Do List

Here are a few activities to further your interest in butterflies:

+Learn more. There are some good books & Websites (see resources) that cover the basics plus more detailed information.

Also  consider joining your local Sierra Club and Audubon chapters, which offer frequent field trips, including some that will give you a close-up look at butterflies.

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+Study the SDNHM research collections. The San Diego Natural History Museum has an extensive collection of butterflies–including 100,000+ specimens from the U.S., Mexico, and other parts of the world. While the butterfly collections are not available for regular public viewing, group/school tours of the collections are welcome by reservation.  The Entomology Department staff will also try to accommodate other requests, including individual research projects and responding to questions about insects and spiders of the San Diego and Baja California region.   For further information contact Jim Berrian at jberrian@sdnhm.org or 619-255-0193. You can also check out the museum’s Field Guide at http://www.sdnhm.org/fieldguide/index.html .

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+Create a butterfly garden. They don’t take a great deal of outdoor space. You’ll want to include plants for larval food sources  (for caterpillars) and nectar plants for butterflies, along with water sources and other special elements. (See Garden Design page.) You can feature your butterfly garden as a primary element of an organized backyard habitat, which you will want to register with the National Wildlife Federation (www.nwf.org).

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+Have Your Butterfly Garden Certified. Provide a summary of your host and nectar plants and the North American Butterfly Association will certify your garden and prepare a certificate you can frame. Visit http://www.naba.org

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+Help the Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper Project. This is part of a collaborative effort to map and better understand monarch butterflies and their host plants across the Western U.S. Data compiled through this project will improve our understanding of the distribution and phenology of monarchs and milkweeds, identify important breeding areas, and help us better understand monarch conservation needs. Your help is critical to the success of this project! Because monarchs and their host plants are found all across the western U.S., the best way to document them is to engage a multitude of volunteers and their cameras. You can participate in this effort by using this website to:

Upload your photos of monarchs and milkweeds;

Identify milkweeds using our milkweed key, which profiles over 40 milkweed species found in the west;

Submit data which will help researchers determine the distribution, phenology, and conservation needs of monarchs and milkweeds in the west; and

Learn about monarchs, their host plants, and ongoing conservation efforts for these species.

Learn more at www.monarchmilkweedmapper.org

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+Visit a butterfly habitat. There are numerous places to see butterflies throughout Southern California. See the Viewing Sites section of this website.

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+Add a Monarch waystation. You can register your backyard habitat as a Monarch Waystation, by featuring plants that visiting Monarch butterflies prefer, including varieties of milkweed. (For additional information, see www.monarchwatch.org)

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+Participate in a butterfly count. The North American Butterfly Association is one group that organizes census counts of butterflies in the United States, Canada and Mexico (partial). Volunteer participants select a count area with a 15-mile diameter and conduct a one-day census of the butterflies they see within that circle. If there is no organized count in your specific area, you could start your own (if you know how to identify the butterflies). Visit the NABA website at http://www.naba.org for information.

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Please note: Our goal is to make this section the most comprehensive possible, so please suggest another great book, butterfly habitat or other idea in the Comments section below. Thanks.