Numerous kinds of insects make their home on the South Coast and some of the more spectacular - or pretty, if you will - are butterflies and moths.

The North American Butterfly Association sponsors a butterfly count in the weeks before and after the Fourth of July, an insect equivalent to the Christmas bird count.

The NABA Butterfly Count attempts to census the butterfly populations across North America. Volunteers select a count area with a 15-mile diameter and conduct a one-day census of all butterflies sighted within that circle. The NABA organizes the counts and publishes the annual reports. Comparisons of the results over the years monitor changes in butterfly populations and reveal effects of weather and habitat change on the different species.

But if counting butterflies doesn't sound like the ideal way to spend a day, you can make watching butterflies a year-round pastime by designing a garden to attract them.

A number of books can help get you started on gardening. The Xerces Society Web site has some information and book recommendations. One thing to remember: If a garden does not eventually show some damage from caterpillar activity, something is wrong. The garden should support the adult butterflies - active, pretty pollinators - and their juvenile stage counterparts (caterpillars) that are often voracious herbivores. The large butterflies such as the swallowtails are often seen, but there are a number of small ones, also very pretty, such as skippers and blues.

Several nearby parks, such as Shore Acres State Park or Choshi Gardens at Mingus Park, have flowers and plants that attract butterflies as well. At least five kinds of lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) have been sighted at the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Here are some field guides: Jeffrey Glassberg's "Butterflies Through Binoculars: The West" and "Butterflies of Cascadia," by photographers Robert Michael Pyle, Idie Ulsh and David Nunnallee.

Another option - and an almost guaranteed success at seeing butterflies in all stages of their life cycles at the peak of summer - is the Oregon Butterfly Pavilion in Elkton. The pavilion is the only one of its kind in Douglas County and has enclosed garden areas for viewing and a courtyard area. It is open to the public from Memorial Day to Labor Day, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.