Baltimore Checkerspot, © Ann Thering
Butterfly Sightings and Records
SWBA Butterfly Gardening fact sheet (pdf). Nectar and caterpillar food plants that do well in Wisconsin, and other guidelines on attracting butterflies to your yard.
NABA Butterfly Garden and Habitat Program. Regional gardening guides, lists of butterfly gardening plants, application for certifying your butterfly garden, and more. http://www.nababutterfly.com
NABA lists of host and nectar plants for west central Wisconsin (http://www.naba.org/ftp/wcwi.pdf) and southwestern Wisconsin (http://www.naba.org/ftp/swwi.pdf) (pdf files are free. Brochures can be ordered for fee.)
HOSTS-a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants includes a comprehensive record of the plants that caterpillars feed upon. You need to enter the scientific name, rather than the common name, of the butterfly or plant:
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/projects/hostplants
http://www.monarchwatch.org/garden/index.htm
Checklist of Wisconsin Butterflies: http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/wes/pubs/bflylist.html
Butterflies of Pheasant Branch Conservancy (Middleton, WI): http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/es/science/publications/checklists.htm
Butterfly Sightings and Records
Wisconsin Butterflies. Report your recent butterfly sightings here and find out what butterflies are being seen in the state. Packed with useful information. Also covers dragonflies, damselfies, and tiger beetles. See also under Online Field Guide. Created by member Mike Reese: http://www.wisconsinbutterflies.org
NABA's sighting page for North America: http://www.naba.org/sightings/sightings.html
Butterflies and Moths of North American. This web site includes species accounts, occurrence maps, checklists, and photographs of species in the U.S. and Mexico, by state and county: http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org
Wisconsin Butterflies. Includes range maps, important identifying marks, photos, and more. See also under Butterfly Sightings. Created by member Mike Reese: http://www.wisconsinbutterflies.org
The Wisconsin DNR's Field Guide to rare lepidoptera in Wisconsin bogs and barrens: http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/ORG/LAND/er/invertebrates/butterflies_moths/intro.htm
http://www.naba.org/counts.html
Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network, a citizen scientists program monitoring the health of butterfly populations in northeastern and central Illinois: http://www.bfly.org
Our inhouse binocular expert Karl Legler highly recommends Pentax Papilio's, which are reasonably priced close-focusing binoculars. Sold by Eagle Optics (online store and a showroom in Middleton). Download a handout on these great binoculars.
http://www.naba.org/binocs.html
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/gear/binoculars
Journey North: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/index.html Great information on Monarchs, including several slide shows. You can also report your Monarch sightings here.Monarch Watch, from the University of Kansas: http://www.monarchwatch.org
Butterfly watching tips from the Wisconsin DNR: http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/ORG/LAND/er/invertebrates/butterflies_moths/watching.htm Beaver Creek Reserve (Fall Creek, WI), native butterflies in screened butterfly house, open seasonally: http://www.beavercreekreserve.org Mosquito Hill Nature Center (New London, WI), native butterflies, open seasonally: http://www.mosquitohill.com Olbrich Botanical Garden (Madison, WI) sponsors a live butterfly exhibit in the Bolz Conservatory each summer: http://www.olbrich.org/events/butterflies.cfm Milwaukee Public Museum Peulicher Butterfly Wing, permanent exhibit of live butterflies: http://www.mpm.edu/exhibitions/permanent/puelicher.php The Butterfly Conservation Initiative list of Butterfly Exhibits and Gardens in the U.S.: http://www.butterflyrecovery.org/all_about_butterflies North American Butterfly Association: http://www.naba.org The Butterfly Conservation Initiative: http://www.butterflyrecovery.org The Lepidopterists' Society. Includes full-text articles from the society's journal: http://www.lepsoc.org Xerces Society: http://www.xerces.org