Butterfly links
Wisconsin butterfly organizations
Southern Wisconsin Butterfly Association (SWBA).
This is a local chapter of the North American Butterfly Association (NABA), formed in late 2006. See their web page for information about the field trips and for dates for a number of NABA counts.
Wisconsin Natural Areas
Over 300 sites are listed as state natural areas. These areas cover a variety of habitats and therefore a variety of butterflies. Check out some of these natural areas near you.
Nature Conservancy Areas
In addition to the State Natural Areas, the Nature Conservancy also has protected over 60,000 acres of land.
State Department of Natural Resource land
Wisconsin is fortunate to have a wide variety of state-owned lands. Explore some of the state DNR lands near you. Within thirty miles of Wautoma, where I live, there are three large marshes (Germania, Poygan, and Buena Vista), and dozens of smaller parcels of DNR land to explore.
Nature Centers
Wisconsin Nature and Environmental Education Centers
This site, from Wisconline, lists nature centers from throughout the state. The following links are sites that have their own web pages.
Aldo Leopold Nature Center Located in Monona, WI.
Allen Centennial Gardens A terrific 2.5 acre site with a variety of gardens. Stop in sometime and see what is nectaring on the flowers.
Olbrich Park Botanical Gardens Over 250,000 visitors per year.
Mosquito Hill Nature Center Located in New London
Beaver Creek Reserve Located in Fall Creek, ten miles east of Eau Claire, this reserve has a Butterfly House that is open from early July to Labor Day.
Butterfly web sites
Butterfly Resources. This web site has a listing of books on moths and butterflies worldwide. It also has lists of butterflies and moths observed at Governor Dodge State Park in Iowa County, and at Governor Nelson State Park in Dane County.
Bug Life Cycles This site includes life cycles of many different kinds of insects and also some spiders. Marcie O’Connor is the editor of the site and we conduct an NABA count at their property in Buffalo County. Check out information about their prairie restoration efforts on her blog.
Bug of the week Kate Redmond has a weekly blog about insects that is posted on the Milwaukee Field Station web site. This isn’t always about butterflies, but she has some great information about insects in her essays.
Other butterfly links
North American Butterfly Association (NABA)
A large national group of people interested in all facets of butterfly study. The NABA is in charge of the July 4th national counts, publishes a journal, American Butterflies, and has numerous chapters throughout the nation including one in Madison, WI and tone in Duluth, MN.
This is a large organization of scientists and dedicated amateurs that promotes the study of lepidoptera throughout the world.
This society promotes invertebrate conservation, and started the July 4th counts, now done by the NABA.
Butterflies and Moths of North America
This site has detailed information on each butterfly species and many species of moths throughout the United States.