodice
* Orange Sulphur Colias eurytheme
Southern Dogface Colias cesonia
Mexican Yellow Eurema mexicana
Sleepy Orange Eurema nicippe
Dainty Sulphur Nathalis iole
Gray Hairstreak Strymon melinus
Western Pygmy-Blue Brephidium exile
Marine Blue Leptotes marina
Ceraunus Blue Hemiargus ceraunus
Reakirt's Blue Hemiargus isola
Acmon Blue Plebejus acmon
Arizona Metalmark Calephelis arizonensis
Gulf Fritillary Agraulis vanillae
Tiny Checkerspot Dymasia dymas
Arizona (Elada) Checkerspot Texola perse (elada)
American Lady Vanessa virginiensis
Painted Lady Vanessa cardui
Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta
Common Buckeye Junonia coenia
Red-spotted Purple Limenitis arthemis astyanax
Empress Leilia Asterocampa leilia
Queen Danaus gilippus
* Acacia Skipper Cogia hippalus
Golden-headed Scallopwing Staphylus ceos
Arizona Powdered-Skipper Systasea zampa
'White' Common Checkered-Skipper Pyrgus communis albescens
Desert Checkered-Skipper Pyrgus philetas
* Common Sootywing Pholisora catullus
Orange Skipperling Copaeodes auarntiacus
* Fiery Skipper Hylephila phyleus
* Sheep Skipper Atrytonopsis edwardsii