Last week a group of 8 butterfly enthusiasts spent two days counting these winged beauties. Poor weather at the official North American Butterfly Association Count on July 4 motivated the group to perform their own count here at the Arboretum, a haven for butterflies. The final tally revealed an impressive 33 species and 268+ sightings in just four hours!
Here's the complete list of their findings (click each for images and more information):- 105+ cabbage white
- 43 orange sulphur
- 17 monarch
- 15 silver spotted skipper
- 14 red admiral
- 12 pearl crescent
- 12 tiger swallowtail
- 9 clouded sulphur
- 7 eastern tailed blue
- 7 zabulon
- 6 pecks skipper
- 4 least skipper
- 3 meadow fritillary
- 3 sachem
- 2 black swallowtail
- 2 horace duskywing
- 2 spicebush swallowtails
- 1 european skipper
- 1 gray hairstreak
- 1 question mark
- 1 tawny-edged skipper
- 1 viceroy
____________________________
268+ butterflies! How many have you spotted?
