Butterflies

… and Moths

Click on the links below to access:

2023 Butterfly Counts in Southwestern Ontario

  • Sunday, July 2, Skunk’s Misery
  • Sunday, July 30, Clear Creek
  • Sat. July 1 (2),  Pinery Provincial Park & N.Lambton  Brenda Kulon, (519) 869-2833kulon@cogeco.ca.  Counters should arrive by 8:30 to register and get on a team.  Meet outside the Nature Administrative Building.  Wear hats, bring bug spray (ticks), a hat, long socks, long pants (for poison ivy).  Bring a lunch please.

Other Organizations

Online Resources

  • Check the websites of the organizations
  • Use iNaturalist to help with species identification of your photos

Please send corrections and suggestions for addition content to Glenn Berry, nlwebguy@gmail.com.

Where and When

Look in almost any park or public garden with flowers, which means mostly in the summer. You may start to notice that some flowers are popular with many species, while some species seem to specialize. You will be rewarded when you visit the same area one or two weeks later.

Toolkit

If you plan to wade through deep grass, beware of ticks. At a minimum, tuck your pants into to your socks.

Much of the time, you can get a good photo of a butterfly when it is feeding on a blossom with a mobile phone’s camera. Of course, you can get more and better photos with fancier camera gear.

Common Butterflies in London – A Baker’s Dozen

The 13 most frequently reported butterfly species in London, Ontario, in iNaturalist. Larger species and more urban species may generate more reports.

Common NameNumber of Observations
Monarch312
Black Swallowtail174
Small White (Cabbage White)114
Mourning Cloak105
Red Admiral88
Eastern Comma73
Red-spotted Purple73
Northern Crescent70
Viceroy70
Silver-spotted Skipper69
Question Mark61
Eastern Giant Swallowtail58

Additional butterflies you are likely to see on a butterfly count in Middlesex County.

(Canadian or Eastern) Tiger Swallowtail

Clouded Sulphur

Orange Sulphur

Great Spangled Fritillary

Tawny Emperor

Baltimore Checkerspot

Pearl Crescent

Northern Crescent

Appalachian Brown

Little Wood-Satyr

Long Dash Skipper

Northern Broken-Dash

European Skipper (Essex Skipper)

Delaware Skipper

Banded Hairstreak

Eastern Tailed Blue

Summer Azure