Insect Club: Butterfly Count

Hitchcock Insect Club is a grassroots club made up of local individuals who are passionate about bugs, and they want YOU to join in the fun!

Join them June 23rd for Butterfly Count and learn how to identify butterflies in the area with Babs and Loren Padelford, long-time supporters of Hitchcock Nature Center and the founders of the Hitchcock HawkWatch raptor research project. The presentation will start at 6:30 p.m. but you are welcome to join a group walkabout beforehand at 5:30 p.m.

Hitchcock Insect Club meetings take place on the fourth Thursday of each month from May through September 2022. Participation is free with a park membership or $5 park entry fee.

Please meet at the Loess Hills Lodge. 

Please note: The upcoming North American Butterfly Association (NABA) Butterfly Count will be held on Friday, July 8th and will include Hitchcock Nature Center in Iowa and Neale Woods, Turkey Creek Preserve and Boyer Chute NWR in Nebraska. If you would like to participate, please contact the compiler, Rick Schmid at schmid_r@msn.com. 

Meet Loren & Babs Padleford: We have conducted NABA 4th of July Butterfly Counts in Indian Cave State Park, NE and Waubonsie State Park, Fremont Co., IA for 34 years.  We have been photographing insects in NE and IA since 2004.  We have worked on the Fontenelle Forest Nature Search Website since its inception in 2008.  We are editors for most of the insects on the website.  In recent years we have conducted moth surveys by attracting moths to sheets using 250-watt mercury vapor lights at Hitchcock Nature Center and Waubonsie State Park in IA, and Neale Woods, Fontenelle Forest, Glacier Creek Preserve and Indian Cave State Park in Nebraska.