Butterfly Big Day 2026 (A Citizen Science Opportunity!)

A self-guided citizen science project to document and photograph local butterflies for conservation.

<p dir="ltr">September 12th, 2026 is Butterfly Big Day! Come to BNC to observe and report your butterfly sightings!</p> <p dir="ltr">Butterfly Big Day is a worldwide effort, lead by the USA-based nonprofit <a href="https://www.urbanbutterflies.org/">Urban Butterfly Intitiative</a>, to document butterflies and spread awareness of the importance of butterflies and other pollinators.</p> <p dir="ltr">This is a self-guided, citizen science project where participants are asked to simply submit photos to iNaturalist of all of the butterflies they find in the wild today. Trails at Blandford Nature Center are open dawn to dusk. Admission is FREE this month, so come along, see what you can find, and help the UBI in their conservation efforts!</p> <p dir="ltr">Participation is easy:</p> <ul> <li dir="ltr">Get the iNaturalist app and sign up for a free account (or log in to your existing account)</li> <li dir="ltr">Take pictures anywhere in the world of free-living butterflies (no butterfly houses or captive-reared butterflies)</li> <li dir="ltr">Submit your photos to iNaturalist</li> <li dir="ltr">Visit <a href="http://UrbanButterflies.or/Big-Day">UrbanButterflies.or/Big-Day</a> for more info, to track the progress of Butterfly Big Day, and watch iNaturalist tutorials!</li> </ul> <p dir="ltr">Don’t know what iNaturalist is? Check it out <a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/">HERE</a> to get started and download the app on your phone!</p>