Winter Gathering 2024

This meeting will now be hosted fully virtual on Zoom. We have decided to cancel the in person attendance due to low registration for that option. 

Mark your calendars! Our 2024 Winter Gathering will be held on Saturday, March 9th from 9:30am to noon. We are offering two ways to attend this year: in person at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum or virtually via Zoom!

Join us for our annual chance to meet and greet with other monitors, see how the program is going, and learn more about how our data are being used. This year’s guest speaker is Leslie Ries, assistant professor at Georgetown University who is currently doing a rotation at the National Science Foundation. Leslie was instrumental in setting up PollardBase and continues to be active in overseeing the national database. She will be talking about how are data are being used, including presenting information about an upcoming scientific paper that uses IBMN data.

Register for the event here.

2019 Winter Workshop

The 28th annual IBMN workshop will take place Saturday, March 9th, at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago. The keynote speaker this year is Tom Velat, Ecology Coordinator at the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. His talk is titled Baltimore Checkerpsots Are Remarkable! A Detailed Look at the Population Demographics and Management of an Iconic Butterfly in DuPage County, Illinois.


For more details visit the Upcoming Events page.

Butterfly Monitoring Season and Summer Workshop

Greetings Butterfly Monitors,

It hardly seems possible, but the butterfly monitoring season is nearly at hand. People in southern Illinois have already begun monitoring. Up here in the north, the season this year officially begins Saturday May 26. A few people have started collecting data already. Please remember to get a minimum of 6 surveys in between May 26 and August 8.

You can download field forms at bfly.org, and now at PollardBase. To find the forms on PollardBase, scroll down on the page where you sign in.

Also, I’d like to announce our summer workshop:

Recommended for: All interested parties
Description: The annual IBMN field experience will take place Saturday, July 7th (rain date July 14), at Gensburg-Markham Prairie. Come hone your identification skills with us. In addition to representatives from the top 25 species, we expect rarities such as two-spot skippers, dion skippers, and Acadian hairstreaks. If we are really lucky we might even get to see a byssus skipper.
Location: Gensburg-Markham Prairie. Go north from Route 6 on Whipple Ave (next to the McDonalds). A small parking lot is at the end of Whipple.
Date and time: Saturday, July 7th, 2018. 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. (rain date July 14)
Registration: Registration is recommended but not required. Call Allen Lawrance at 773-755-5131 or e-mail him.

We hope to see you there!
Thanks,

Doug Taron

Additional Training Session Added – DuPage County

There are three sessions remaining. If you would like to get started as a butterfly monitor for the 2018 field season you still have plenty of time to get involved! Two sessions are to be held in Cook County with the final session for the season in DuPage County on May 5th. Deadline to register for the final session is Friday, April 27th. Please check out the training workshops page for more details.

Thank you,

Allen

2018 Training Workshops Posted

The complete list of training workshops for 2018 are now posted. All new volunteers need to complete a beginners training workshop (presentations: IBMN General Training and Top 25 Butterflies) to participate in the program. All training workshops are open to both new and returning volunteers. Please check out the list and RSVP to the appropriate contact if you would like to attend a training.

Thank you,

Allen

Website Update

As you may have noticed we have made a few changes to the website. With this change you can always go to our homepage to view the latest news about the Illinois Butterfly Monitoring Network. Upcoming training workshops will be posted this week, keep your eyes peeled, but also save the date! The 2018 Annual Winter Workshop will be held on Saturday, March 10th at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. More details will be posted on the Upcoming Events page. If you find any bugs or are experiencing any difficulty with the new sites please send me a message through the contact us form.

Thank you,

Allen