# Deluged by butterflies! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 4, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deluged-by-butterflies/620825 "2012-05-04T02:40:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deluged-by-butterflies/620825/1 "2012-05-04T02:40:41Z")
There has been an explosion of Red Admiral butterflies passing through Upstate NY and probably elsewhere. They say they are migrating from Mexico to Canada and were pushed off course by a storm, and will be mostly gone by tomorrow. But what a treat to see something so unusual! I never saw a Red Admiral. A few years ago in the fall we saw Monarchs by the hundreds going south. This makes me unnaturally happy. And the honeysuckle has attracted scores of bees today, in the hot sun, workin’ it! ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deluged-by-butterflies/620825/2 "2012-05-04T02:43:16Z")
[Looks up Red Admiral Butterfly] Is that what those are? We have so many of them around here I’ve been swatting them out of the way when I walk around outside. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deluged-by-butterflies/620825/3 "2012-05-04T03:32:11Z")
We’ve seen tons around here, in Michigan, for the last couple of weeks. Also, a few question marks, which I haven’t seen many of before. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deluged-by-butterflies/620825/4 "2012-05-04T03:41:16Z")
The butterflies took your luge away? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deluged-by-butterflies/620825/5 "2012-05-04T03:55:49Z")
We have a lot of them here in Chicago, too. They’ve been around for at least 3 weeks, so some off-course migration is an unlikely explanation. One local expert says the numbers are 10 times normal. [Nature's red army flies into suburbs on gossamer wings](http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120426/news/704269936/photos/EP4/) ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deluged-by-butterflies/620825/6 "2012-05-04T04:02:10Z")
I’ve had TONS of these in my yard (in Texas) for the past couple of weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deluged-by-butterflies/620825/7 "2012-05-04T04:53:01Z")
Hey! No wonder I’ve been seeing so many butterflies. I figured it was just because of the unseasonably warm spring weather in March. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deluged-by-butterflies/620825/8 "2012-05-04T17:58:55Z")
Yeah! I started seeing them here in NE Ohio earlier this week. I had to swat them away too! Was going to ask my uncle who’s an avid lepidopterist (butterfly enthusiast!) but kept forgetting to email him. Now I’m wondering who’s going to be swooping in to eat all of these guys. Birds? Bats? Aardvarks? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deluged-by-butterflies/620825/9 "2012-05-04T19:12:43Z")
I’m in Texas, we’ve had these along with ridiculous amounts of other butterflies. We’ve also had the best wildflower bloom that I can remember. Things are starting to turn brown now but a month or so ago it looked like a Disney cartoon around here. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deluged-by-butterflies/620825/10 "2012-05-04T19:42:45Z")
A couple of years ago I encountered a massive butterfly hatch in Lassen National Park. It was a surreal experience hiking the trails through what seemed to be an unending swarm of them. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deluged-by-butterflies/620825/11 "2012-05-05T00:46:59Z")
Last week a took a (sorta) long bike ride on the local trails. At one point I was literally in a cloud of butterflies. It seemed like they were flying formation with me. I have the video on my phone, but with no dataplan, I don’t know how to remove it (to a pc, or youtube, etc.). This was in Texas, just west of Fort Worth if it matters. I’ve really never seen clouds of them like that.