Monarch Butterfly Tagging 2012 - Flickr - treegrow

Butterfly watching is a

hobby A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time. Hobbies include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic pursuits, playing sports, or pursuing other ...

concerned with the observation and study of

butterflies Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

. It also includes the "catch and release" of butterflies. There are clubs, handbooks, checklists, and festivals devoted to the activity. The

Canada Day Canada Day, formerly known as Dominion Day, is the national day of Canada. A Public holidays in Canada, federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 1867, with the passing of the B ...

and

Fourth of July Independence Day, known colloquially as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States which commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing th ...

annual butterfly count, a census of species by butterfly watchers throughout

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, is an example of

citizen science The term citizen science (synonymous to terms like community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is research conducted with participation from the general public, or am ...

Equipment used

* Low-power

binoculars Binoculars or field glasses are two refracting telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most binoculars are sized to be held ...

(7x35, for example), especially close-focus binoculars are helpful * A butterfly field guide. Not all butterflies are readily identifiable from color photographs. The skippers, for example, are best identified from set specimens. * A camera (optional)

Locations

A person can watch butterflies almost everywhere but some well-known butterfly-watching areas include

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

, the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries ...

, and

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

References

* D’Amico G., Groppali R. & D’Amico N., 2011. Farfalle diurne pronube e fioriture nettarifere: segnalazioni per la Val Padana interna e indicazioni di profilo conservazionistico (Lepidoptera Hesperioidea, Papilionoidea). Bollettino della Società entomologica Italiana, 143 (3): 111–136. * Dunkle, S. W. (2000). ''Dragonflies through binoculars: a field guide to dragonflies of North America''. New York: Oxford University. * Glassberg, J. (1993). ''Butterflies through binoculars: a field guide to butterflies in the Boston, New York, Washington region''. New York: Oxford University Press. (pbk) * Glassberg, J. (1999). ''Butterflies through binoculars: the East''. New York: Oxford University Press. * Glassberg, J. (2001). ''Butterflies through binoculars: the West : a field guide to the butterflies of western North America''. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press. * Glassberg, J., Minno, M. C., & Calhoun, J. V. (2000). ''Butterflies through binoculars: Florida''. New York: Oxford University Press. * Groppali R., D'Amico G. & Riccardi C. (2008). "Osservare gli insetti: farfalle e libellule del Parco Adda Sud. Atlante-guida per la fruizione della fauna minore nell'area protetta". Conoscere il Parco (Volume 6), Parco Adda Sud, Lodi, 206 pp. (http://www.parcoaddasud.it/tuttopubblicazioni.htm )

External links

eButterflyNorth American Butterfly Association (NABA)Butterflying to AmazoniaThe Lepidopterists' SocietyCarolina Butterfly SocietyMassachusetts Butterfly Club (chapter of NABA)The Mulberry Wing
- Field notes of the New York City and North Jersey Butterfly Clubs.
Butterfly Conservation
- The main UK organisation.
NABA South Texas, America's Butterfly Capital (chapter of NABA)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butterfly Watching Watching Observation hobbies Lepidopterology Insect-related occupations or hobbies

Equipment used

Locations

See also

References

External links