Welcome to the Butterfly Network

Every year, thousands of volunteers go into the field to collect data on butterflies.  These networks of naturalists, activists and educators are part of a growing movement called “participatory science” (or sometimes "citizen science") that is changing the way we do science today. Of course, participatory science isn’t really new  - amateur naturalists have always contributed heavily to our knowledge of biodiversity through collections and  natural history observations. Now, organized programs to collect butterfly data are expanding rapidly. This network includes monitoring programs, informatics experts, and downstream data users.  Our goals are to expand the scale at which we are collecting data, allow for greater participation, and improve data sharing and use.  Using these data, we can track not just distributions, but timing, yearly changes, unusual events, and dynamics at local, regional, and continental scales.

Learn how you can get involved!

Recent News
NABMN butterfly counts fuel new insights in national butterfly trends

March 2025: New Study finds that US butterfly populations are severely declining
A new study published today in Science has found that populations of butterflies across the United States are declining. In addition to dramatic declines for individual species, the study concluded that total abundance of butterflies has declined by 22% from 2000 to 2020. That means that for every five butterflies seen 20 years ago, now there are only four. “Our study found that the total number of butterflies declined by 1.3% a year. That may not sound like much, but it adds up quickly,” said Collin Edwards, lead author of the study. “This is a wake-up call for the need to conserve butterflies and their habitat.” This study is the first such comprehensive analysis of butterflies in the United States. The work was conducted by a USGS-sponsored Status of Butterfliesworking group.
 

This study has been covered in The Guardian (free) and in the New York Times (gift link) - which built a visualization tool that shows example species and their trends for any location within the study area.
 
This work would not have been possible without decades of work by the regional programs we support. Of 35 total data sources, sixteen were NABMN member networks who use the North American Butterfly Monitoring Network’s (NABMN) data management system, pollardbase.org. The North American Butterfly Association (NABA) also contributed data from its Seasonal Count program, which has also been supported through NABMN.
 
The study found ten times as many declining species as increasing species. Of the more than 300 species with enough data to estimate trends, 107 species declined by more than 50%, and 22 species declined by more than 90%. Declines were present across all butterfly families, from butterfly species including the little-known Sandhill Skipper to more wide-spread species like the American Lady. Research suggests that habitat conservation and protection from pesticides could reverse this trend for many species.
 
New study: Neonicotinoid-treated seed hurts butterfly communities

June 2024: A research paper titled "Insecticides, more than herbicides, land use, and climate, are associated with declines in butterfly species richness and abundance in the American Midwest" has been published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE. The butterfly data for this study came from monitoring surveys conducted by four volunteer programs associated with the North American Butterfly Monitoring Network. The full paper is available online at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0304319.
New monitoring network in the Blue Ridge Mountains

2024: Thanks to a collaboration between Carolinas BMP director Jeff Pippen and Paul Super of the NPS Appalachian Highland Science Learning Center, a new butterfly monitoring program is launching! This monitoring program will extend coverage of butterfly monitoring into the Blue Ridge Mountain region of Virginia, specifically along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Welcome to our new volunteers!
The Carolinas launch a new Butterfly Monitoring Network

March 2023: The Carolinas Butterfly Monitoring Program (CarBMP) has launched! The program aims to track butterfly populations using scientifically sound, standardized survey methods as well as opportunistic sightings across both North and South Carolina.
Announcing the New Mexico Butterfly Monitoring Network!

July 2020: The New Mexico BioPark Society is launching a statewide New Mexico Butterfly Monitoring Network. This program aims to contribute to the scientific knowledge of New Mexico’s butterfly fauna. Through this initiative, the BioPark Society will continue to fulfill its commitment to wildlife conservation, education, and the community. The standardized long-term data collected by citizen science volunteers, will be utilized by researchers, land managers, and conservationists to evaluate trends in butterfly populations.

more