Carolinas Wild Butterflies: Identification and Monitoring
Friday, May 8th, 2026
10 am-12 pm
Join us for a special spring morning exploring the world of butterflies in the Duke Forest. We’re delighted to welcome Jeff Pippen, former Duke faculty member and a leader in butterfly monitoring across North America. Drawing on decades of research, Jeff will share insights into butterfly and insect habitats, what long-term monitoring reveals about environmental change, and how these small creatures help us better understand the health of our forests.
Audience: This tour is geared toward adult audiences (ages 18+). Any minors interested in participating must have a parent or guardian present and have an active interest in the subject.
Accessibility: This hybrid program will include an hour-long seated presentation, followed by an hour walking tour in the nearby Forest. The field portion of the event will include walking less than a mile on gravel roads and making frequent stops to observe wildlife. We invite participants to bring trekking poles or a walking stick if needed.
Parking is available and will be directed by Duke Forest staff. Our registration form includes a question where you can share details about any accessibility needs you may have. If you have accessibility considerations that you would like to make our staff aware of, please let us know.
REGISTER HERE
Space is limited to 20 participants. In an effort to increase the reach of our tours, the first 8 tour slots will be first-come, first-served, and the remaining slots will be filled from a waitlist. Our tours are small and often fill quickly, and we hope to engage a mix of folks new to the Duke Forest and past participants. Thank you for your understanding.
Full event details—including location and parking directions—will be sent to registered tour participants a week prior to the event.
Speaker Bio: Jeff Pippen is an avid butterflier, birder, naturalist, and photographer. His natural history website (www.jeffpippen.com) features over 14,000 photos of plants and animals in nature, including extensive bird and butterfly galleries from his travels across North America as well as to far flung destinations across the globe. In 2024, he co-authored Butterflies of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia: A Field Guide, published by UNC Press. His butterfly photography has even made it to prime-time television, appearing in a 2011 episode of CSI: Miami.
Before moving to Montana in 2014 to establish a butterfly monitoring program on a private conservation ranch, Jeff was a faculty member at Duke University, where he taught ecology, forestry, and wildlife courses while researching the effects of climate change on forest growth. Now based back in North Carolina, he works remotely with the Ries Lab of Butterfly Informatics at Georgetown University, directing the Carolinas Butterfly Monitoring Program. He also serves as Co-Director of the Blue Ridge Butterfly Monitoring Program in Virginia and the North American Butterfly Monitoring Network.