Baltimore checkerspot, Springdale NABA Count, 2009.
NABA’s North Jersey Butterfly Club has launched a wonderful new website, packed with info about butterflies throughout the state. Go to the link below to see. The site is already extremely impressive, even with other sections still to be added. Try out the NJ Species Accounts, for example — with beautiful photos, lots of information on flight periods and host plants (and other info), and easy to understand maps — illustrating each species’ current status for every county throughout the state.
The county records for South Jersey incorporated our SJBF Project data — as well as reports and photos from other observers. The data for each map are sorted into four categories: photo documentation since 2000, visual observations since 2000, photo documentation before 2000, and sightings before 2000. This means the website is the most up-to-date source of New Jersey butterfly distribution you can find anywhere.
Looking for a challenge on your next field trip to, let’s say, Salem County? Scroll through the maps for the species that haven’t been yet photographed there. Do you know, for example, that (at least since 2000) there seems to be no photographs of pipevine swallowtail from that county?
Congratulations and thank you to Sharon Wander, Wade Wander, Jim Springer, and all other contributors who worked so hard to give us something all butterflyers throughout the state can use, learn from, and be inspired by.
The site’s “About Us” notes:
“The North American Butterfly Association (NABA)-North Jersey Butterfly Club was founded in 1995. It is the oldest of the 26 NABA chapters in the United States. NABA’s purpose is to promote the non-consumptive study, conservation, appreciation, and enjoyment of butterflies.
“New members and guests including young ones are always welcome. We meet at 7:30 P.M. the first Tuesday of most months at the Haggerty Education Center of the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morristown, Morris County.”
Go here for more: