The Alabama Butterfly Atlas website was launched today and it is beautiful

Love butterflies?  The Alabama Butterfly Atlas will be your “go to” place for all things Alabama butterflies.

Today, a group of Alabama’s most prominent butterfly scientists, photographers, writers and enthusiasts announced the launch of the Alabama Butterfly Atlas.

The Alabama Butterfly Atlas (ABA) collects, interprets, and shares information about Alabama’s butterfly populations for the purpose of education and conservation. It puts science-based information into the hands of those who need it—students and teachers, gardeners, conservationists, and green space planners across the state.

Use the Alabama Butterfly Atlas to:

• Access life history accounts, distribution maps, photographs of each life cycle stage, host plant lists, gardening tips, and flight charts—all specific to Alabama.
• Search for information about a particular species or look at species lists from specific counties, regions, or selected public lands.
• Learn more about the plants on which butterflies depend through live linkage to the Alabama Plant Atlas (www.floraofalabama.org).

“The ABA provides a place for citizen scientists in our state to contribute information that can be used to help understand Alabama’s butterflies. Launch is exciting, but its just the beginning. Now we need to put the atlas into use and fill it with new records and observations!” stated Paulette Haywood Ogard, a member of the Alabama Butterfly Atlas Steering Committee.

Presently on the website, 27 photographers have contributed images. More than 100 people have contributed field data. Hundreds of Alabamians have come together to create this initial offering of the Alabama Butterfly Atlas, but it is just the beginning. Citizen scientists of all ages are encouraged to share their sightings and observations. Submit records to AlButterflyAtlas@gmail.com.

The ABA was funded by donations and in-kind gifts from  private individuals, neighborhood garden clubs,  Alabama Master Gardeners county associations, Legacy: Partners in Environmental Education, The Solon and Martha Dixon Foundation, Samford University, University of West Alabama, University of South Florida Water Institute and Wild South.

“Our dream is to further education and conservation of butterflies and their habitats, touching lives with a bit of their mystery, beauty and wonder along the way,” concluded Sara Bright, another member of the Alabama Butterfly Atlas Steering Committee.