Gwynne, I'm right there with you with no seeing many. I see a couple tiger swallowtails, Cabbage Whites (of course), I saw either a Clouded, Cloudless, or Orange Sulphur a few times (they like my orange cosmos), and I've started seeing Silver-spotted Skippers the past few days. Oh, and I saw a Red-spotted Purple several times. Other than that, it's pretty dull here, but I'm just guessing that they're waiting until more flowers are blooming. I have about five kinds blooming right now, but until the milkweed starts blooming (which should be soon), I probably won't see a whole lot. The more I think about it, it seems to me that that's when the butterflies started showing up more here last year, when those were blooming and of course the butterfly bushes, which haven't started blooming yet. You're lucky to have BST caterpillars; I don't even have that. I think we'll just have to be patient. For whatever reasons, maybe they just naturally show up at your place and mine later than other places in our state. I'll bet you that we start seeing them within the next two weeks.
Cathy

You might start seeing monarchs in your area around June 15. We have only seen a few here in Madison, & I am grateful for the few monarch eggs they left behind. Its still early in the season.

I'm right along with you ladies-None-Nada! I have seen two Tiger Swallowtails and one White Admiral, Spicebush Swallowtail. A few Cabbage Whites and for the first time I saw Little Wood Satyr(SP). It seems like a lot but, that was in a few weeks time.

I can not wait to see that butterfly bush of mine bloom already! That seems to be the time that they start hitting my house and then I'll be so happy~**

Aggie

I've seen tons of Cabbage Whites, a few Eastern Tiger Swallowtails in northern NJ on Sunday, but that's it! Nothing in my yard :(

Most of the butterflies I've seen here in Ct this year have been when I've taken hikes in the local nature preserves. There are more weeds and wildflowers in bloom in these areas than in the typical garden right now.

I my yard so far I've seen a few E. Tigers, one BST, Cabbage whites, a couple american ladies, and a few assorted skippers. Now, mind you, I'm in my yard most days for hours because I work nights. So as far as sheer numbers, that's not alot.

Cathy's right, once the milkweed blooms, there will be many more butterflies around. In a week or two here.

No Monarchs here yet, and the Milkweed is growing great!

Yes, I am indoors most of the day. About half the week, I am outdoors on my lunch hour, at nurseries. I have only seen one butterfly there, already mentioned. This is not counting the cabbage butterflies. There are tons of them everywhere.

I did see evidence of a butterfly at another nursery as I found two more BST caterpillars, a fifth instar and a third instar. The third instar was on parsley and the fifth instar was munching on fennel. I wanted to move them both to some parsley. The third instar had munched too much of his parsley and I needed a fresh plant.

Anyway, I must have hurt him when I transferred him as he never quite recovered. This morning, unfortunately, we had a burial at sea. That made me feel bad, I want to help the butterflies find safe places to eat and pupate, not kill them! Someone, please tell me it was an accident and I am not a bad person!

Also of concern is the fact that I saw flies on the plants. I am not sure what tachinad flies look like, but I have had lots (too much) experience with them with monarch larva. I am hoping the fifth instar is okay.

So here is the count on BST caterpillars. Of the seven I found last week, the fifth instar pupated successfully two days ago after rejecting many spots in the monarch castle. The six first instars are now healthy third instars. Of the two I found this week, one is deceased and one is pupating as we speak.

It looks like the only way I am going to see butterflies is to grow them myself!

Have you guys tried putting out some fruit plates (rotting bananas, watermelon, etc.)? They usually will at least attract some butterflies that don't nectar (at least as much) as some others. Red Admirals, Question Marks, Mourning Cloaks, Emperors, Commas, all like rotting fruit.

Susan

I put some out last week-I made the Butterfly Mash as I have started calling it. The one with the bannanas, beer, and brown sugar. Nothing but ants.

I walk most days in the afternoon around the woods by our house and I have seen a few butterflies up there but, it seems like they don't want to come out.

I checked all the usual places for eggs or caterpillars and a few new places I found but, nothing around my house.

Aggie

Susanlynn, no I havent tried that. I am afraid of what I may attract!

Aggscott, I read all about your trip to Rickett Glen with envy! It sounds beautiful! How many waterfalls did you see?

We got as far as three waterfalls. It started to cloud over and we heard the thunder.
The kids get a little tired at this point so we turn back and walk back out-and see it all over again! We took a different path back out and that is when I found the Admiral caterpillar. The worst part is I want to go back and get a few more of them! I am obsessed~**

Aggie

Oh, I know what you mean. I keep hitting the nurseries looking for BST caterpillars. The only 'wild' caterpillar I have ever found is monarch larva. I have always wanted to raise an eastern swallowtail but dont have access to the trees they use as host plants.

Susan, Last year I mashed up rotting bananas and mixed in molasses. Is it really important to add the beer? I didn't because we don't drink it and I'd have to buy it special for the butterfly food, but if it would make a difference, I'd get some and add it. I never did see even one butterfly on that slop last year, so I haven't even put any out this year. I didn't know about the brown sugar being part of it. I wonder if that's like molasses in a way and one could be substituted for the other. Do you put your butterfly food in a sunny spot or shade? I had mine in a big dish on the ground in part sun and part shade. Do you think it's important to keep it raised up off the ground? I just couldn't think of a way to put the dish that way. We don't have anything like a deck that I could sit it on where it would be raised up. I don't want to leave our ladder sit out all the time with butterfly food on it. I'm just not sure how to put it up or if it's even important to put it that way.
Cathy

-I just visited the JourneyNorth web-site, and looked at the monarch observation maps, of North America. They have a map for monarch eggs and adult monarch sightings. There is indeed a lack of sightings for a huge swath of central Pennsylvania, and it extends up into the finger lake region of western New York state. I'm not sure why this is, but I know that it takes work for a butterfly to fly up and down hills, so they may prefer the flatlands. There are many sightings for southern Ontario, for example. And you don't have to climb any mountains to get there. I am only guessing here, it would take repeated observations over several years to confirm the pattern.

Ericwi, I saw a map too, not sure if it is the same one you are talking about because I dont remember egg sitings being on the map, just actual butterfly sitings. The thing is, I do see the giant area of PA where there are no butterflies, but I am in the section where there have been sitings for two weeks.

Hey, thats neat! I have a book I bought off amazon called The Life Cycles of Butterflies. It is supposed to be good for PA. I havent read too much of it yet, but it does have pictures of host plants.

I'm in the giant area with no sightings, pretty much in the middle north to south and kind of in the middle east to west, only to the east more. I wonder why the Monarchs have this pattern of migration? We only live about ten miles west of the Susquehanna River. I thought that they followed rivers when they migrate. I'd think that we would get them earlier than we do.

I have been seeing TONS of butterflies, many of which I have no ID for! However, none have really been hangin' out in my yard (except for the smaller ones and the cabbage whites) and I have yet to see a monarch. My butterfly weed just started blooming this past week, though, and the swamp milkweed is on the verge of bloom, so I am expecting their arrival any day now. If I recall correctly, the monarchs didn't make their first appearance in my area until the beginning of July last year, so I have to keep reminding myself to be patient...

Last year, I found a third instar monarch in the middle of June and the next week I found three fourth instar ones. By that time, they were all the same size and pupated within a day of each other. I figured the eggs must have been laid in early June for them to pupate when they did so there had to have been butterflies to lay those eggs. Then some people were saying how early the monarchs were in their area this year so I thought that maybe they would be here early too.