Dave, this has been a weird year for my area. I wouldn't say we have less butterflies, but their usual timing seems to be all messed up. Like today at MOSI, my boss had a Sleepy Orange in a tank. Now, she said it came from some Privet Cassia starter plants she had so they may have come from a plant supplier located somewhere else. But usually Sleepy Oranges are a butterfly I associate with late summer and early fall. The Orange-Barred Sulphurs seemed really early this year and may even be outnumbering the Cloudless in some areas. The Long-Tailed Skippers took forever to show up, it seems. I always think the Swallowtails are late, but I think they were right on time this year; it was just me that was impatient.
We had a very mild winter and it was much wetter than usual so I suppose that affected the butterfly emergence schedule. I did have my first ever sighting of that White Checkered Skipper last week and last year was the first time I ever saw a Great Southern White in my yard. So there may be some gradual changes taking place. In good news, I read where the Monarchs have reached Canada so I think they're on track this year. In fact, Chip at Monarch Watch is predicting this will be a better year for them than last. Although last year was pretty bad so I don't think he's risking much on that assumption.
