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No experience necessary: Butterfly counters wanted

Journal & Courier
By ABBEY STIRGWOLT
July 18, 2007

If you go
The annual Tippecanoe County butterfly count will take place Saturday at the Lilly Tippecanoe Laboratories' Wildlife Habitat, just southwest of Lafayette.

An identification training session will begin at 1 p.m., and the butterfly count will last from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. A picnic for all participants will take place at 5 p.m.

If the event is rained out, it will be take place Sunday with the same time schedule. Questions regarding the rain date should be directed to (765) 477-4300.

Parking will be available next to the baseball diamond south of Lilly's main entrance at 1650 Lilly Road.

For more information or to volunteer, contact Sarah Wolf at (765) 477-4424 or Ashleigh Morton at (765) 494-0997.

Wanted: volunteer insect scientists. No prior experience required.

The annual Tippecanoe County butterfly count will take place Saturday at the Lilly Tippecanoe Laboratories' Wildlife Habitat and is open to any community member interested in learning about local butterflies and their habitats.

"Part of the whole process is getting to learn your butterflies better," said Arwin Provonsha, curator of insect collections at the Purdue Entomological Research Collection.

An identification training session will take place before the count, and trained entomologists will be leading each group of participants.

"We'll have people with us so we won't get lost or won't get confused," said wildlife habitat coordinator Sarah Wolf.

Provonsha said groups will be breaking off and following trails that span a 100-acre plot of land.

"Many hands make light work," he said. "It's helpful to have more eyes in this case looking multiple directions at the same time."

The data will be collected at the end of the count and submitted to the North American Butterfly Association for its annual report.

In addition to educating the public about butterflies, Provonsha said the butterfly count serves as a type of ecological thermometer.

"Through a number of studies that have been done, butterflies are an indicator of the general ecological health of an area," he said.

Wolf said the count will be a good way to "get an idea of what types (of butterflies) are out there" while getting the public involved.

"There'll be groups of people going around going, 'Ooh, I found one!' "