Where's All the Butterflies?!

southern cloudywing (this is a butterfly, not a moth!)

This time of year, a question we regularly get is, “Where’s all the butterflies?!” It is summer time, so we should be flush with butterflies. Unfortunately, butterfly biology does not work that way. Below is a graphical representation of our transect data. You will notice that in all years but one (2021), there was a very definite spring peak in early June, a definite summer peak in early August, and a definite lull in early July.

Why is that? What we see happening is this. Most of our exclusively spring species, such as satyrs and orangetips, have largely expired by the time late June rolls around. We also find ourselves between broods for swallowtails, commas, silver-spotted skippers, ladies and other multigenerational species. For the strictly summer species, such as fritillaries and common wood nymph, late June is the very beginning of their season.

Great spangled fritillary

With all of this said, WE STILL HAVE BUTTERFLIES!! On a guided tour this morning we observed about nine different species and around thirty butterflies total. Of course, other visitors who were on the trail at the same time observed only two butterflies. How can that be?! Well, I discuss this in my video Butterflynding (available at this link: (2) Butterflynding - YouTube). The key is walking slowly, staying observant, looking for flowers (right now milkweeds and dogbane) that butterflies may be using as nectar, and allow yourself the time to backtrack. The first trip through a space may not yield good results, while revisiting the space 15 minutes later may yield phenomenal results. That is simply how butterflies work.

Stay patient and observant!