Awesome Chapter

* * * * 30 Years!!!! * * * *
The Massachusetts Butterfly Club is celebrating our 30th year! To see a brief history of the club and how it began, click here.

            * * * North Essex County Count RESCHEDULED * * *
The North Essex County July Count has been RESCHEDULED to Saturday, July 22nd at 10am. Rain date is Sunday, July 23rd.

                       * * * Field Trip RESCHEDULED * * *
The Myles Standish State Forest field trip originally scheduled for Saturday, July 1st has been RESCHEDULED to Saturday, July 22nd at 10am.
                       * * * Field Trips ADDED * * *
Two field trips have been added to the schedule. On September 2nd and 16th, the annual Allens Pond Butterfly Census will take place.

See the updated Field Trips schedule at 2023 Schedule for more information.

                   ***   2023 Fall Meeting   ***
Save the date!!  Saturday, October 14th (time to be determined)
The 2023 Fall meeting of the Massachusetts Butterfly Club will be held on Saturday, October 14th at Mass Audubon’s Broad Meadow Brook in Worcester.

Our guest speaker will be Phillip deMaynadier, primary author of the new book Butterflies of Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces. He is a wildlife biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Among his many projects, he codirected the Maine Butterfly Survey that was held from 2006 to 2015 ( https://mbs.umf.maine.edu).

Butterflies of Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces introduces readers to over one hundred and twenty butterfly species documented in the Acadian region. Including contributions from researchers and community scientists, this volume is indispensable for anyone interested in the study and conservation of these ecologically important insects.

This user-friendly guide features:

• The first annotated checklist of the species and subspecies of Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island
• Species accounts covering habitat, behavior, threats, and more
• Color photographs, flight histograms, and distribution maps

* * Lunenburg Community Pollinator Habitat – Open House * * The Lunenburg Community Pollinator Habitat is having an Open House on Saturday, July 22, 10 a.m. to noon to celebrate National Pollinator Week. There are crafts for children, local musicians’ background music, refreshments, a free raffle and informational tours. A number of hand-outs will be available to help folks get started planting for pollinators in their own yards. The open house will be at 123 Hollis Rd, Lunenburg, MA. For more information, please contact Ginny Albertson at [email protected] or (508) 596-4371. Rain date is Sunday, July 23rd.

              * * * Rare butterfly seen after restoration * * *
MassWildlife staff recently discovered a frosted elfin caterpillar at Montague Plains Wildlife Management Area after 2 decades of habitat restoration at the site. This exciting find is evidence that these efforts are paying off. See this link https://www.mass.gov/news/rare-caterpillar-found-after-decades-of-habitat-restoration for more information.

              * * * Fort Indiantown Gap, PA – Regal Fritillary * * *
Free guided tours of rare Regal Fritillary butterfly habitat are offered at Fort Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania. The dates are June 30 (Friday), July 1 (Saturday), July 7 (Friday), and July 8 (Saturday). You must preregister as the habitat is on an active military base. See this link https://ftig.isportsman.net/ButterflyTours.aspx for more information and to preregister.

                       * * * Hats and T-shirts * * *
We have new official Massachusetts Butterfly Club Hats and T-shirts available for purchase.
Please click on the Club Merchandise link on the left menu.

On December 3 we hosted Robert Gallardo speaking on Butterflies of Honduras. Robert is building a nature reserve and working on a complete guide to Honduran butterflies, and has made several discoveries of new species in the process. A link to the recording of this talk is here: https://youtu.be/jZHgYwnwuCc.

If you wish to receive news about the soon to be published Guide to the Butterflies of Honduras, sign up at this link: https://faunaventures.com.

MBC member Andrew Griffith writes a post on butterflies for the Wareham Week Today website. If you’d like to see his posts, you can click on wareham.theweektoday.com. On that webpage you can see a list of recent posts on the right side of the page.

                        **** Please Donate ****

The Massachusetts Butterfly Club sponsors state-wide butterfly activities to promote education, conservation, interpretation, and fun! We invite people of all ages and levels of expertise to attend our meetings, programs, field trips, and butterfly counts and to become members of our club.

If you care about our butterflies and the club’s efforts to support them, please consider making a donation to our club.
Click on this link to see how you can donate.

                  *****  Butterflying Code of Ethics  *****
The Massachusetts Butterfly Club has adopted a Butterflying Code of Ethics. You can find the document under Club Information on the left menu.

Sign up to get e-mail from Massachusetts butterfly enthusiasts!

If you wish to receive periodic e-mail messages about butterflies in Massachusetts and to report your own butterfly sightings, consider joining the MassLep list server. Butterfly watchers from around the state send messages listing the butterflies they see, describing butterfly behavior, posing questions, and answering them. Joining the list server is a great way to find out what’s flying and to get to know others who share your interests!

If you have questions about MassLep or its operations, send an email to moderator Mark Faherty, [email protected]. MassLep is independently operated in coordination with the Massachusetts Butterfly Club.

    *****  Report your sightings to our Records Compiler   *****

If you do not report your sightings on MassLep or Facebook and would like to report your sightings to our records compiler directly, you can download the spreadsheet below and email to Mark Fairbrother at [email protected].

            Sightings Report spreadsheet

Note: Please DO NOT use this form if you report your sightings on MassLep or Facebook.