2015: My (first) Butterfly Big Year in Review

One of many Peck's Skippers I saw this year; this one was at Stoneridge Pond near my house.

I had so much fun doing a butterfly Big Year this year! I was limited by budget and free time, of course, but managed to tie quite a bit of traveling into looking for new and unusual butterflies. I ended up seeing a grand total of 81 species, 28 of which were lifers for me! I didn't manage to reach my target of 100 total species, but still I feel pretty pleased.

This Mangrove Skipper was one of the tropical prizes I spotted during a quick trip to southern Florida.

I learned a lot about butterflying while trying to rack up as many species as I could. I found out how to use NABA's sightings page, both current sightings and archived sightings, to target my searches. I explored several parks for the first time, and also grew to understand better how to interpret field guides' notes about flight times.

I found this Eastern Pine Elfin at Calvert Cliffs State Park, on the same trip that we adopted a new kitten!

I met wonderful people along the way of course: scientists, both professional and amateur lepidopterists, park staff, and generally friendly folks. I also discovered that many of my friends were more interested in hearing about my butterfly hunts than I'd expected! That was a nice surprise. I found that having a specific goal really helped get me into the field more often.

Another tropical species was this Ruddy Daggerwing. So exciting to see it in real life, not just on the pages of my field guide.

There are several things I wish I'd done differently this year, though. For one thing, I still didn't get out as often as I should. I didn't take the ephemerality of butterfly flight seriously enough: it always seemed like there would be other chances (of course that didn't turn out to be the case).  Come to think of it, while doing the Big Year I really paid attention to the changes in species flying from week to week, so noticed when we were in between generations of several species more than I usually did.  That was pretty cool.

I also didn't decide to do a Big Year until after the early season was almost over, so missed my chances at many of the early specialties, like Falcate Orangetip. I know a lot more now about local colonies of some of the early species, which would have really helped me waste less time looking in the wrong places. Plus I should have started my planning long before flight season even began.

Even this fairly common Pearl Crescent was exciting to see as part of my growing year list.

So of course I think you can guess where I'm going with this: I'm already planning to do another Butterfly Big Year in 2016! Yep, it's addictive. I've already started plotting out my target parks for early species.

I'm hoping I can make it to 120 species this year, a pretty ambitious goal. Wish me luck! Maybe I'll even get down to southern Texas for the National Interpreter's Workshop in November, in which case I might even make it all the way to 200 species. No matter how many my final total, the search will be fun and I'll learn a lot.

This Atala was definitely the most exciting sighting I made all year. It was great to come back home and tell my friends at the Wings of Fancy live butterfly exhibit that I'd seen one in the wild, not just in captivity!

What Happened When I Pushed Myself Beyond My Comfort Zone

"Do one thing every day that scares you."

--Eleanor Roosevelt

This year I’ve been pushing myself to do things that are outside my comfort zone, much more than usual. Having the Butterfly Big Year as an overall goal has really helped to motivate me, at least in terms of going places that I might otherwise have rationalized away as too far, too inconvienient, etc. Each time I try something that scares me, and I succeed in enjoying myself anyway, helps me the next time too.

Last weekend I drove an hour each way to get to Soldier’sDelight N.E.A., a park with a unique serpentine barren ecosystem that isn’t found elsewhere in Maryland. I’d heard good things about Soldier’s Delight from other friends but hadn’t yet visited it myself. The real motivating factor this time was that there would be a guided butterfly hike. The chance to go butterfliying with folks much more experienced than I was something I couldn’t pass up. I’ve been struggling this year with conclusively identifying some skippers; if I couldn’t be sure what I saw in terms of species, I wasn’t letting myself add it to my Big Year list. So I hoped in addition to seeing some of the endemic specialties, maybe I would see some of the more cryptic species that would be conclusively identified for us by the expert. Yeah!

We started off in the Visitor Center to view a quick slideshow of many local butterflies. I was disappointed to learn that some of my target species are in flight only early to midsummer, and would not be found on this late summer/early fall day. Oh well, I should pay more attention to the broods and flight seasons given in my field guide next time. For example, “Flies in early spring or summer, one brood” means I better find it by July at the latest, or else give up on that species for the year. If I do another Big Year next year I’ll definitely be more strategic in planning forays. After the slideshow we hit the trail.

Heading down the scrubby trail; this is probably the most shade we had all afternoon.

The day was brutally hot and humid, more like an August day than early September. My one water bottle was not nearly enough; in the future I think I’ll update my normal pack contents to include two water bottles on hot summer days rather than my usual one. The pack I use has compartments for two bottles; usually I use one of those compartments to hold small items like a magnifying class, my binoculars cleaner, and a small flashlight. But in order to be safe and healthy on the trail I really ought to have more water with me in the summertime. At least the recent heat and lack of rain meant there were few if any mosquitoes, so that was a small blessing.

Many of the other attendees were avid butterflyers and naturalists; it was fun to meet them. We also had some beginners along, so a good mix of folks. The experienced folks mostly had high-end cameras with lenses that seemed to go on forever. My little point-and-shoot seemed pretty piddly in comparison! They got some pretty awesome photos of many of the specialty species we saw, while I got only one or two clear shots. It takes me much longer to get my camera in focus on the tiny butterfly, and I didn’t want to fall too far behind. My priority was to experience and explore the ecosystem with a guide, so I didn’t let myself fall too far behind just for a better photo. Another trip I might spend longer trying to get decent shots.

Leonard's Skipper on Liatris-- this butterfly is ONLY seen in late summer/early fall. Very cool!

We saw several great butterflies, including three that are new for my Big Year List. Yay! The Leonard Skipper pictured above was most attendees' goal for this trip. We saw several of them, including a mated pair, very cool! I added Crossline Skipper and Dun Skipper to my year list as well, both very plain, cryptic species. I’ve wondered before if I saw Crossline Skipper but couldn’t be sure without another verification. It was great to have other observers to help ID and corroborate. We also saw Swarthy Skipper, which I saw while visiting my mom in Ohio. Mom and I found Swarthy Skippers at Battelle-Darby Creek Metro Park, which showcases the mid-western prairie ecosystem. So I found it interesting that it was also here in this relict prairie ecosystem in Maryland. It’s been very dry here in Maryland, so the wildflowers weren’t quite as lush as they might have been. We did see stubborn plants like liatris, boneset, and others that could get by without too much nutrients anyway, as they needed to be able to grow in the shallow soils native to that area.

I learned from the slideshow that some of the early spring butterflies I missed this year are common at Soldier’s Delight at the right time of year. I am definitely coming back next spring, whether I do a Big Year or not. I’ve never seen Falcate Orangetip in the wild, and its larval host is common enough in the right area of Soldier’s Delight that I should finally be able to check that off my life list. Woo-hoo! So even though it’s an hour away from my house, I’ll definitely be making multiple trips back next year. I can’t wait to see it in the spring.

Have you been exploring any areas that are new to you this summer, or otherwise getting out of your comfort zone? I hope you’re pushing yourself to grow and expand your experiences. It’s worth the initial anxiety. I wish I could say it gets easier each time; it hasn’t gotten much easier for me. But the more I do it, the harder I’m willing to push myself the next time to get over that mountain of uncertainty.  Maybe that’s what people mean when they say it gets easier.

On the Far Side of Fifty

It took a month and a half, but I'm finally over 50 butterfly species for the year.  The delay isn't completely due to lack of effort on my part, I've been butterflying nearly every day. The problem was I kept going to the same local places, so I never got species like Hackberry Emperor or American Snout whose larval hostplants don't seem to grow in the spots I most like to visit.

The other reason I think I didn't get any new species in July was I was more than a bit distracted. We got a new kitten! She and her siblings were found abandoned, not even weaned yet. The kind family who found them bottle-raised them to an adoptable age, then started finding new homes. We took the smallest, sweetest one, a soft little brown tabby with the cutest spots on her tummy. We named her Calliope after the instrument played on New Orleans river boats. She is the joy of our lives now and it's great to watch her grow up. So some of the time I could have been butterflying in more distant places, I chose instead to stay close to home so I could spend more time with her. Oh well, she's worth it!

Anyway, today is the first of August and  I'm visiting my Mom in Ohio. Hoping to boost my butterfly count,  we went hiking at a local park: Blendon Woods, part of Columbus's great Metro Parks system. There I was able to snag a Giant Swallowtail, unmistakeable even from a distance with that lovely cross pattern on the wings, as well as a more demure Common Wood-Nymph. I didn't get any photos, sorry; the hike was part wildlife watching and part chatting. Both species were seen along Goldenrod Trail, which is mainly a meadow trail rather than a wooded one. Goldenrod Trail seemed aptly named, we spotted at least two different types of goldenrod in the meadows. Also blooming were Joe-Pye Weed, Ironweed, Swamp Milkweed, and Brown-eyed Susan (or something similar). I might have seen a third new species, Delaware Skipper, but the little thing was so elusive I couldn't get a good enough look to compare what I was seeing with the field guide, so that one has to stay a maybe. And as we all know, maybes don't count in listing. Despite that one frustration, though, Mom and I had great fun and I am very relieved to finally be on the far side of 50.

