Who would not enjoy going to work outside for the day and catching butterflies? We just finished our first annual butterfly count. Our findings will be part of the annual North American Butterfly Association program (NABA). Butterfly counts like this are done to gather information. Comparisons between count years help monitor changes in butterfly populations and links to weather and habitat change. There were 424 U.S. counts in 2013 held in 44 states. The 27 Canadian counts in 2013 were held in 2 provinces. Ontario reported the most counts (22) and Saskatchewan fielded 5 (up 1). No counts were submitted from Mexico. 8 new counts will happen this year. Visitors and staff met in the front lobby to group up and plan their routes. We covered a 15 km area with Science North as the centre. We covered areas of Lake Laurentian Conservation Park, Fielding Park and the Science North site. In total we counted 119 individuals of 18 species, 29 of those monarch eggs and 16 caterpillars. It was fun for all involved and we hope to see more come out with us next year.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 19:33:48 +0000
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