Report Butterfly Sighting

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Use this form to report a sighting of any butterflies and moths you see in New Zealand (Reports of sightings from countries other than New Zealand will be discarded from research data.)

You can also record pests affecting plants/lepidoptera by clicking on pest.

Start typing the address of the sighting below, eg. “123 Charles Street”. Then select the correct location from the list of matches which appear.

Please note that a Park Name may cause problems, even if the system seems to recognise it at first. If that happens use this tool to find the nearest location with a postal address and in the ‘description’ column add further details, e.g. ‘tree about 200 metres north of this address’.

Location Details Address

If the sighting happened in a park or other large area, enter the name of the area (eg "Kahurangi National Park")

If the search facility above doesn't find your address, you can enter your full address details instead. Click here to enter your details manually.

City
City or region.
Suburb
Your locality or suburb.
Postcode
Identifies the geographic location of the sighting.
Co-ordinates Lat Long
These will be automatically filled in if we can find your address - you don't need to change them yourself!

Sighting Details Species Site
Describe the site, eg "Home garden", your address, "Golf Course" etc.
Weather
Temperature, wind, sunshine/rain etc.
Description
Describe the butterfly sighting.
Date
Time
Tag Number
If the butterfly had a tag, enter the tag number here
Trees
Whatever foliage the butterflies were near, if known.
Condition
If a single butterfly, note its condition here.
Abundance If many butterflies, tell us how many.