Looking for Butterflies, All Around Reston

If you were looking at a Gray Hairstreak, a Fiery Skipper or a Painted Lady, you may not necessarily be looking at hair color, an angry ship’s captain or a woman of ill repute.

You may, in fact, be looking at butterflies — and that’s what you would have been doing if you attended the annual butterfly count at Reston Association's Saturday morning.

Approximately 20 people met at the nature to be shuttled off to a variety of Reston locations to identify and count butterflies. The information they gather will be reported to the North American Butterfly Association as part of their Fourth of July Butterfly Count Report.

“It challenges your mind,” Claudia Thompson-Deahl, Environmental Resource Manager for Reston Association and butterfly count guide, says of trying to identify the approximately 700 species of butterfly that exist in North America. “You also get to explore different natural areas in Reston, because we go all over.

“Citizen scientists are really important,” says Thompson-Deahl. “The more eyes that are looking, the more data you can collect.”  

The counts are relevant not only as they relate to climate change, but also as they pertain to monitoring native versus non-native species. 

Virginia Master Naturalist and count participant Maryann McFarland explained that non-native species do not have the same system of checks and balances as they do in their native habitat.

“Whatever keeps things in balance here, whatever is a natural enemy, is not to the invasives—so they take over,” she says.

The count turns up a number of Cabbage Whites, an Orange Sulpher, and several other species. Counters pull out their binoculars and long-lensed cameras, consulting their guides to help identify the butterflies they see.

After starting at the nature center, the count  moved on to garden plots and then to . The program finished at and Lake Anne garden plots, where participants had lunch and tallied their numbers.