Butterfly paucity

[HpAzures at aol.com]

All:

Several people have commented on the apparent paucity of butterflies this season in Connecticut.  Pesticide spraying was suggested but I believe the root cause is biological in nature.  Butterflies are doing a no-show here in northern Virginia as well and many in this region are reporting a similar situation.

My feeling is that the mild winter may have allowed lepidopteran diseases or parasites to thrive, or perhaps the mild weather lured many species out of their winter hibernation too early.  Our March cold snap may have hurt them too, but good numbers of butterflies down here in April seemed to counter that to some extent, or maybe the cold snap did not affect the usual spring species, affecting only immature stages of summer butterflies.  

However, even as far south as the western suburbs of Washington D.C., we had three nights of frost around May 21, one of which was a hard frost with temps dropping into the 20's overnight.  This certainly had an effect on butterflies here.  Days following this freeze saw virtually no surviving butterflies, even Cabbage Whites.  Now, we are experiencing drought, but the effects of the drought on butterflies may not be felt till later on in summer.

Maybe we'll have some interesting late-season migrants to make up for the early season dissappointment.

Harry Pavulaan