After returning from our long Europe trip we were quite tired and initially expected a few weeks of rest before restarting our trips. But when we noticed that the Central Arizona Butterfly Association has a trip to Aspen Corners to see high altitude butterflies we had to join to see them as otherwise we probably would not be able to identify them. That means that we have to leave around six in the morning to make our way up to Aspen Corners, close to the highest point a highway gets in Arizona. On the way we have a slowdown only, luckily, due to a car that burned out hopefully our cars are better built and/or maintained.
At the meeting point there are surprisingly many people until we understand that most came from Flagstaff and not from Phoenix in fact many are surprised that we made the drive this morning just for the butterfly walk. Soon it is time to start exploring, first the meadow right next to the parking lot for any butterflies.
There are few butterflies in the beginning but quite a few interesting flies and bees and even a spider eating a wasp which is quite unique.
However in another patch we find quite a few butterflies, skippers and skipperlings and a few blues and everyone gets quite excited about them and we try to identify them to see if they are special or not.
And then we start descending on the trail towards another meadow and this section is faster given that in the forest there are few butterflies. But there are lots of aspens most with graffiti on them as this is a popular trail.
There are a few trails starting from here mostly along the Arizona Trail and we tried them a few times and all of them are quite beautiful. But today we take the shortest trail to a large meadow that surrounds a water tank, seems like a prime area for butterflies.
When we reach the meadow there are quite a few interesting butterflies already. The most impressive are the larger ones including the many Swallowtails and a couple Fritillaries that everyone are quite excited about.
While the meadow is quite good for butterflies it is not good at all to avoid the sun, there are no trees close to the trail. But there are a few further away and those to our surprise seem to have some birds and we keep an eye out to see if we can identify them.
After some squinting and lots of photos we are able to identify the birds as Red Crossbills, quite cute!! And nearby in another tree is a Red-tailed Hawk, quite hidden but one of the other participants was able to see it land so we scan until we see it too.
Next is the water tank, it is small but relatively full and quite welcome for the many birds and butterflies that seem to really enjoy the cool and ready available water.
We start with the butterflies first, here we find the first specialty, a beautiful Russet Skipperling that we are not able to identify on sight but later with some help from AI and other expert butterfly experts.
And then we focus on birds, first there are two beautiful ones a Green-tailed Towhee and a Western Tanager both are next to the water and playing around or enjoying the cool water.
The crossbills are also visiting the water, in flocks even and we watch them for some time before we say goodbye to the group and decide to return to the parking as the end of the tour is close by. However after just a short walk we find two beautiful Many-spotted Tiger Moths and have to return to tell the group about this specialty before finally returning to the car and then going to lunch followed by a hike on the Kachina Trail.
