Program and Event Descriptions:

12th ANNUAL LOUDOUN COUNTY BUTTERFLY COUNT ―Saturday, August 2, 9:00 a.m.  Come have fun while contributing to butterfly conservation. All skill levels are welcome.  LWC will organize teams led by experienced butterfliers.  We’ll visit fields, farms, butterfly gardens and woods that span the county from White’s Ferry in the east, to the Appalachian Trail and the Blue Ridge Center in the west, to Point of Rocks south to Lincoln. This annual, mid-summer count, modeled after Christmas Bird Counts, is sponsored by the North American Butterfly Association. This is a great chance to get outdoors and spot as many as 50 species of butterflies in a day.  Spend a few hours in the morning or count all day. For more information and to register, please visit our butterfly count page and sign up online or contact Nicole Hamilton, 540-882-9638 or nhamilton@loudounwildlife.org.

BUTTERFLY SAFARI ― Sunday, August 3, (CANCELLED).  Families with children ages 5 and up flutter on over and join the fun as local naturalist, storyteller, and the co-founder of the Washington Area Butterfly Club, Alonso Abugattas, catches and releases butterflies and shares some wonderful facts about these winged wonders.  Discover the many clever ways these delicate creatures have of surviving.  Questions: contact Laura Weidner at lweidner@loudounwildlife.org.

A SWIFT NIGHT OUT ―August 8, 9, 10. As summer draws to a close and Chimney Swifts have finished raising their young, these fascinating aerial acrobats begin to congregate in communal roosts prior to their migration in the fall. Some roosts may consist of an extended family group of a half a dozen birds or so, but the larger sites can host hundreds or even thousands of swifts! We encourage you to go out and look for this exhilarating spectacle. Here is how it works: First do some scouting. Over the next few days, keep your eyes to the skies at dusk and watch for areas where swifts are feeding. Look for a tall shaft, chimney or similar structure to locate where Chimney swifts go to roost in your area (especially in the old historic parts of towns). Then, on one night over the weekend of August 8, 9, 10, observe the roost starting about 30 minutes before dusk and estimate the number of swifts that enter. When you have your number, contact us with your results and location(s) where you counted swifts. That's all there is to it! We'll compile the information we receive and send it on the Driftwood Wildlife Association which tracks Chimney Swift activity across the country. For more information and results from past years, please visit: www.chimneyswifts.org and click on the "Swift Night Out" link. We'd love to do a program on Chimney Swifts in the near future so if you find some chimneys, towers, steeples or other locations where the swifts are roosting please do let us know.

BIRDING BANSHEE ― Saturday, August 11, 8:00 a.m. Join the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy and the Friends of Banshee Reeks at the Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve for the monthly bird walk. Because of its rich and varied habitat, this part of the county is a birding hot spot. Please bring binoculars. Questions: contact Joe Coleman at 540-554-2542 or jcoleman@loudounwildlife.org.

DRAGONFLIES at BANSHEE REEKS ― Saturday, August 16, 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Join the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy for one of our free, family dragonfly walks.  We will investigate some of the many diverse natural areas at Banshee Reeks and identify all of the dragonflies we can find.  If you own binoculars, please bring them.  Questions: contact Andy Rabin at stylurus@gmail.com.

BIRDING THE BLUE RIDGE CENTER ― Saturday, August 25, 8:00 a.m. On the fourth Saturday of each month (except December) the Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy leads a bird walk at the Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship (BRCES). This beautiful 900-acre preserve is located on Harpers Ferry Road, Rt. 671, in northwestern Loudoun County. Only a few miles south of Harpers Ferry and the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, the property includes meadows in the valley and heavily forested slopes on the Blue Ridge. Meet at the Neersville Volunteer Fire Station on Rt. 671 at 8:00 a.m. Questions: contact Joe Coleman at 540-554-2542 or jcoleman@loudounwildlife.org.

LUCKETTS FAIR ― Saturday, August 23, 9-6 and Sunday, August 24, 10-5. Visit us at our booth at the Lucketts Fair! You'll find us set up once again in Mrs. Lucketts' Garden. We'll have various free information and booklets for you to take and will be hosting a raffle of a special nature book. We'll also do a demonstration on bluebird nestbox monitoring, talk about building boxes and predator guards and more. We're happy to answer any of your questions about our programs and activities as well as general nature questions. If you've been wanting to pick up a LWC t-shirt or hat, we'll have those for sale. For more information about the fair, check their website: http://www.luckettsfair.com/

BUTTERFLIES AND BIRDS AT THE BLUE RIDGE CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP ― Saturday, August 30, 9:00 a.m. to noon.  Join LWC on a general, butterfly and bird walk at this beautiful 900-acre preserve in northwestern Loudoun County.  We should see butterflies using the late summer wildflowers as well as early migrating birds.  The Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship is located on Harpers Ferry Road, Rt. 671, a few miles south of Harpers Ferry and the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers.  Meet at the Visitor Center at 9:00 a.m.  Questions: contact Joe Coleman at 540-554-2542 or jcoleman@loudounwildlife.org.