17th AUSTIN JULY CENSUS of butterflies

[Chris J. Durden]

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  If you know your skippers please join us for the seventeenth annual July
butterfly census on Saturday 10th July, 1999. The census is conducted by
the AUSTIN AURELIANS. All participants in past census counts are honorary
Austin Aurelians. This is a collectors' census, voucher specimens will be
taken. Records are maintained by the BALCONIAN NATURALISTS' GROUP. Early
counts were published in the reports of the Xerces Society. This census
comes at a climatically sensitive time of year and is a general indicator
of the health of our fauna. Time of the census is selected as a day from
190 to 199. This is usually July 10th or the first Saturday following.
Census results from 1982 cover the period of diversity before the imported
fire ant invasion, the crash of 1986 following the fire ant invasion, and
the gradual incomplete recovery since. Data also documents the gradual
increase in occurrence of tropical elements of our fauna, correlated with
the slight increase in global temperatures over the period of the census.
  The sampling circle is centered on Mount Bonnel and includes resampling
of sites in the Balconian Canyonlands Biotic District, Black Wax Prairie
and Colorado River Floodplain. Classic sites on Barton Creek and Bull Creek
will be resampled.
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  Meet at the Mount Bonnel Park Entrance with your net, sunscreen, hat, and
refreshments, in time to start the count at 10 AM. The count will proceed
until dark or exhaustion, whichever comes first. There will be cool
refreshment stops between sample sites.
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  If you have questions, contact me by email.
.........Chris Durden