Butterfly watching (also called butterflying) is a hobby concerned with the observation and study of butterflies. It is growing in popularity, and there are clubs, handbooks, checklists, and even festivals devoted to the activity, just as there are for birding. The Fourth of July and Canada Day butterfly count, an annual census of species by butterfly watchers throughout North America, is an example of citizen science. A hobby is a spare-time recreational pursuit. ... Superfamilies and families Superfamily Hedyloidea: Hedylidae Superfamily Hesperioidea: Hesperiidae Superfamily Papilionoidea: Papilionidae Pieridae Nymphalidae Lycaenidae Riodinidae A butterfly is an insect of the order Lepidoptera. ... Birding or birdwatching is a hobby concerned with the observation and study of birds (the study proper is termed American origin; birdwatching is (or more correctly, was) the commonly-used word in Great Britain and Ireland and by non-birders in the United States. ... These fireworks over the Washington Monument are typical of Fourth of July celebrations In the United States, Independence Day, also called the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday celebrating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. ... Canada Day (French: Fête du Canada) is Canadas national holiday, marking the establishment of Canada as a self-governing Dominion on July 1, 1867. ... North America North America is a continent[1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ... Citizen science is a term used for a project (or ongoing programme of work) which aims to make scientific discoveries, verify scientific hypotheses, or gather data which can be used for scientific purposes, and which involves large numbers of people, many of whom have no specific scientific training. ...
The United Kingdom probably has more butterfly watchers per head of population than any other country since membership of the organisations involved is far higher. The millennium atlas survey in the UK has collected more records of butterflies than any other survey and the data have proved useful for the development of research
Therefore, the number of butterfly species in North America north of Mexico is almost the same as the number of bird species, so, theoretically, butterflywatching should be approximately equivalent to birdwatching.
When looking for butterflies we often need to think in terms of specific plants.Whereas woodpeckers may be as content pecking on oak trees as hickory, and sparrows as happy gobbling crabgrass seed as panic-grass seed, the Aphrodite caterpillar feeds on violets, and seldom on other plants.
Of course, this is one of the charms of butterflying.