This August we hosted a fabulous retreat with Dr. Robert Michael Pyle, studying the Butterflies of the North Cascades. Our crew for the weekend was enthusiastic, ready to learn, and ranged from the advanced lepidopteran in the field, to the laboratory researcher studying adaptations of butterflies, and onto those newly acquiring butterflying handling and identification skills. Smiles and laughter ensued when Bob would post a release butterfly on one's nose. What a great expression one makes when tickled by butterfly feet!
Here Bob demonstrates proper holding techniques for the group. But sometimes they held still for us all on their own and photography was just as informative. We learned specifics such the life history of butterflies and their life stages, importance of nectaring and host plants for adult and caterpillars, and how to identify males and females. Other discussions throughout the weekend were informative, in-depth, and focused on the bigger picture of global warming, nature deficit disorder, to collect or not to collect specimens for study, and impacts of changing habitats for butterflies in a shared world with humans.
We look forward to hosting Bob in the future, and loved the inspiration of this amazing naturalist group!
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| all three species of wood nymphs in one day! |
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| butterflying around the Basecamp gardens to end the fun! |
Here Bob demonstrates proper holding techniques for the group. But sometimes they held still for us all on their own and photography was just as informative. We learned specifics such the life history of butterflies and their life stages, importance of nectaring and host plants for adult and caterpillars, and how to identify males and females. Other discussions throughout the weekend were informative, in-depth, and focused on the bigger picture of global warming, nature deficit disorder, to collect or not to collect specimens for study, and impacts of changing habitats for butterflies in a shared world with humans. 
