Massachusetts Butterfly Club

Club Publications



Can You ID This Butterfly?

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Massachusetts Butterflies is published twice a year (spring and fall).

                          Our current issue

Cover of Spring 2024 Issue of 'Massachusetts Butterflies'
Cover: Common Ringlet - photograph by Bo Zaremba
Table of Contents
Issue Number 62 - Spring 2024
Butterfly Atlas Refresh
           Garry Kessler and Michael Newton 		2
Acadian Hairstreak Listing
           Garry Kessler 		4
My Big Year
           Mark Rosenstein 		5
2023 Season Summary and Records
           Mark Fairbrother 		17
Polygonia interrogationis: A Life Cycle
           Don Adams 		41
2023 Donor - Volunteers
           Elise Barry 		44

Copies of the last two issues are available for $7.00 each. We have older issues that are available for $5.00 each.
You may also request to receive up to two future issues of the journal for $7.00 each.
That cost includes postage!
Click here to see the journals that are available for purchase and download an order form.

Back issues
of Massachusetts Butterflies are available on our back issues webpage. Every issue that was published more than one year ago is available for download in PDF format there.

Some covers of back issues.

Submission of Articles, Illustrations, and Observation Records

We encourage all members to contribute to Massachusetts Butterflies. We welcome articles, illustrations, reports on butterfly sites and field trips around the state, gardening articles, and book reviews. Send these materials to Bill Benner by August 30 for the fall issue or by January 15 for the spring issue.

Please send 4th of July count records to Karl Barry by August 15 for the fall issue and your season sightings and records to Mark Fairbrother by December 1 for the spring issue. He will turn all of our records into a summary and inclusive tabulated record, as has been done in the past. Sending your records periodically during the season will make data entry an easier task.

Download Mark's Excel spreadsheet. You will greatly facilitate data entry if you enter your observations in the spreadsheet and e-mail it to him as an attachment.

The Massachusetts Butterfly Club
                      GUIDE TO GOOD BUTTERFLY SITES

From the Berkshires to the Cape and Islands, this GUIDE will lead you through twenty-six of the best butterfly-finding sites in the state. Written by well-known Massachusetts Butterfly Club field experts, this 142-page coil-bound book describes each site in detail, with original trail maps, sighting lists, directions, and hot tips!

The guide is currently out of print. We will have a downloadable PDF available soon.

Checklist of the Butterflies of Massachusetts (updated 2015)

The Field Checklist of the Butterflies of Massachusetts is based on over 100,000 records from members of NABA-MBC, from 1990 to 2014. The checklist, produced by former NABA-MBC Records Keeper, Erik Nielsen, features:

  • charts of flight periods
  • whether a species occurs or not, in eastern/western/island MA
  • and overwintering status.
The checklist includes 111 of the approximately 125 species of butterflies that have been sighted in Massachusetts. Printed on heavy stock, this is a valuable document for both the beginning and advanced butterflier. It is folded into a handy pocket-sized card that can be easily carried in the field. Here's a sample of the checklist. (The real checklist has two more pages!)

Checklists can be purchased for $1.50 each or 6 for $6.00 (postage included). Please print the form at this link MBC publication order form and send it along with your check to the address on the form.

Please consider joining our club along with your purchase! Here is a link to our club membership page.

While preparing the checklist, Erik Nielsen compiled fourteen years of Massachusetts butterfly observations into a handsome Massachusetts butterfly flight dates chart. Have a look!