When you see Monarch Butterflies this time of year there’s a sense of seriousness to their behavior and flight. No longer do they dawdle at this flower or that, tasting this petal or that leaf. No longer do they flitter about following scents. No, now their flight is strong and their purpose clear – refuel, […]

Here’s a great chance for children in Loudoun County to connect with children in Michoacan, Mexico and learn about Monarch butterflies, their habitat needs and their lifecycles.  The links below provide classroom materials and exercises as well as everything you need to send a Monarch to Mexico….and then get a Monarch back during the Spring migration. How […]

While we had to postpone our annual butterfly count by a day due to the weather, it was definitely for the better!  48 people came out to help count butterflies on Sunday, August 3rd from 9:00 in the morning to about 4:30 in the afternoon. We identified 2,903 individual butterflies and 55 species!  This is the […]

Field trip report from Joe Coleman (and a photo of a Field Sparrow): Twenty-five people showed up for the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy’s regular monthly bird walk at the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship in northwestern Loudoun County yesterday morning.  We walked the area at the end of Sawmill Road and did the loop into […]

In this podcast we give a brief talk about the stages of the lifecycle of butterflies and things you can do to attract them to your yard.

We had a great walk led by Andy Rabin and Mona Miller. Eighteen people of all ages came out to spot and help identify these beautiful insects. In total, we saw 17 species of butterflies, 13 species of dragonflies and 1species of damselflies. The highlight of the butterflies was the large number of Juniper (aka […]

On June 21, Mona Miller (“The Butterfly Lady”) led our first butterfly walk of the season. Over 20 people, adults and kids, came out to Banshee Reeks to spot our flying friends and help with identification.  Here’s a quick report of the species seen: Great Spangled Fritillary (numerous) Eastern Tailed Blue Hickory Hairstreak (rare) Mourning […]

Vol. 12 Issue 2, Summer 2007 By Nicole Hamilton Attract butterflies to your garden by making a butterfly fruit cocktail.  It is easy to do and a great use for over-ripe fruits.  Bananas are the big favorite, so you could start with slicing up an over-ripe banana and putting it out on a plate, but […]

Vol. 11 Issue 2, Summer 2006 Here in Loudoun, we are losing our grasslands and weedy roadside areas at an astounding rate. By creating monarch waystations, we help not only the monarchs but also a variety of other butterflies, as well as birds and other wildlife. Use Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy’s online native plant database to identify […]

Vol. 10 Issue 3, Fall 2005 By Nicole Hamilton  In the world of insects – specifically butterflies and dragonflies – it takes two generations to complete a round-trip migration. Adults migrate south in the fall and their offspring return north in the spring. Generally when people think about migration, they think of birds. Rarely […]