Other butterfly species we spotted at Blendon Woods today included Silver-Spotted Skipper, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (both males and females), "Summer" Spring Azure, Monarch, Fritillary sp. (seen from the car, so I'm not 100% certain of exact ID), Zabulon Skipper, and Peck's Skipper. Not bad!

Butterfly Big Year Log

Update August 20: After a couple weeks of wishfully trying to make new species out of tattered or obscurely marked skippers, I finally got a new species for sure! Yesterday I spotted several Southern Broken-Dash skippers at Brookside Gardens, in Wheaton, MD. Another butterflyer also confirmed the ID, so I'm fairly confident I didn't succumb to just seeing what I wanted to see. 
 
Update August 3: Yesterday my Mom and I visited Dawes Arboretum in Newark, OH. We didn't spend much time on the main grounds of the arboretum, instead spending several hours wandering the mown paths of the Dutch Fork Wetlands area. This section of the Arboretum showcases prairie and riparian floodplain ecosystem(s). It's gorgeous, I really want to come back to this spot again.  We found tons of wildflowers in bloom, including Joe-Pye Weed, Wingstem, Coneflower, Ironweed, Queen Anne's Lace, Cardinal flower, Sawtooth Sunflower, Bee Balm, Swamp Milkweed, Pickerelweed, and on and on! I had planned to look for Hackberry Emperor at Dutch Fork Wetlands as well, but didn't have to: one was perched above the garage door when we were getting ready to leave the house! I did get another new butterfly for the year at Dutch Fork Wetlands as well: an Eastern Comma, on a pile of bird droppings beneath barn swallow nests in the observation deck structure. During our walk we also saw several Monarchs, Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, Viceroys, Pearl Crescents, Clouded and Orange Sulphurs, and of course the ubiquitous Cabbage White. 

Edit August 1: I had a long period of just seeing the same species over and over, due largely to my not traveling very far from home. Getting to where the larval hostplants are is definitely the key! Today I'm visiting my mom in Ohio, however, and finally added two new species to the list: Giant Swallowtail and Common Wood-Nymph. Both were seen at Blendon Woods Metro Park in Columbus, OH. Goldenrod Trail had plenty of blooming Ironweed, Joe-Pye Weed, Swamp Milkweed, Brown-eyed Susan (I think), and several flowers I can't yet identify. Clearly there are also lots of larval hostplants nearby, since we also saw Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, Zabulon Skippers, Peck's Skippers, Silver-Spotted Skippers, and more. Looking forward to more exploring here in Ohio!

Edit June 9: It's been a while since I had a chance to update this log, but I've definitely been making time to go butterflying! I'm discovering lots of awesome parks while I work on my Big Year, so that's great fun.  

