Inaugural E-Butterfly Survey

And the winners are:

Wait, I am not going to reveal the answers that quick.

First, thank you to all who participated!

Second, we are still in August and there is also September: get out there and start reporting! We would love to add your name in our next report.

We were hoping for a fair number of our members to participate in June and July. The numbers were a bit low and 33% of participators were from outside of Washington. I think we can do better than that!

As a rough predictor, we were hoping AT LEAST half of the folks who went on a WBA field trip or participated in the Study weekend last year would submit at least one survey. That would have at least 25 different surveys submitted.

And once you figure out how to upload the info, then your future submissions will start pouring in-at least that is our hope!

So, PLEASE, walk around your neighborhood or park, safely, and take a picture or get a good look at one or more butterfly species and report using eButterfly. The power of citizen science is our large numbers. We can generate large amounts of data quickly, if we get out there, make observations and report them.

WE GOT NO SURVEYS from KING COUNTY. Be the FIRST! We got NO SURVEYS from SPOKANE COUNTY. Be the FIRST!

As an example of what reporting our data can do, look at some of the graphics resulting from the small amount of data we submitted:

The number of observations is low. The analysis is only as good as the data it is based on. I hope you can see the potential once the volume of observations grows. And as this continues over time we will also be able to start looking at trends over time-but it takes a robust dataset to get there. And that depends on us to go out, observe and submit!

In June:

We had a total of four (4) individuals submit observations. The top three submitters were all WBA board members (go team!). The fourth was an individual from Los Angeles, California, with a single observation from her neighborhood.

The top surveyor in June was Melanie Weiss, with a total of 7 field days submitted.

Melanie was the only submitter for Yakima and Kittitas counties and also had a survey in Mason County. Melanie also reported a total of 27 species across all of her surveys, for the species reported.

In 2nd place we find Regina Johnson and Regina Rochefort. Both conducted two (2) surveys with Regina Johnson

reporting 4 species total and Regina Rochefort reporting 3 species.

Regina Johnson did her surveys in Mason and Jefferson Counties and Regina Rochefort did her surveys in Skagit County.

Aiko Nguyen submitted a single survey with a single species from Los Angeles County, California.

In July:

We had a total of three submitters: Regina Johnson, Melanie Weiss and Evelyn Sheer.

Regina Johnson gets the gold star for most surveys and also most species! She reported seven (7) field days and a total of 23 species detected. Regina Johnson also gets the award for most counties surveyed, with a total of four (4): Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Pierce and Thurston. Regina was the only submitter for these counties.

Melanie was close behind on species, with a total of twenty-two (22) species across three (3) surveys, all in Kittitas County.

Evelyn Sheer was the third contributor. She reported three (3) observations over three days, in Deschutes County, Ore- gon (Bend).

Odds are high you can be a winner if you go out and start observing. Submit your findings! Lots and lots of counties do not have a single submission. You can change that! You can be #1.

G’num2020Vol21No3

David Jennings

WBA Member, Former Board President & wildlife conservationist