Time to Count the Butterflies

Chris Stieber spent some of his time this week outside counting the butterflies.

The Center coordinates the North American Butterfly Association's Butterfly Count Program for Southern Bucks County, said Stieber, who is the center's director.

Volunteers counted at the Churchville Nature Center and another team visited the Silver Lake Nature Center this week. The teams will also visit other meadows in Bucks County gathering data for the North American Butterfly Count Program.

Stieber said just as the National Audubon Society does bird counts of species, the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) does butterfly counts of different species several times a year. This data helps in understanding the impacts of loss of butterfly habitat with continuing development and loss of larval food plants by introduction of invasive non-native plants into the environment on the butterfly population.

Many of the non-native plants take over the environment crowding out larval food plants that are butterfly caterpillar's only food source. One example is the Monarch butterfly, which eats milkweed plants excursively.

Find out more about the North American Butterfly Association's Butterfly Count Program here.