• April 28--At Calvert Cliffs State Park in Lusby, MD, I spotted Zebra Swallowtail, Henry's Elfin, and Eastern Pine Elfin.We didn't have time to look for fossils along the beach there, but thoroughly enjoyed our hike through the woods and marsh.
• May 9--At Battelle-Darby Creek Metro Park in Galloway, OH, I added a Red Admiral. We also had a chance to view a days-old bison calf with the resident herd at the park, part of their prairie ecosystem. So cute!
• May 11--Closer to home at Meadowside Nature Center in Rockville, MD, I found Eastern Tailed-blue and Horace's Duskywing. I also saw another Juvenal's Duskywing, making a good backup sighting to the one I saw on April 17. 
• May 14--In Wheaton Regional Park I found Silver Spotted Skipper, Red-banded Hairstreak, and Red-spotted Purple.
•  May 14--An evening visit to Stoneridge Pond in Rockville, MD got me a Peck's Skipper.
• May 16-- While hiking around Lake Frank, part of Rock Creek Regional Park in Rockville, MD, I found Pipevine Swallowtail, Zabulon Skipper, and Wild Indigo Duskywing.
• May 18-- A hike at the C&O Canal National Park (in Maryland, not sure of the exact town) added Tawny-edged Skipper, ironically in clover next to the parking lot rather than on the trail. We also saw probably hundreds of fluttering damselflies who were being preyed upon by huge dragonflies, probably some kind of clubtail species. I haven't really got into identifying odonates much yet... maybe that will be next year! 
• May 19-- On a lunchtime walk at Brookside Gardens, in Wheaton, MD, I spotted a Gray Hairstreak.
•  May 21-- Another walk at Brookside Gardens, in Wheaton, MD,  added Sachem Skipper.
• May 26-- I found Least Skippers at Stoneridge Pond, Rockville, MD.
• May 28--A lovely Question Mark was mudpuddling on some damp earth at Brookside Gardens, in Wheaton, MD.
• May 30-- On a road trip south, I visited Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, in Townsend, GA. There I saw Painted Lady, Salt Marsh Skipper, Palamedes Swallowtail, and Little Wood-Satyr. Most exciting though was viewing the raucous nesting colony of Wood Storks there. Many other wading birds were nesting among the storks as well: Great egrets, Snowy Egrets, White Ibis. We saw Roseate Spoonbills in the park too, although I can't remember if there were any on nests in the colony. We also enjoyed watching an armadillo searching through leaf litter for a tasty snack. Definitely worth the trip!
• May 31-- Next visit on the trip was to Orlando Wetlands PArk, in Christmas, FL. The only new butterfly I saw here was a Dainty Sulphur, but we really enjoyed watching the throngs of dragonflies swarming over the trails. Even more impressive (and somewhat frightening) were the roars coming from unseen alligators in the marsh. I've heard alligators grunting before, but never these hair-raising roars. I definitely had goosebumps.
• June 1-- On the same road trip, I managed to photograph and identify Cassius Blue while in Epcot Park, Orlando, FL.
• June 2-- Heading back north, I stopped at Trout Creek Park in Thonotosassa, FL. Despite an overcast sky and frequent light rain I still found a cooperative Zarucco Duskywing in the power line clearing that cuts across one of the trails. 
• June 4-- The next stop was at Santee National Wildlife Refuge, Cuddo Unit, in Summerton, SC. This was a great park! We drove along their wildlife drive, stopping periodically to watch and photograph butterflies in clearings and meadows. We managed to identify Sleepy Orange, American Lady, and Common Buckeye. We also spotted a couple of Wild Turkeys crossing the road at one point.
• June 7-- Back in Maryland again, I visited Meadowside Nature Center and added Little Glassywing, Great Spangled Fritillary, and Northern Pearly-eye. Common milkweed was budding up in the meadows there, but was about a week away from blooming. Swamp milkweed was just starting to bloom, though.

 Edit  April 22: Walking along Wooton Parkway in Rockville, MD, and around Stoneridge Pond there, I added Clouded Sulphur and a repeat of Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Dogwoods are blooming, as are redbuds, which for me often signal the start of good butterflying here in the Washington, DC region. Cabbage Whites are abundant.

Edit April 21: At Sawgrass Lake Park in St. Petersburg, Florida, I added Zebra Heliconian, Viceroy (the dark Florida version), a Phoebis species that I couldn't identify further--either Cloudless Sulphur, Large Oange Sulphur, or Orange-barred Sulphur judging from size & location & general appearance,  but I never could get a close enough look at one to tell which-- and a repeat of White Peacock. I had hoped for some hairstreaks  or other Florida specialties in the marshy woods, but we struck out. Many kinds of dragonflies were abundant here, several juvenile alligators dozed throughout the park, and we also saw a lovely turtle nesting near the parking lot.

  Edit April 19: At Epcot Park in Orlando, Florida, I added White Peacock, Monarch, Great Southern White, and Fiery Skipper. We saw other butterflies but some I discounted due to the live butterfly exhibit that was ongoing. Since all the species in the exhibit were locally native, the enclosure had only curtains of loose chains at the exits and butterflies could easily escape. I maybe shouldn't count any except the Fiery Skipper from this visit, as it was the only one that wasn't included in the exhibit. I'm still contemplating the ethics here. I also saw a Black Swallowtail caterpillar on dill in a gardening display.

Edit April 18: While driving into Mariott's Cypress Villa Harbor area of timeshare condos in Orlando, FL, I added Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.

 Edit April 17: While visiting Orlando Wetlands Park in Christmas, Florida, I added Cloudless Sulphur, Gulf Fritillary, Juvenal's Duskywing (I think), Black Swallowtail, and Pearl Crescent. The weather started off partly sunny but turned dark and stormy, driving us out of the park before we'd gone very far. The blooming flowers in the marsh and around the Nature Center seemed very promising, and I'd like to visit again this year if I have a chance. 



