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There are relatively few butterflies in my region anymore. It's been that way for years, as far as I can tell.
I feel that butterflies are going the way of the bees. If we don't stop using so many pesticides in our world, it's only going to get worse. I also wonder if all the cell-phone towers and wi-fi are affecting the butterflies (and bees). I imagine it's possible, or even probable.
Well from the few that have posted here, it seems for some reason the butterflies are taking their time moving north. Not enough input to make an absolute statement to that tho. For those that I can, reps sent your way for replying to my OP.
I subscribe to a monarch newsletter, and today's talked about "Where have all the monarchs gone?"
The good news was that the monarch population had tripled according to reports in February. The bad news is that a historic freeze with snow in Mexico on March 8th and 9th decimated the population.
So, for those who live along the migratory path, I guess that's the answer.
There is some good news however. There are tons of milkweed available. Thanks to backyard gardeners, we haven't exactly replaced all the milkweed lost to farm fields, but we've made a big difference. Pesticides are still a problem, but at least not a cause for the big hit in the population.
I'm in Zone 7b, and there's been tons of butterflies here. They may not all be Monarchs, but they're certainly plentiful. Of course, my yard has 7 butterfly bushes, 2 of which are 12 ft. high and wide, so they provide a lot of attraction I guess.
I subscribe to a monarch newsletter, and today's talked about "Where have all the monarchs gone?"
The good news was that the monarch population had tripled according to reports in February. The bad news is that a historic freeze with snow in Mexico on March 8th and 9th decimated the population.
So, for those who live along the migratory path, I guess that's the answer.
There is some good news however. There are tons of milkweed available. Thanks to backyard gardeners, we haven't exactly replaced all the milkweed lost to farm fields, but we've made a big difference. Pesticides are still a problem, but at least not a cause for the big hit in the population.
Yes it was quite saddening to see all those frozen monarchs, and they did a pretty good job at saving a lot of them. So yeah, the monarchs I understand the low numbers, but where are all the other species? From this thread alone it seems the highest latitude so far with any amount of abundance is Virginia. Another thing I noticed from last years photos, was the bloom times last year were much earlier than this year. My entire yard is planted with the butterflies, bees, and hummers in mind, and still nothing!
Update! I saw the same female Giant swallowtail who was hanging around last week, and she laid a bunch of eggs on the white sapote. So real soon I'll have some bird-poop dogs on my trees.
I'll try to get some pictures for you guys.
Butterflies and bees both much much lower than past years.
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My entire yard is planted with the butterflies, bees, and hummers in mind, and still nothing! 
