Loudoun Butterfly Count

The Loudoun Butterfly Count is a one-day event that pairs citizen volunteers with experts to learn about, identify, and count as many butterflies as possible. In the weeks following the count, the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy posts the results on its website and sends it to the North American Butterfly Association to be analyzed at regional and national levels. Butterflies are good indicators of habitat and the health of our environment because they need such a diversity of plants to develop and survive. Areas that are weedy and wild one year will show an abundance of species while a newly planted lawn (a monoculture) or an area sprayed with pesticides will be a wasteland. By participating in the Loudoun Butterfly Count, volunteers not only get to explore the fantastic world of butterflies up close, but they also learn about this amazing web of life in nature.