"The Iowa Butterfly Survey Network (IBSN) is my favorite volunteer activity. Where else can you take an hour-long walk at a beautiful park, learn about nature, AND get volunteer credit? I spent my working career behind a desk wishing I had become a naturalist, zookeeper or at least a research scientist. Instead of a career change, I decided to wait until retirement and find something I loved doing outdoors and the IBSN was a perfect fit. This gives me the opportunity to be knowledgeable in a specific element of nature that many people find interesting, but know little about. And the first time I heard the term "citizen scientist”, I was hooked-- I was finally the scientist I aspired to be! Occasionally people will stop me along my route and ask what I'm doing. It's fun to be able to point out different species and get others looking for more than just monarchs.

"Not only are the surveys simply fun, I hope the data we collect can help scientists to spot trends, not just with broad issues like climate change but also local effects like how did the additional housing near my site affect the number of butterflies? How do prairie burns affect the counts? If we can spot negative impacts, this data can be shared with local officials.

"New surveyors shouldn't be intimidated by the training. You don't have to "know" 25 butterflies. For one thing, not all 25 will be found in your site so you'll work with a subset of that. My site has about 12 regulars, which I got accustomed to seeing and learned fairly quickly. The rest are like the volunteers you see at the Garden once in a while-- you know their face but not their name, and you receive the resources to look up their picture or ask Anita. My favorite butterfly is the one I have to research to figure out what it is. Finding a species for the first time is exciting!

"New surveyors shouldn't be embarrassed about "unidentifieds". I've done this for 7 years and still have a lot of Unidentifeds since sometimes you simply don't get a good look, just a silhouette perhaps, and you are reporting to the best of your ability. If you don't have Unidentifieds, you're probably making too many assumptions! Don't feel you have to be perfect, just relax and do your best."

- Stephanie F.