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”
Tag Archives: Pieris rapae
Niobrara Valley Preserve 2022 Butterfly Count
On July 6 seven intrepid observers set out on the Niobrara Valley Preserve’s 34th annual butterfly count. Conditions were incredibly dry (perhaps accounting for the lower overall numbers observed) but we were able to record 28 species and 161 individual butterflies. These totals fell roughly in line with averages for the last 10 years (26.8Continue reading “Niobrara Valley Preserve 2022 Butterfly Count”
Western Nebraska: Good for family & butterflies
By Jonathan Nikkila Putting to use all the tips, tricks and ID help Neil Dankert has given me over the years, I spent a day during our family vacation to the Pine Ridge last week to hunt for Western Nebraska butterfly species. My family was staying at Ft. Robinson State Park, a great place forContinue reading “Western Nebraska: Good for family & butterflies”
Distribution Map Updates – Part 1
I just finished updating the distribution maps for all 215 butterfly species that have been recorded from Nebraska. Six butterflies have been recorded from all 93 counties – Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta), Painted Ladies (Vanessa cardui), Monarchs (Danaus plexippus), Common Wood Nymphs (Cercyonis pegala), Orange Sulphurs (Colias eurytheme) and Cabbage Whites (Pieris rapae). Another 14Continue reading “Distribution Map Updates – Part 1”
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”
Hunt for Henry’s Elfin Larval Hostplants
What a strange spring (but what does a “normal” spring look like). Once in a while a nice “butterfly day” followed by another week of cold weather. I guess it’s been several weeks ago Jen and I made our annual spring pilgrimage to Harlan County Reservoir to kick off butterfly season. We were met thereContinue reading “Hunt for Henry’s Elfin Larval Hostplants”
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”
Platte River Bottom Lands – Alda to Wood River
Chris Helzer sent me a skipper picture Wednesday which he had correctly ided as Peck’s Skipper (Polites peckius). He’d taken the pic at a Nature Conservancy tract south of Alda and he commented that they were not uncommon there. As I had not yet sighted that skipper this year and it was only an hour’sContinue reading “Platte River Bottom Lands – Alda to Wood River”