# Not So Much as a Flutterby of Butterflies This Year, How 'Bout Y'all? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 4, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-as-a-flutterby-of-butterflies-this-year-how-bout-yall/508814 "2009-09-04T01:33:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-as-a-flutterby-of-butterflies-this-year-how-bout-yall/508814/21 "2009-09-05T01:53:23Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > \ > I have plenty of spare slugs if anyone’s missing those. Do they talk? my Norwegian Blue parrot does, lovely plumage… ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Buttons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-as-a-flutterby-of-butterflies-this-year-how-bout-yall/508814/22 "2009-09-05T03:19:05Z")
Here’s in south central PA there’s been a definite dearth of butterflies. I’ve seen 3 all year. ☹ The local paper did a story on it about a month ago. Their Outdoor Expert said it was probably because of our mild, wet spring, which is apparently a very bad thing for caterpillars. Here’s the article: [Where have all the butterflies gone?](http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/240642) ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-as-a-flutterby-of-butterflies-this-year-how-bout-yall/508814/23 "2009-09-05T03:49:52Z")
I’ve actually seen more this year than ever before. Some of them have been quite large even. This has been a good year for me. I’ve seen lots of butterflies. I saw fireflies for the first time in my life. I saw my first hummingbird. And, I caught a grasshopper that was almost 2" long. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-as-a-flutterby-of-butterflies-this-year-how-bout-yall/508814/24 "2009-09-05T04:10:27Z")
This year I’ve seen more monarchs than usual - even my boyfriend has remarked on it. The fireflies, on the other hand… it’s a shame. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Buttons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@Mr\_Buttons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Buttons)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-as-a-flutterby-of-butterflies-this-year-how-bout-yall/508814/25 "2009-09-05T04:38:47Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > This year I’ve seen more monarchs than usual - even my boyfriend has remarked on it. > > The fireflies, on the other hand… it’s a shame. While I’ve seen 3 butterflies in this area all year, there were a bajillion fireflies during the height of their mating season. This kinda leads me to think it’s more a regional/climate thing. Maybe caterpillers hate the wet/cool spring we had East of the Appalachians, while the fireflies thrive in it? It seems like it’s mostly us east coasters who have been robbed of the butterfly experience this year. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-as-a-flutterby-of-butterflies-this-year-how-bout-yall/508814/26 "2009-09-05T07:06:18Z")
Saw a butterfly about a week ago in the yard, it was unusual because it wasn’t the usual Monarch Butterfly that are ubiquitous around here, I’m not sure what kind it was, but it was a solid dark (purplish, maybe) color with some lighter colored “eyes” on its wings. I have no idea what kind it was, but I’ve never seen one like it before around here. Also watched the first hummingbird that I have ever seen in the backyard around the same time… Many more moths this year than in past years, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-as-a-flutterby-of-butterflies-this-year-how-bout-yall/508814/27 "2009-09-05T13:15:44Z")
> [@Mr\_Buttons](#): > > While I’ve seen 3 butterflies in this area all year, there were a bajillion fireflies during the height of their mating season. This kinda leads me to think it’s more a regional/climate thing. > > Maybe caterpillers hate the wet/cool spring we had East of the Appalachians, while the fireflies thrive in it? It seems like it’s mostly us east coasters who have been robbed of the butterfly experience this year. I’m an east coaster - South Carolina. Sorry, I forget I no longer have a location field. Which is petty, SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-as-a-flutterby-of-butterflies-this-year-how-bout-yall/508814/28 "2009-09-05T14:28:53Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > Do they talk? my Norwegian Blue parrot does, lovely plumage… Well, the slugs don’t _talk,_ but it’s nice to have some quiet pets! And really, they are so charming when are oozing up your outside walls like animated snot. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-as-a-flutterby-of-butterflies-this-year-how-bout-yall/508814/29 "2009-09-05T15:46:01Z")
Our butterfly bush attracted, oddly enough, a few butterflies last year. They landed and sat there for most of the afternoon. The flower things are very fragrant and it was nice to sit out there with a book, hangin’ a couple hours with the butterflies. This year - nuthin’. I guess it IS due to the cool wet spring. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-as-a-flutterby-of-butterflies-this-year-how-bout-yall/508814/30 "2009-09-05T17:45:32Z")
North central Iowa – the Monarchs have been rare for a couple of years. I think I’ve seen two. A few years back I’d drive through swarms of them in the country. Not many bugs at all, really. I can tell by how often I have to clean the windshield after driving somewhere at night. But we have at least four hummingbirds around the feeder, and one of them is getting to know me. I was sitting on the deck near the feeder and it hovered just inches in front of my face, checking me out. I love how they swoop in those giant arcs. Lots of crickets though, and grasshoppers. No lady beetles yet, but they’ll probably come when the farmers start harvesting the soybeans. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-as-a-flutterby-of-butterflies-this-year-how-bout-yall/508814/31 "2009-09-05T21:50:43Z")
Come to think of it, there ARE less butterlies this year. (I’m in southern Indiana) I haven’t seen a single monarch this year, or any tiger swallowtails, the 2 most common big butterflies in this area. I haven’t seen a praying mantis in years, and I LOVE them. The fireflies were out quite a bit early in the summer; I loved watching my puppy chase them. Ladybugs- hadn’t seen any till I went outside the other day and one was riding around on my Gordon Setter’s head. It was adorably cute, very cartoon looking. 🙂 No Junebugs this year either. Not a single one. That makes me sad, too. But DAMN has it been a bumper year for flies, mosquitos and slugs. Ick. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2009, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-as-a-flutterby-of-butterflies-this-year-how-bout-yall/508814/32 "2009-09-05T22:34:55Z")
Bumper crop of fire ants and wasps and waterbugs and big, icky spiders. Ewwwwww. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-so-much-as-a-flutterby-of-butterflies-this-year-how-bout-yall/508814.md?page=1)