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 butterfly club that holds field trips, conducts butterfly counts, promotes butterfly gardening, performs conservation activities, and meets monthly for an educational presentation. We are a community of butterfly enthusiasts who also enjoy dragonflies and other bugs.
Saturday, May 4th at the Zilker Botanical Garden - 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Learning to identify common butterflies of our area is only one aspect of the Austin Butterfly Forum’s Annual Butterfly Workshop.
Other topics covered will include appropriate nectar and caterpillar food plants, how to raise caterpillars and watch metamorphosis at home, strategies for caterpillar survival, as well as discussion of a variety of field guides, references and other resources about this rapidly growing hobby. A number of experienced entomologists will be on hand to personally answer any questions participants might have.
The workshop will also include a light lunch and a hands-on walk to identify butterflies at Zilker’s Doug Bachly Butterfly Trail.
Participants will be given a selection of plants to take home to begin attracting butterflies to their own gardens.
It costs $3 to park at Zilker Garden. Arrive at the Garden by 9:30am to ensure a parking place.
To register, please call Jeff Taylor at 255-0368 or kscjtaylor@prodigy.net. The cost is $35.00 payable at the door.
Mon May 27 meeting: The History of Beetle Collecting in Texas, by Mike Quinn. 7 pm Zilker Botanical Center.
June 24 meeting: TBA.
Sat June 29: Annual Butterfly count. We meet at the Zilker Botanical Garden parking lot at 8:00 am. We will visit some of the best butterfly sites in Austin, including the Barton Creek Greenbelt and St. Edward's Park. More detail later.
