April 8, 2026 Meeting

The Butterfly Sleuth

with Neil Bjorklund

 7:15-9:00 p.m., presentation 7:30-8:30 p.m.

Main Hall, Hilyard Community Center, 2580 Hilyard St, Eugene (map)

How do you find butterfly species in a place where they have never been found before? You certainly can just stumble onto a butterfly in a surprising place—Neil has done so several times, leading to six new county records in Deschutes, Jackson, Josephine, Lane, and Morrow counties. Or you can follow the trail of historic sightings of stray species and try to find them again, though Neil has had mixed results with that approach. However, to intentionally find something new in a place or county requires a different approach. It requires thinking like a sleuth: observing, pondering, deducing and deciding!  Neil will share stories of all these approaches to discovering species that haven’t been sighted in a county before, but he will zero in on the game he has come to call Butterfly Sleuthing. You will hear how Neil discovered California Hairstreak, Nevada Cloudywing, Northern Cloudywing, Shasta Blue, Volcano Blue, Pumice Blue, and Arrowhead Blue in our own Lane County – with lots of lovely photos, of course! Come join us for a fun evening, and don’t forget your deerstalker cap and magnifying glass! The game is afoot!

From 1989-95, Neil was the City’s lead Planner and co-author of the award-winning West Eugene Wetlands Plan, which helped focus attention on the rare Fender’s Blue butterfly in west Eugene. In 2001, Neil co-founded the Eugene-Springfield chapter of the North American Butterfly Association (now Lane County Butterfly Club). Neil led many field trips in western Oregon and gave many presentations on Oregon butterflies in Oregon and Washington.  In 2004, Neil created Finding Lane County Butterflies, the first butterfly-finding guide of its kind in the US, now in a full-color 5th edition. In 2018, Neil created the Butterflies of Oregon website, a comprehensive online guide to Oregon butterflies (www.butterfliesororegon.com). Neil is a co-author (with Jeffrey Miller) of the soon-to-be released Hinchliff Atlas of Oregon Butterflies. Neil is currently working on his next book, Butterflies of Northwestern Oregon, due out later this year.