New Hampshire Fish and Game wants YOU to photograph butterflies, identify them through iNaturalist, and SHARE those observations so that they can be counted in the State’s second year of Butterfly Monitoring. You don’t have to know the name of a single butterfly to contribute to this effort!  Just shoot and send in the pix. However, if you do want to be involved in an actual Butterfly Count or just learn more about the butterflies in your garden or local park, there is a growing statewide Citizen Scientist program dedicated to learning about butterflies . 

How would you like your training? In person? You can join the Sunapee Butterfly Club’s weekly meeting with leader Amy Highstrom ([email protected]), held every third Thursday night in Andover at the HUB, 157 Main Street. (See you there!)
Lake Sunapee Region Butterfly Club - Monthly Adult Learning Series | Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust
ausbonsargent.org

Maybe you prefer your training outdoors — at an actual field count. There is one held somewhere in New Hampshire most every weekend in June and July, and no experience is necessary to attend. The Sunapee Butterfly Club will have a Spring Count with training on May 19th, again, led by Amy Highstrom. (See you there as well!)
Find a Count nhbutterflies.org

Maybe you would just like to thumb through a good field guide. Preferred by counters is the Swift Guide by Glassberg, but there are many others available — maybe there is an old favorite just sitting on your shelf! Each has its own virtues, and it is important to enjoy your field guide. Visit the nature collection of your local bookstore to see several. Here is a good starting list: 
Butterfly Field Guides nhbutterflies.org

Finally, there are (of course!) some great on-line species-specific training modules available now, and all of this winter’s Wednesday night formal ZOOM presentations are being added next month at https://www.nhbutterflies.org.

Here is another short list of the many resources on the Web. Each is likely to lead to many other interesting links, and you could just google forever. But, remember, the Mourning Cloaks, Commas, and Question Marks have already left their winter hibernation spots and are fluttering out and about.  You can start your butterfly observations now!

• NH Butterfly Monitoring Network website
• NH Butterfly Monitoring Network iNaturalist Project
• Butterfly ID Videos for some of New Hampshire’s butterfly species
• List of NH butterfly species

New Hampshire’s Butterfly Monitoring Project has made it easier than ever to learn about butterflies, so enjoy!

The daffodils at the post office demonstrated amazing recuperative powers after surviving not one, but two major snow storms recently. When the March 23rd storm brought two feet of snow, I worried about them but, at least their flowers hadn't bloomed.  That wasn't the case on April 3rd when a foot of heavy snow landed on them.  I thought for sure they were goners.  What a delight to see them rebound in all their yellow glory less than a week later. 
 
Planting the bulbs last fall took a lot of hard prep work ("Project Post Office"). They were planted deep and expected to remain safely in their beds until late April, but instead they broke the surface in mid-February.  What were they thinking! 

​Here in Grantham, snow was practically non-existent until late March, so they were probably confused in their warm, sunny spot beside the post office. Staying alive through snow, rain, frost, sleet, and all manner of weather; these daffodils showed their mettle.  You could almost say that it's a miracle--but what else would you expect-- after all Garden Angels were involved.