Twin-spotted skipper, pearl crescent, Gulf fritillary, buckeye, cloudless sulphur.
It may sound like a parlay bet at the race horse track, but it's actually a list of butterflies seen during a group count at Corkscrew Swamp Regional Ecosytem Watershed, or CREW, a 60,000-acre watershed that drains into Estero Bay and south to Corkscrew Swamp in Collier County.
The next Corkscrew North American Butterfly Association Count for this region takes place Wednesday, Aug. 8, at both CREW and Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Collier County, with Aug. 10 set aside as a makeup rain day.
It's part of the North American Butterfly Association's tracking and populations estimation program.
Florida is home to more than 100 species of butterflies, according to the Florida Butterfly Database Project, from the Miami blue (thought for years to be extinct after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and now perhaps the rarest insect in the United States) to the widely recognized but still beautiful monarch.
Beginners are welcome on the counts as groups range in experience from novice to expert. You do not need to be able to visually distinguish species to participate. But there are several online resources that can help you get a jump-start on becoming a butterfly aficionado.
The South Florida Water Management District has a wonderful guide to butterflies in our region that's displayed in a downloadable PDF file.
The North American Butterfly Association's recommendations has written up several pages of suggestions on how to identify and distinguish species and estimate large numbers in groups. The guide can be found at naba.org.
The NABA Southwest Florida Longwings Chapter has a plethora of local butterfly resources. The group organizes regular outings with scientists and experts and also keeps an extensive online list of places to see butterflies in Southwest Florida.
Seeing these graceful creatures in their native habitat often provides the most intimate experience for nature lovers, but you don't have to go out into the remote wilds to see and enjoy butterflies.
There are dozens of enclosed butterfly houses at places like the Calusa Nature Center in Fort Myers, the Naples Botanical Garden and Rotary Park in Cape Coral.
Chad Gillis is the owner of Southwest Florida Standup Paddleboard Company and can be reached at 218-5549 or chad@swflstandup.com.