Here's where I'll be posting my butterfly sightings and counts as I do a Butterfly Big Year in 2015, as I described here. Follow along, and let me know if you have any questions, or suggested locales you think I should check out!

1. Cabbage White Pieris rapae. Seen April 11 at Stoneridge Pond, in Rockville, MD.
2. Mourning Cloak Nymphalis antiopa. Seen April 12 at Huntley Meadows, Alexandria, VA.
3. Variegated Fritillary Euptoieta claudia. Seen April 13 while gardening in Rockville, MD.
4. Cloudless Sulphur Phoebis sennae. Seen April 17 at Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, FL.
5. Gulf Fritillary Agraulis vanillae. Seen April 17 at Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, FL.
6. Juvenal's Duskywing  Erynnis juvenalis.  Seen April 17 at Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, FL.(I probably ought to repeat this one elsewhere if possible, I'm not entirely confident of Juvenal's vs. Horace's duskywings.)
7. Black Swallowtail Papilio polyxenes. Seen April 17 at Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, FL.
8. Pearl Crescent Phyciodes tharos. Seen April 17 at Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, FL.
9. Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Papilio glaucus. Seen April 18 at Cypress Villa Harbor condos in Orlando, FL.
10. White Peacock Anartia jatrophae. Seen April 19 at Epcot Park in Orlando, FL, repeated April 21 at Sawgrass Lake Park, in St. Petersburg, FL.
11. Monarch Danaus plexippus. Seen April 19 at Epcot Park in Orlando, FL.
12. Great Southern White  Ascia monuste. Seen April 19 at Epcot Park in Orlando, FL (including two mating).
13. Fiery Skipper Hylephila phyleus. Seen April 19 at Epcot Park in Orlando, FL.
14. Zebra Heliconian Heliconius charithonia. Seen April 21 at Sawgrass Lake Park in St. Petersburg, FL.
15. Viceroy Limenitis archippus (dark Florida variety). Seen April 21 at Sawgrass Lake Park in St. Petersburg, FL.
16. Clouded Sulphur Colias philodice. Seen April 22 near Stoneridge Pond in Rockville, MD.
17. Zebra Swallowtail Eurytides marcellus. Seen April 28 at Calvert Cliffs State Park in Lusby, MD.
18. Henry's Elfin Callophrys henrici. Seen April 28 at Calvert Cliffs State Park in Lusby, MD.
19. Eastern Pine Elfin Callophrys niphon. Seen April 28 at Calvert Cliffs State Park in Lusby, MD.
20. Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta. Seen May 9 at Battelle-Darby Creek Metro Park in Galloway, OH.
21. Eastern Tailed-blue Everes comyntas. Seen May 11 at Meadowside Nature Center in Rockville, MD.
22. Horace's Duskywing Erynnis horatius. Seen May 11 at Meadowside Nature Center in Rockville, MD.
23. Peck's Skipper Polites peckius. Seen May 12 at Stoneridge Pond in Rockville, MD.
24. Silver-spotted Skipper Epargyreus clarus. Seen May 14 at Wheaton Regional Park in Wheaton, MD.
25. Red-banded Hairstreak Calycopis cecrops. Seen May 14 at Wheaton Regional Park in Wheaton, MD.
26. Red-spotted Purple Limenitis arthemis . Seen May 14 at Wheaton Regional Park in Wheaton, MD.
27. Pipevine Swallowtail Battus philenor. Seen May 16 at Lake Frank in Rock Creek Regional Park in Rockville, MD.
28. Zabulon Skipper Poanes zabulon. Seen May 16 at Lake Frank in Rock Creek Regional Park in Rockville, MD.
29. Wild Indigo Duskywing Erynnis baptisiae. Seen May 16 at Lake Frank in Rock Creek Regional Park in Rockville, MD.
30. Tawny-edged Skipper Polites themistocles. Seen May 18 at C&O Canal National Park, somewhere near Violette's Lock area, MD.
31. Gray Hairstreak Strymon melinus. Seen May 19 at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD.
32. Sachem Skipper Atalopedes campestris. Seen May 21 at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD.
33. Least Skipper Ancyloxypha numitor. Seen May 26 at Stoneridge Pond in Rockville, MD.
34. Question Mark Polygonia interrogationis. Seen May 28 at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD.
35. Painted Lady Vanessa cardui. Seen May 30 at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Townsend, GA.
36. Salt Marsh Skipper Panoquina panoquin. Seen May 30 at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Townsend, GA.
37. Palamedes Swallowtail Papilio palamedes. Seen May 30 at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Townsend, GA.
38. Little Wood-Satyr Megisto cymela. Seen May 30 at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge in Townsend, GA.
39. Dainty Sulphur Nathalis iole. Seen May 31 at Orlando Wetlands Park in Christmas, FL.
40. Cassius Blue Leptotes cassius. Seen June 1 at Epcot Park in Orlando, FL.
41. Zarucco Duskywing Erynnis zarucco. Seen June 2 at Trout Creek Park in Thonotosassa, FL.
42. Sleepy Orange Eurema nicippe. Seen June 4 at Santee National Wildlife Refuge (Cuddo Unit) in Summerton, SC.
43. American Lady Vanessa virginiensis. Seen June 4 at Santee National Wildlife Refuge (Cuddo Unit) in Summerton, SC.
44. Common Buckeye Junonia coenia. Seen June 4 at Santee National Wildlife Refuge (Cuddo Unit) in Summerton, SC.
45. Little Glassywing Pompeius verna. Seen June 7 at Meadowside Nature Center in Rockville, MD.
46. Great Spangled Fritillary Speyeria cybele. Seen June 7 at Meadowside Nature Center in Rockville, MD.
47. Northern Pearly-eye Enodia anthedon. Seen June 7 at Meadowside Nature Center in Rockville, MD.
48. Spicebush Swallowtail Papilio troilus. Seen June 14 at Stoneridge Pond in Rockville, MD.
49. Orange Sulphur Colias eurytheme. Seen June 15 at Stoneridge Pond in Rockville, MD.
50. "Summer" Spring Azure Celastrina ladon neglecta. Seen June 17 at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD.
51. Giant Swallowtail Papilio cresphontes. Seen August 1 at Blendon Woods Metro Park in Columbus, OH.
52. Common Wood-Nymph Cercyonis pegala. Seen August 1 at Blendon Woods Metro Park in Columbus, OH.
53. Hackberry Emperor Asterocampa celtis. Seen August 2 on residential building in Worthington, OH.
54. Eastern Comma Polygonia comma. Seen August 2 at Dawes Arboretum, Dutch Fork Wetlands section, in Newark, OH.
55. Swarthy Skipper, Nastra lherminier. Seen August 5 at Batelle-Darby Creek Metro Park, in Galloway, OH.
56. Southern Broken-Dash, Wallengrenia otho. Seen August 19 at Brookside Gardens, in Wheaton, MD.

