Howard’s annual Butterfly Survey finds 70 unique species during 2023 count

More than 100 volunteers throughout Howard County helped to conduct the annual Butterfly Survey last year and discovered 70 unique species in the county. The survey also found that monarch butterfly numbers had dropped from 928 in 2022 to 374 in 2023, the second-lowest number of monarchs recorded in the decade-long survey.

Kevin Heffernan, co-chair of the Howard County, Maryland, Butterfly Survey, shared the results during an April 11 meeting of the Howard County Bird Club. He said it is important to know the number of butterflies locally to determine if there is something that can be done to protect them.

“You can start to see if you’re losing species and see if there’s anything you can do about it,” he said. “If it’s climate change, there’s not a whole lot, but if it’s because there’s only a couple of locations in the county where they’re found, you can try to protect those locations.”

The sixth annual meeting was held at the Robinson Nature Center in Columbia. During the meeting, Heffernan shared that last year had the highest number of observers and the third-highest number of surveys submitted since the surveys began a decade ago.

Though last year’s species count was high, it was not the highest recorded. That honor belongs to the year 2016, when 75 species were observed.

There were 878 surveys submitted between Feb. 15 and Dec. 8, 2023, by 111 observers. Observers recorded a number of data points including, the date, location, temperature, time spent in the field and species.

The sachem was the most observed species, at 6,017; followed by the dun skipper, at 70; the mourning cloak, at 47; and the juniper hairstreak, at 36.

Heffernan said that people can protect the butterfly population by planting a native plant garden, reducing or eliminating insecticide use, reducing or eliminating mosquito spraying, turning out the lights at night and spreading the word.

Gregg Peterson, president of the Howard County Bird Club, said he hopes the survey will help to better protect butterflies in the county.

“Each butterfly has a preferred native plant, so the more that we can add pollinator plots and people using their backyards for growing these kinds of things, the more butterfly-friendly the county can be,” he said. “The more native plants that you plant in your backyard, the more you build a more welcoming environment for some of our butterflies.”