Confessions of a Beginning Butterflier 6

WBA would win hands down!

I’m just speculating here. If there were to be a contest among NABA chapters, we’d win easily. That is, if the contest fairly tested all-around activities related to butterflies. Of course, we couldn’t compete with Arizona or Southern California or Florida chapters on, say, the number of native species identified in a given year by members of the chapter. But if the contest examined all kinds of explorations of butterflies in a given year, I say we’d win.

Does this sound like braggadocio? Well, it is based on conversations I’ve had with members of other chapters at the two national NABA conferences I’ve attended. Other chapters seem to have nothing like the variety of activities we have. They typically seem to get together only for field trips during the months when their butterflies are flying. They don’t have professional members and seasoned semi-pros who give stimulating educational presentations at monthly meetings year round, as we do. They don’t seem to pay much attention to the early stages of a butterlly’s development before it begins to fly. Nor do they have counterparts of our Idie Ulsh who know all the local professionals in fields related to butterflies and who invite those pros to come and lecture to their memberships. (I’m not going to even mention our parties.)

They go butterllying. So do we. But, in addition, we learn how to become amateur lepidopterists.

G’num2003Vol4No3

Tom O’Connell

Founding WBA Member, Former Board Member, G’num Contributor, former Bellevue College President