I'm Doing a Butterfly Big Year

Butterfly #2: this Mourning Cloak at Huntley Meadows.

A lot of birders I know are big into lists. They keep lists of all the birds they’ve seen in their lives (Life Lists), all the birds they’ve seen in a state or county, even separate lists each year for multiple states and regions, like my county list for 2015 vs for 2014 etc. It’s a great way to casually track changes from year to year if you do it long enough.

I love making lists--tasks to do, including sub tasks and sometimes sub-sub tasks for each of those tasks (Zeno’s paradox, anybody??), places I want to see, veggies to grow, etc.—but for wildlife I mostly only keep life lists. Some birders I know keep more detailed lists: yearly ones, or even smaller lists for each state, county, etc. for every single year. Whew! I just keep a bird life list, a butterfly life list, and kind of loosely a reptile/amphibian list. I also keep a yard list for birds, but I haven't kept any year lists before.

I've heard of folks doing a “Big Year” where they try to see as many bird species as possible in a single year. You might have seen the movie a few years back about this. Recently I was reading through a local butterfly blog and discovered that a few years ago, some butterflyers in my area did a butterfly Big Year for Maryland. What a cool idea!

I’ve decided that this year I will try my own Butterfly Big Year, not just in Maryland but anywhere I travel this spring & summer. I expect most overall will come from parks here in Maryland or nearby in Virginia & DC, though. Yesterday while gardening I had three different species visit my yard already: Cabbage White, Mourning Cloak, and Variegated Fritillary. Yay!   This weekend I also spent time down at Huntley Meadows, where I saw only a Mourning Cloak high up in the trees, shown above.

Last year (2014) was a pretty poor year for butterflies in my area: low numbers for most species were reported by nearly everybody I know in the butterfly watching community. Will this year be better? I hope so. Even if not, I think keeping track of my totals will be fun. Wish me luck! I’ll post my progress here periodically, so check back from time to time and follow along.