Boston Flora

Tag: butterflies

  • Saturday, August 18, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Butterfly Walk

    Tower Hill’s gardens and meadows provide bountiful food and shelter for a variety of butterflies in both their adult and larval forms. Join Dawn Vesey of the Massachusetts Butterfly Club on August 18 from 10 – noon to learn more about these beautiful insects and how you can attract them to your own gardens. Perhaps you’ll see a Red-spotted Admiral (below) or a Silver-spotted Skipper, among the many butterflies large and small that make their home at Tower Hill. Please bring close focus binoculars if you have them. Limited to 15; pre-registration required at https://towerhillbg.thankyou4caring.org/pages/event-registration-form—butterfly-walk. $5 for Tower Hill members, $20 for nonmembers.

    Amateur naturalist and photographer, a member of the Massachusetts Butterfly Club (and past Vice President of Eastern Mass), Dawn can often be found searching for and photographing butterflies in the woods and meadows of Tower Hill.

    Image result for red spotted admiral butterfly photos

  • Saturday, August 11, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – 11th Annual Barbara J. Walker Butterfly Festival

    Saturday, August 11, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – 11th Annual Barbara J. Walker Butterfly Festival

    Celebrate butterflies with a day of educational fun for all ages! Join the Massachusetts Audubon Society at the Broad Meadow Brook Conservation Center & Wildlife Sanctuary, 414 Massasoit Road in Worcester on Saturday, August 11 from 10 – 4 for the 11th Annual Barbara J. Walker Butterfly Festival.

    Festival Activities

    Naturalist-led walks & workshops
    Children’s activities including face painting, obstacle course, story tent, and nature-themed arts and crafts
    Live caterpillar exhibit, butterfly gardening information and hummingbird station
    Butterfly plant sales, including milkweed for monarchs
    Butterfly Photo Booth (bring your camera!)
    Delicious food, music, vendors, and much more!

    Face painting at the Butterfly Festival

    Come in costume and get a prize!
    Admission
    $6 Nonmembers • $5 Members* • Free for ages 2 & under

    *Members of Mass Audubon and/or Mass Butterfly Club

    Festival-goers can join the Massachusetts Audubon Society that day for half price! Register online at https://www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/wildlife-sanctuaries/broad-meadow-brook/news-events/butterfly-festival, in person at Broad Meadow Brook, or by calling 508-753-6087.

    $25 maximum per family

    Image result for Mass Audubon Barbara J. Walker Butterfly Festival

  • Monday, December 4, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Of Monarchs and Milkweed: A Story of Coevolution, Cultural History, and Conservation

    What if your host truly didn’t want you to visit? Found you intolerable, in fact, and didn’t want you to stay? You’d think that you’d be kicked out, but that isn’t the case with monarch butterflies and the common milkweed that supports their life cycle. Using striking visual imagery, evolutionary biologist Anurag Agrawal of Cornell University will speak about some of the natural history of monarchs and milkweed, the cultural importance of milkweed’s toxins, and the current predicament of monarch declines. The talk will be held in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum on Monday, December 4 at 7 pm. Dr. Agrawal is an award-winning scientist and educator, who has delved deeply into the coevolution of plants and animals. His book, Monarchs and Milkweed: A Migrating Butterfly, a Poisonous Plant, and Their Remarkable Story of Coevolution, will be available for purchase and signing. Fee: Free Arboretum member and student, $10 nonmember. Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

  • Thursday, June 29, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm – Twenty Great Natives for Butterflies Live Webinar

    Lepidoptera cannot live by nectar alone. Learn about 20 top plants that not only offer food for native pollinators and their young but also provide space for egg laying. Some of these plants are probably already in your garden, while others are sure to surprise you. Our native sedges, for instance, host significantly more butterfly species than bee balm! Dan Jaffe will conduct a live webinar Thursday, June 29 from 6:30 – 7:30 for $10 for New England Wild Flower Society members and $13 for nonmembers. Register online at http://www.newfs.org/learn/our-programs/live-webinar-twenty-great-natives-for-butterflies

