Austin, Texas, is home to about 170 species of butterflies. It is also the home of the Austin Butterfly Forum, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to butterfly conservation and to enriching people's lives through butterflies. The Austin Butterfly Forum is a club that organizes field trips, conducts butterfly counts, promotes native gardening, performs conservation activities, and meets monthly for an educational presentation. We are a community of butterfly enthusiasts who also enjoy dragonflies & damselflies, bees, beetles, spiders and arthropods in general, and our meeting presentations span this gamut as well. Join Us!

Zebra Longwing, photo by Dale Clark

Meetings are held in the Zilker Garden Center, 2220 Barton Springs Rd., Austin, TX, 78746 at 7:00 PM on the fourth Monday of each month except December.

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Sept. 24, 2018, 7 PM meeting: Orchid Bees, presented by Robinson Sudan.

Topic: Orchid bees found at Big Bend National Park and bee community succession after the Coyote Fire in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

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Oct. 22, 2018, 7 PM meeting: Native Host Plants for Texas Butterflies, presented by Lynne & Jim Weber.

While a wealth of native plant and butterfly field guides exist, ones that focus on the unique relationships between native plants and butterflies are few and far between. With the publication of Native Host Plants for Texas Butterflies, authors and photographers Jim & Lynne Weber, along with Ro Wauer, have filled this gap for Texas, beyond monarchs and milkweeds! Learn about these special relationships for butterflies (and some showy moths), explore why native plants are essential to healthy ecosystems, understand the role of nectar and host plants, and discover how these insects find the desired host plant species upon which to lay their eggs. You will leave with the knowledge and resources needed to encourage and appreciate a wider diversity of butterflies and moths in relation to their native host plants!

Lynne and Jim Weber are currently retired after long careers in the tech industry. Both are certified Texas Master Naturalists and Lynne is a past president of the Capital Area chapter. The Webers are dedicated naturalists who have served on the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve Citizens Advisory Council as well as on boards of the Big Bend Natural History Association, the Big Bend Conservancy, and the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute. They conduct Golden-cheeked Warbler and Colima Warbler surveys, guide hikes, restore native habitat, map invasive plants, and manage their privately owned 8-acre preserve. Their nature photography and writing have appeared in several publications, and they have co-authored Nature Watch Austin (2011), Nature Watch Big Bend (2017), and Native Host Plants for Texas Butterflies (2018).