They flit about, alighting along woodland fringes and wetlands, open fields and backyards.

The butterfly season has already taken wing, and soon folks will spread out in conservation areas to identify and count these lepidopteran insects.

Mark Mello, the research director at the Lloyd Center for the Environment in Dartmouth, will be in the field conducting his 22nd year of butterfly counts next month in conjunction with a continent-wide count through the North American Butterfly Association.

The Rhode Island Audubon Society will be conducting counts in that state beginning Saturday - as well as conducting a number of butterfly identification workshops.

The counts are not a flight of fancy. "Basically, the main reason is to get a longtime baseline" on the types and numbers of butterflies, especially since insects can be a boom or bust population, depending on a number of factors, including habitat or other change, he said.

And that can point to a trend which has implications for other aspects of the environment and its inhabitants.

Mello said the effort was started in the early 1980s by the Xerces Society, named for the Xerces Blue Butterfly, the first butterfly to go extinct in North America. Its habitat was destroyed through urban development.

Through the counts, volunteers patrol an area 15 miles in diameter and do an all-day census of butterflies sighted within that circle.

The survey through the Audubon Society of Rhode Island was expanded in its fourth year last summer to include more areas and two dates, Saturday and July 12.

Survey results for 2007 conducted by participants through the ASRI alone totaled 2,898 butterflies, representing 50 species. Two participants documented 24 species at the nearby Cumberland Monastery, the most of any team.

The most commonly sighted butterfly was the European Cabbage, which is white, followed by the Common Wood Nymph.

First time participants in the count will, by the end of the day, probably will be introduced to numerous species they never knew existed, said Mello who wrote "Butterflies Across the Cape," which covers 70 species and where to find them.

As for backyard enthusiasts, "a lot depends on what people have in their backyards," he said.

Cabbage butterflies, for example, are attracted to vegetable gardens with, well, cabbage. Growing parsley or carrots? Look for black swallowtails. If you have native cherries, you might find some swallow tail butterflies sucking at the nectar.

Then, there is the American copper, which is attracted to the weed sheep sorrel. There are three or four generations of them per season, Mello said.

Monarchs in their southward migration in the fall, are practically guaranteed to do a layover in your yard if you have a butterfly bush, Mello said.

Tiger swallowtails - with their distinctive yellow and black-striped markings on the wings and body - have a first brood in early June.

"There's an ever-changing parade all season long," Mello said.

Here is some information about area butterfly counts being conducted in conjunction with the North American Butterfly Association, as well as a partial listing of butterfly identification workshops in the area.

June 28; July 12 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Rhode Island Butterfly Count to be conducted by the Audubon Society of Rhode Island in conjunction with the NABA. Cost is $5 per person. Novices and experts team up to identify as many butterflies as possible in each of the days. (June 28 is East Bay; July 12, West Bay.) The results become part of the nationally published record of butterflies. Contact July Lewis at 401-949-5454, ext. 3044, or e-mail her at: jlewis@asri.org for more information.

July 19, Butterfly Count for Bristol County sponsored by the North American Butterfly Association in conjunction with the Massachusetts chapter at the Lloyd Center for the Environment in Dartmouth to be led by the center’s research director Mark Mello. The cost per person is $3 to pay for compilations. Call 508-990-0505, ext. 122 or e-mail research@thelloydcenter.org to register. Rain date is July 20.

For more information about the North American or state butterfly associations, go to www.naba.org/chapters. There are also pictures of butterflies for identification and locations of other counts in the state. Count forms to conduct your own community or backyard surveys are available for downloading through www.naba.org/counts.

The Audubon Society of Rhode Island is also holding a series of butterfly identification workshops, including one to be held at nearby Powder Mill Ledges in Smithfield, RI, July 9, from 6:30 to 8 p.m.. The program fee is $5 per person for ages 8 and up. Participation is free to folks taking part in the annual butterfly count.

The butterflies of the nearby Cumberland Monastery, including European Skippers and Baltimore Checkerspots, will be explored on the monastery’s grounds with naturalist Walter Bosse on June 21 from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Program fee is $3 for members, $5 for non-members. Open to all ages. Rain date is June 22.

For other workshops in Rhode Island, contact the ASRI at 401-949-5454, ext. 3041 or go to www.asri.org.

SUSAN LaHOUD can be reached at 508-236-0398 or at slahoud@thesunchronicle.com.