Butterflies and How to Attract Them

Watching Butterflies and Conducting a Butterfly Survey

Few other insects can be as pleasing to watch as butterflies, not only for their fascinating flight patterns but also for sheer beauty of color and pattern. Butterfly watching can also give you a new awareness of the plants and habitats around your property.

You can survey what types of butterflies appear in your neighborhood during the warm times of the year. Use colored photographs from the references for identification. Mark the pages containing the common species for quick reference.

Butterflies are best found in open, sunny areas that have flowers. Your own yard is a good place to start. Any rural roadside will also do. Powerline cuts, irrigation ditches, mud-puddle margins, sunny streamsides, and a city bed of annual flowers are other good sites. Take notes on what plants butterflies visit. You can use these notes later to decide which plants to include in your butterfly garden.

Butterflies are best observed when feeding or basking in the sun. On cool days and in the mornings, butterflies can be seen basking in the sunlight with their wings open and their bodies perpendicular to the sun to absorb heat quickly from the sun’s rays. They also sometimes become so involved in drinking that you can approach to within inches. When approaching butterflies, move slowly and fluidly.

Binoculars are almost as helpful to the butterfly-watcher as to the birder. They enable you to survey a large field for butterflies, or to sit on your porch to view your butterfly garden. Lower-powered binoculars that focus closer are best. Eventually you’ll be able to identify certain butterflies “on the wing.” Finally, when looking for butterflies, think small; many common species have a wing span of an inch or less.