  • Saturday, January 21, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm – Drawing Butterflies and Moths in Colored Pencil

    Explore the beauty of butterflies and moths on Saturday, January 21 from 9:30 – 12:30 at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge, with Erica Beade. This three-hour workshop will introduce observational drawing techniques with pencil and then dive into colored pencil techniques used to create a rich, vibrant image. All skill levels are welcome. $45 for Museum members, $55 for nonmembers. Advance registration required at https://reservations.hmsc.harvard.edu/Info.aspx?EventID=11

  • Tuesday, October 4, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Responses to Anthropogenic Climate Change: Predicting the Future Requires Knowing the Past

    The Arnold Arboretum’s Director’s Lecture Series kicks off Tuesday, October 4 at 7 pm in the Hunnewell Building of the Arnold Arboretum with a talk by Camille Parmesan, Professor, School of Biological Sciences, Plymouth University, UK, and the Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin. Camille’s work focuses on the impacts of climate change on wildlife, from field studies of American and European butterflies to synthetic analyses of global impacts on a broad range of species on land and in the oceans. She has participated in US and international assessments of climate change impacts and provided formal testimonies for the US House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, and the Texas Senate Natural Resources Committee. Camille has served as a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which in 2007 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  Fee Free. Arboretum Members only. Registration required as seating is limited.

    Register online at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

  • Wednesday, August 3, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – In Search of Butterflies and Dragonflies

    Wednesday, August 3, 10:00 am – 11:30 am – In Search of Butterflies and Dragonflies

    Please join Jeremiah Trimble, Curatorial Associate, Ornithology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, for a leisurely walk around Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mt. Auburn Street in Cambridge, exploring habitats from pond edges to wildflower patches, in search of the various types of butterflies, damselflies, and dragonflies. The walk will take place Wednesday, August 3 from 10 – 11:30, and the fee is $7 for Mt. Auburn Friends, $12 for nonmembers. Register online at http://mountauburn.org/2016/in-search-of-butterflies/  Funding for programs has been provided in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

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  • Saturday, July 2, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon – Summer Butterfly Count

    Saturday, July 2, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon – Summer Butterfly Count

    On Saturday, July 2 from 9 – noon, join The Trustees and the North American Butterfly Association for an annual summer butterfly count at Appleton Farms, in Hamilton and Ipswich, Massachusetts. Appleton’s wet meadows and farm fields provide important habitat for many common and uncommon butterfly species. Trustees Ecology Program Director Russ Hopping and Massachusetts Butterfly Club President Howard Hoople will orient the group with an Introduction to butterflies before setting out for the count. Participants should wear long pants, sunscreen and proper clothing to be walking through fields of tall grass. Bring a lunch. Free for Trustees members, $3 for nonmembers.  Pre-registration is required by emailing bzschau@thetrustees.org

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  • Wednesdays, July 22 – August 5, 9:30 am – 3:30 pm – Butterflies, Dragonflies and Bees – Oh My!

    Insects play an integral part in the life cycle of plants and can enhance a botanical painting with a dynamic element of scientific accuracy and pure whimsy.  Through sketches and more complete full-color works, join Kelly Radding at Wellesley College Botanic Garden on three Wednesdays, July 22, 29 and August 5, from 9:30 – 3:30, to study the form and details that will make the insect come alive in your artwork.  Learn techniques to capture the myriad textures and colors and how to integrate an insect into a botanical composition.  Advanced skill level.  Friends of Wellesley Botanic Gardens $275, non-members $325.  Call 781-283-3094 to register. Image copyright Kelly Leahy Radding.

  • Sunday, June 21, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Butterflies of North Common Meadow

    Meet at the Millers River Environmental Center, 100 Main Street in Athol at 10 AM on Sunday, June 21. Canceled if heavy rain. We will drive to Petersham to search for butterflies and whatever nature provides for distractions: other insects, birds, amphibians and typical plants of North Common Meadow. Trip leader: Sue Cloutier. For additional information email Sue.cloutier@tiac.net, or visit www.atholbirdclub.org.  Image of North Common Meadow from The Trustees of Reservations.