Photos courtesy of Susan Reeves
We recently hosted a group of community members in the Duke Forest on a beautiful morning to learn about wild butterflies and the Carolinas Butterfly Monitoring Program (Carolinas BMP) from Jeff Pippen. Jeff is a butterfly expert and leads the Carolinas BMP, which engages community scientists in tracking butterfly populations through standardized surveys across North and South Carolina. Some of the survey sites for the program fall within the Duke Forest, and the data collected both here and across the larger North American Butterfly Monitoring Network are used by researchers to evaluate the health of habitats and insect populations on local, regional, and continental scales.
Jeff’s informative presentation highlighted the six recognized butterfly families worldwide and the species within each family that are found in North Carolina. It also included a comparison of moths and butterflies, both insects in the order Lepidoptera, with entertaining reenactments of flight patterns and behaviors to distinguish between the two groups. After learning about the Butterfly Monitoring Program’s methodology and how to identify some of the most common species, the group went on a walking tour to experience a butterfly survey in action. With Jeff’s expert eyes leading the way, the group saw a lot of butterflies, including Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Summer Azure, Zabulon Skipper, and Silver-spotted Skipper.
If you were interested but unable to attend this event, do not worry! We plan to offer a second Carolinas Wild Butterflies tour with Jeff Pippen in late summer or early fall. Stay tuned!