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!

The Cockrell Butterfly Center in Houston

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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May 22, 2017, 7 PM meeting: The Hows, the Whys, and the Butterflies of the Cockrell Butterfly Center, presented by Nancy Greig, Director emeritus.

This talk will cover the history of the Cockrell Butterfly Center and some of the interesting pros and cons of live butterfly exhibits.

Nancy grew up in the frozen northlands of Calgary, Alberta, but came to Texas in 1977 to attend UT and never went back. A lucky fluke sent her on a field course to Costa Rica in 1983 and she subsequently stayed on at UT to get a PhD in tropical plant ecology. Further serendipity and a push from her major professor, Larry Gilbert, landed her a job in Houston in 1994, as the director of a live butterfly exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Although not an entomologist, her background in tropical plants and insects served her well and she headed up the Cockrell Butterfly Center for 23 years. Last year she retired from her administrative duties and now enjoys flitting from public speaking, to gardening, to political activism, to travel adventures.

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June 26, 2017, 7 PM meeting: Caterpillar Gardening: Providing 21st Century Hosting Solutions, presented by Berry Nall.

Natural habitat is shrinking drastically as Texas' population skyrockets. It is crucial that we incorporate caterpillar hosts into our gardens and landscapes. A creative approach is needed  to identify key host plants and find ways to promote their use in local plantings. Berry Nall will share some of his successes - and failures - in gardening for caterpillars. He will draw on his experiences to suggest ways that concerned individuals and clubs such as ABF can help provide habitat for future butterflies.

Berry Nall is a pastor and teacher who is fascinated by butterflies at all stages of their lives. For the past 10 years he has been seeking to rear as many species as possible from egg to adult; living in Starr County near the Mexico border, he has had the opportunity to raise a variety of exotic tropical butterflies. His butterfly photos and life history studies can be seen on his website.