Heading for Hanagan - Day Two

[Mark Walker]

Wow.  No email access for over a week.  Bummer.  My inbox is WAY full.

Here's a late report from what turned out to be a grand road trip to
Arizona:

Sunday, July 22

We woke up from our blissful sleep in Safford and headed for the amazing
town of Clifton, AZ.  It's amazing how long it takes to get around the
Copper Mine there.  It's also amazing how huge the operation is - Phelps
Dodge is no small company.  Interesting, cuz they use our software and we
would be meeting with them at the Sierrita facility down towards Nogales on
Tuesday.  I had no idea how much earth can be moved in a few short decades.

I gave the wheel to my 15 year old son.  The highways are not safe anymore.
Get your kids off the street - here comes my son.  Ahhhhhh!

The road to Hanagan is not for wimps.  The posted speed limit is often 15
and even 10 MPH.  A 15 year old driver tends to take it even slower.  This
was not good, because we were once again fighting the afternoon rain clouds.
The farther north we drove, the darker and gloomier it became.  By the time
we reached Apache County, my son was looking green in the face.  He slept
while I drove on.  And it started to rain.

Speaking of green, this part of Arizona is quite green and in bloom.  There
was a higher abundance of leps here than any of the places we visited over
the four days.  They started flying early, with the Arizona Sisters quite
common in the oak belt.  The closer we got to Hanagan, the cloudier it got.
By the time we reached the meadows it was mostly overcast.  It didn't matter
much, because at the higher altitude the diversity disappeared and we were
confronted by - Arggghhhhh!  Thousands and thousands of Vanessa cardui!
Deja Vu!

It's amazing how little else seems to fly when these things are abundant.
After about 30 minutes, I was heading south again on highway 191 - looking
for sunnier and buzzier pastures.  Nevertheless, we were pleased to find
some different bugs on this excursion.  At higher elevations we were greeted
by Neophasia menapia (Pine White, the un-terlootii type), along with a
single but incredibly fresh specimen of Pieris marginalis (Veined White).
Also present were the ever-bopping Cercyonis sthenele (Great Basin Wood
Nymph).  At medium elevations we were greeted by an abundance of the
spectacular Apodemia nais (Nais Metalmark), which looks much more like a
copper to me.  I had only seen a single worn individual a few years back on
a similar road trip with Bill Gendron, so I was pleased to find it so fresh
and relatively common.  Probably the highlight of this long driving day were
single individuals of two very, very, cool Lycaenids.  Both of these may
have been more common, but an abundance of Callophrys gryneus made them easy
to miss.  The first was an immaculate specimen of Calllphrys apama, although
according to USGS this bug doesn't exist anymore.  This tailless hairstreak
is stunning green on the underside, with a strong white band through the
center of the hindwing.  The other bug was another immaculate individual of
a tailless green undersided hairstreak - this one the gorgeous Erora
quaderna (Arizona Hairstreak).  There were also many skippers abounding -
including numerous morning roadside individuals of the large Amblyscirtes
exoteria (aptly named Large Roadside Skipper!).  One of the most common leps
on the wing was Papilio multicaudata (Two-Tailed Swallowtail).  I'd say if
you're interested in finding this insect, come to this part of Arizona in
July.  They were nectaring everywhere.

Many of the bugs we encountered along this part of our trip were different
than those of the more southern counties.  Needless to say, we were stoked.
By 6:00 p.m. we had driven once again through the maze that is Clifton, and
were headed for Lordsburg, N.M.  We had a 7:00 nighttime appointment with
Leroy Koehn and company way up in the upper reaches of the Chiricahua
Mountains.  Night bugs.  You just gotta try this sometime. 

Our (daytime) list:

Battus philenor (Pipevine Swallowtail)
Papilio polyxenes (Black Swallowtail)
Papilio multicaudata (Two-Tailed Swallowtail)
Papilio cresphontes (Giant Swallowtail)

Neophasia menapia (Pine White)
Pontia protodice (Checkered White)
Pieris rapae (Cabbage White)
Pieris marginalis (Margined White)
Colias eurytheme (Orange Sulphur)
Zerene cesonia (Southern Dogface)
Phoebis sennae (Cloudless Sulphur)
Eurema mexicana (Mexican Sulphur)
Eurema nicippe (Sleepy Orange)
Nathalis iole (Dainty Sulphur)

Atlides halesus (Great Purple Hairstreak)
Callophrys apama (Apama Hairstreak)
Callophrys gryneus (Juniper Hairstreak)
Strymon melinus (Gray Hairstreak)
Erora quaderna (Arizona Hairstreak)
Leptotes marina (Marine Blue)
Hemiargus ceraunus (Ceraunus Blue)
Hemiargus isola (Reakirt's Blue)
Celastrina ladon (Spring Azure)
Plebejus (acmon?) lupini (Lupine Blue)

Apodemia nais (Nais Metalmark)

Libytheana carinenta (American Snout)

Euptoieta claudia (Variegated Fritillary)
Vanessa cardui (Painted Lady)
Vanessa virginiensis (American Painted Lady)
Vanessa atalanta (Red Admiral)
Junonia coenia (Buckeye)
Nymphalis antiopa (Mourning Cloak)
Poladryas arachne (Arachne Checkerspot)
Limenitis arthemis (Arizona Purple)
Adelpha bredowii (Arizona Sister)

Megisto rubricata (Red Satyr)
Cercyonis sthenele (Great Basin Wood Nymph)

Danaus plexippus (Monarch)

Epargyreus clarus (Silver Spotted Skipper)
Thorybes pylades (Northern Cloudywing)
Erynnis ? (white dusted, white-dotted, white bordered Duskywing - TBD)
Pyrgus communis (Common Checkered Skipper)
Pyrgus albescens (White Checkered Skipper)
Copaeodes aurantiacia (Orange Skipperling)
Poanes taxiles (Taxiles Skipper)
Amblyscirtes exoteria (Large Roadside Skipper)

A few day flying moths, including

Gnophaela discreta


 
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