That fritillary is gorgeous, Cathy!

I'm guessing that your local butterflies are either caterpillars or chrysalides now, you know, they're between flights. You'll undoubtedly be seeing more later, I sure hope so, anyway.

One of the things that made me want to buy this wooded property nearly 20 years ago was all the butterflies - I didn't see many butterflies in the traditional neighborhood where I lived in Gulfport before we moved here. We only took down enough trees for a site to build a small house, (and I picked a spot where the big trees were just pines) so nearly all of the 5 1/2 acres stayed wooded. I've added lots of native plants attractive to birds for their berries, plus I feed sunflower seeds, plus I added host and nectar plants, plus I'm in the country, so I'm fortunate enough to live in a very good butterfly and bird habitat. Right now, there's a nest of cardinals in the same wax myrtle in the front yard that they just used earlier in the spring, they've made nests in my orange tree, plus I hear them all over the woods, and that's just the cardinals. We have SO many birds here that I didn't have in town - nesting hummingbirds, summer tanagers, hooded and other types of warblers, pileated woodpeckers, white-eyed vireos, yellow-billed cuckoos, wood thrushes, eastern fly-catchers, orchard orioles, blue grosbeaks, even bluebirds on the edge of the property by an open meadow, plus the suburban neighborhood type regulars. I'm very fortunate, but we've really worked hard here, too, especially after the hurricane.

I'm very lucky, and here's hoping you'll get butterfly lucky real soon, Cathy!

Sherry

I noticed that also of hardly any butterflies except the white clouds and I have all types flowers in bloom now I wonder about the high heat we are having.

Sherry, Thanks, I'm glad you like the picture. Your place sounds like paradise! I wish other people would be so careful of what and how many trees they cut. There's someone building just up the road from us on a property that was always wooded and I'm cringing every time I hear their power saws going because it seems like there's never an end to it. I'll really be unhappy when the woods next to us gets cut down someday to make way for a house, but there's no stopping "progress". We live in an older house, but this area is getting more and more developed (as I'm sure most areas are). It's a rural area, but we live right along a pretty main road. We get lots of birds here too. I was into birds before I was into butterflies, so now I feed both and love to watch them. I guess I'm pretty lucky despite not having many butterflies so far this year. It's just that it's a little disappointing having all of the host and nectar plants that I have and hardly any butterflies show up to enjoy it and so we can watch them.

My daughter (grown) surprised me today by letting out two Red Admirals for me when I wasn't around. I also let one out later on. Just when I think that she's become disinterested in butterflies, she warms my heart by doing that. She used to help me raise Monarchs but then got away from doing that, so I thought that she was no longer taking an interest in the butterflies.

I'll let you all know if butterflies start showing up here. At least I got to raise the Red Admirals, something that I never raised before. Most of them had been parasitized before I brought them in, but I saved at least a dozen from harm's way.

I'm glad that you're having such a great butterfly year.

finchelover, That sounds about like here with the lack of butterflies. I had also seen some Clouded Sulphurs here at least a month ago, and I also had a Question Mark checking out my small potted hackberry trees, but I never found any eggs and haven't seen it since.

Cathy

It seems very slow here, too. Then again, it's only June. It seems much later because of the warm spring and the fact that everything is blooming ahead of schedule. We saw swarms of Red Admirals early on, but now I barely see Cabbage Whites. I'm in shade, and don't have much for nectar or host plants. But even driving around other neighborhoods I don't see any BST or Monarchs or Tiger Swallowtails. My milkweed is blooming, now, but I haven't seen even other beneficial bugs near it. It is new this year, so they may not have found it yet. I guess we just need to be patient and see how each year unfolds. We do our best and can't do more.

Martha

Slow here too! I saw lots of butterflies in early Spring, but now it's just Cabbage whites and an occasional native butterfly. No Monarchs yet either! I'm hoping that we're in between flights.

I've only raised 1 butterfly so far this year, just released a female BST this morning.

MissSherry, your place sounds wonderful, is it quiet and are you disturbed much by human activity (ATVs, chain saws, etc.)? I totally relate to what you're saying Caterwallin, about the development. I cringe too!