You can't spend any time outdoors birding without running into butterflies. While easy to spot, and even approach, getting one to stay still for a good photograph presents a rewarding challenge.
Enthusiastically learning about birds and their many species, I've not made a similar effort with butterflies. One reason for that is the sheer number of varieties that exist. While the animal class of birds or aves include almost 10,000 species worldwide - much lower in Arizona - butterflies are in a single order of the insect class that include closer to 200,000 species! This order is lepidoptera, and includes several families of insects like butterflies along with their cousins the moths and skimmers.
While fun to see and photograph, I'll only occasionally put the time into researching them. Here are several Arizona species I've been able to meet in the last year. Some are not identified - I'll leave that to my lepidopterist friends!
Enthusiastically learning about birds and their many species, I've not made a similar effort with butterflies. One reason for that is the sheer number of varieties that exist. While the animal class of birds or aves include almost 10,000 species worldwide - much lower in Arizona - butterflies are in a single order of the insect class that include closer to 200,000 species! This order is lepidoptera, and includes several families of insects like butterflies along with their cousins the moths and skimmers.
While fun to see and photograph, I'll only occasionally put the time into researching them. Here are several Arizona species I've been able to meet in the last year. Some are not identified - I'll leave that to my lepidopterist friends!
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| Pipeline swallowtail butterfly, Superior. |
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| Pipeline swallowtail butterfly, Madera Canyon. |
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| Southwestern azure butterfly, Prescott. |
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| Arizona sister butterfly, Prescott. |
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| Arizona sister butterfly, Prescott. |
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| Two-tailed swallowtail butterfly, Prescott. |
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| Two-tailed swallowtail butterfly, Prescott. |
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| Giant swallowtail butterfly, Phoenix. |
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| Giant swallowtail butterfly, Phoenix. |
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| Giant swallowtail butterfly, Phoenix. |
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| Queen butterfly, Phoenix. |
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| Queen butterfly, Phoenix. |
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| Monarch butterfly, Phoenix. The tag is for tracking its often unique and far migrations. |
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| Monarch butterfly, Phoenix. |
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| White peacock butterfly, Phoenix. |
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| Zebra longwing butterfly, Phoenix. |
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| Common buckeye butterfly, Prescott. |
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| Common buckeye butterfly, Prescott. |
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| Painted lady butterfly, Prescott. |
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| Mourning cloak butterfly, Prescott. |
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| Unidentified lepidoptera in Prescott. |
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| Western branded skipper, Prescott. |
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| A type of skipper in Prescott. |
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| A type of moth (dead) in Prescott. |
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| A type of moth (dead) n Prescott. |
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| A type of moth in Prescott. |
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| White-lined sphinx or hummingbird moth, Prescott. Finally, a lepidoptera a birder could love! |
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