Niobrara Valley Preserve 35th annual butterfly count

On July 10th ten individuals gathered at the Niobrara Valley Preserve to conduct the 35th consecutive annual butterfly count. Participants included Neil Dankert, Jonathan and Bennett Nikkila, Jen Corman (NE G&P), and Jojo Morelli, Krystal Church, Sanketh Menon, Kevin Meyer, Paul Stofferahn and Chris Helzer, all of the Nature Conservancy. This year’s count was heldContinue reading “Niobrara Valley Preserve 35th annual butterfly count”

2021 Niobrara Valley Preserve Butterfly Count

On July 1 eight intrepid observers took advantage of perfect weather to participate in the Niobrara Valley Preserve’s annual butterfly count. They found 254 total butterflies belonging to 36 species. The Great Spangled Fritillary was the most common butterfly with 65 tallied. Four Nebraska Natural Heritage Program Tier 1 (globally most at risk of extinction)Continue reading “2021 Niobrara Valley Preserve Butterfly Count”

2020 Niobrara Valley Preserve Butterfly Count Results

Due to the Corona virus and other scheduling issues this year’s annual Niobrara Valley Preserve butterfly count was a two day affair by two different teams. On July 11 Jonathan Nikkila and his son Bennett covered a majority of the count. Jen and I followed that up on July 15 covering the remainder of theContinue reading “2020 Niobrara Valley Preserve Butterfly Count Results”

Return to Box Elder/Jeffry Canyon WMAs – Three new species and a “midden”

After being stuck on 23 species for the year for 12 days due to the cold snap and still stinging from being shut out at the Scotia Chalk Mine I made another trip to Lincoln county to check out Box Elder WMA for third time this year. It took till noon for the morning cloudsContinue reading “Return to Box Elder/Jeffry Canyon WMAs – Three new species and a “midden””