NatureKids BC

Have you seen butterflies in your backyard or neighbourhood?

This summer you can be a scientist and collect important information about butterflies!

Put your lab coat on, grab your camera and help UBC scientist Heather Kharouba with her research project on butterflies! Take photos of butterflies, record some simple data, and send to the YNC to qualify to win great prizes.

Butterflies enjoy warm sunny days and as our climate changes we might see even more of them. Heather wants to learn how butterflies are going to change with a different climate,

“We want to know more about when and where butterflies are active and which flowers they like best for nectar. You can help by being a young scientist and watching for butterflies in your backyard and neighbourhood and recording what you see.”

Heather Kharouba is a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia in the Department of Zoology & Beaty Biodiversity Centre. To learn more about Heather and her work click here

What to do:

1. Watch for butterflies from July until Sept. 17th.
2. Take a picture of any butterfly you see when it stops to rest or feed.
3. If the butterfly stops on a flower, take a picture of the flower.
4. Collect some data: fill out the chart, recording anything interesting in your field notes.

5. Make sure to label your pictures so Heather knows which butterfly goes with which plant! Match your butterfly and plant photos, and then label (e.g. JSmith Butterfly A_1).

6. Try to name your butterfly- Link to EFauna website (enter the common name or latin name in the photo gallery section and hit ‘enter’ to search), or click on the links below or do your own web searches, to see if you can name the butterfly.

7. Send us your completed chart and labelled photos before September 17th to info@ync.ca and be entered into a draw for great prizes! The best photos will also be acknowledged.

Common butterflies by region

Lower Mainland

· Clodius Apollo (Parnassius clodius)

· Pale Swallowtail (Papilio eurymedon)

· Woodland Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanoides)

· Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus)

· Lorquin’s Admiral (Limenitis lorquini)

· Satyr Anglewing (Polygonia satyrus)

Thompson/Okanagan

· Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice)

· Silvery Blue (Glaucopsyche lygdamus)

· Large Marble (Euchloe ausonides)