26 Nebraskaland • August-September 2022
The
Butterfl y
Explorers
Story and photos by Renae Blum
t had been a slow year so far. But not at this moment.
Joanne Langabee calls out, "I've got an orange and a
blue!" Her companion, Holly Hofreiter, responds almost
immediately: "I've got a Peck's" — short for Peck's
skipper.
One butterfl y after another materializes from the prairie
grasses at their feet, just seconds apart, but the women
aren't fazed. They continue calling back and forth in a kind
of butterfl y shorthand, identifying new species as quickly
as they appear and writing them down in a notebook.
When you spend as much time counting butterfl ies
as Joanne and Holly do, you need a shorthand. The pair,
both retired science teachers, count and identify over
14,000 butterfl ies each year at Fontenelle Forest and
Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha. Staff use their data to shape
how they manage and understand these sites. And now,
researchers at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
plan to incorporate Joanne and Holly's data into statewide
conservation planning.
"Conserving species fi rst requires understanding where
they occur, what their habitat needs are, and how they are
doing. This information is the result of painstaking work of
many people, and the work by these researchers is a great
example," said Rachel Simpson, who manages the Nebraska
Natural Heritage Program database.
Holly Hofreiter approaches an eastern tiger swallowtail
while surveying for butterfl ies at Lauritzen Gardens in
Omaha.
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