A guess would be that the unseasonably cold weather running late into spring this year in much of NA, followed by a rapid unseasonably hot spell and quick return back to the frigid cold before finally trying to get back to normal has had some effect on both the plants and the butterflies. And all the rain and flooding in the east probably didn't help either. Whether its effects will be long lasting for the Monarch Central Mexican flyway I don't know, but for their California and Baja flyway in the west, along with no moisture this spring I think it has been devastating. No Danaus plexippus have been seen here, not one. Nor any Danaus gilippus or either of their mimics. The huge spring migration of Vanessa cardui didn't happen at all this year, what strays have come up from the south have mostly been in very small numbers and even the resident species have been very scarce. Many that are common flyers here from spring to fall I have not seen a single individual of yet. Even though many of the desert dwellers are double or multiple brooded, I doubt any of them will occur in any numbers this year at all. We also never got the influx of hummingbird species we normally enjoy and its been limited to only 2-3 species this year. Same with the migratory song birds. Many species were not seen this year. Only time will tell, but it has the makings of a bad year.

We have loads of chickadees, we love them. Right now there are lots of nuthatches, bluejays and woodpeckers. I do put food out all winter, though mostly for the tiny red squirrels and the occassional sleepy chipmunk looking for a snack. I come from the land of huge gray squirrels, but even my mom likes these. And they only have so much territory. The bluejays can go to the next yard. I do wish a cardinal or two would visit. I'm working on getting the place covered w/critter friendly plants.

I wouldn't base anything on the rabbits around my property they are strange ones for sure-last night a friend of mone came over (he hunts) and about 10ft away a rabbit was taking a nice little bath in a sand hole- then another one came out and starting eating some grass right next to his dump truck trailer (which was running and kinda noisy) which was also right near us. he said he can never get this close to them when he is hunting- they usually just take off. hell, I have to shoo them away sometime when I am weed trimming with my gas trimmer. Thats okay I also have a Robin bird that follows me around whenever I water my shrubs and stuff. thetman

Annpann - You asked whether I had had something published. Yes, as I used to freelance write a column for Entrepreneur magazine's sister website. The column was based on work/life balance which is incredibly ironic as I am such a stress monkey at times. Anyway, that gig lasted a year and then easy come, easy go as the saying goes. Then I have lots of ghost writing floating around, which I wrote, but has someone else's name on it. Grumble. Topics range from engineering to medicine to book reviews to anything in between. And then I have a meeting with an agent at the end of the month to talk about a novel and NF book on sustainable energy I'd like to do. Wish me luck on that! I am rather nervous about it, but we'll see. Back to books: one of the best writing related books I can think of is "Bird by Bird" by Annie Lamott....