LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Calling all nature lovers: University of Louisville biologist Charles Covell has a weekend project for you – no experience required.
Covell is rounding up volunteers for the annual count that becomes part of the national butterfly census. This year’s local count will be Saturday, June 29. If it rains, the event will be postponed to June 30 if that day’s weather is clear.
The group will canvass U of L’s Horner Wildlife Sanctuary in Oldham County from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., although volunteers do not have to stay the entire time. Participants use cameras, notebooks, nets and binoculars to gather their information, which will be reported to the North American Butterfly Association for its published results.
Volunteers, including members of the Society of Kentucky Lepidopterists, first will gather at 9:30 a.m. at the Brownsboro General Store (exit 14 off Interstate 71).
Covell has led the outing for 18 years. He organized the Society of Kentucky Lepidopterists for the study of butterflies and moths in 1974.
The professor wrote “Butterflies and Moths of Kentucky” and the 1984 Petersen “Field Guide to Moths of Eastern North America.” He has studied insects in all Kentucky counties, many parts of the United States and in countries including Venezuela, Peru, Malaysia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Brazil and Bolivia.
For more information or to join the outing, call Covell at (502) 852-5942.
PHOTO EDITORS AND VIDEOGRAPHERS: Covell has a large slide collection of butterflies and moths in their natural settings and has access to the university’s collection of more than 100,000 of the insects.