I have been asking myself for weeks now, where are all the butterflies? Typically by early summer, small, medium and large sized butterflies are fluttering all over the garden. This year, our cool spring followed by one of the wettest summers on record has not been a kind habitat for butterflies. In fact, the adverse weather is damaging to butterfly populations. Studies are concluding that the life cycle of the butterfly may be sensitive to small changes in the weather.
 |
| Eastern tailed-blue |
Our gardens and adjacent woodlands are filled with host plants and nectar plants for most species of butterfly found in Northeast Georgia. We provide puddling sites, overwintering refuge and are a pesticide free garden. So the habitat is here and, in a
normal year we usually have lots of butterflies.
 |
| Silvery checkerspot sipping minerals & salts at puddling site |
Although we are in the midst of summer we are only now beginning to see the butterflies. All the photos I am posting have been taken this month (July) and most of them in the last week. Earlier in the month there were only single sightings of these species of butterflies and without a mate in sight the prospects of a next generation looked bleak.
 |
| Silver-spotted skipper on Buttonbush |
Many of the butterflies were looking pretty ragged. They were beat up by the heavy rains and/or predator attacks. Notice their tattered wings. The good news is that butterflies are tougher than they look. Wings break and scales come off. If they didn't they wouldn't be able to escape their predators and would be eaten for lunch more often than not.
 |
| Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on beebalm |
Butterflies have been seen flying with 75% of their wings missing. But this does make it more pertinent for them to find a mate. They may not be as dainty as they look but broken wings can make their fleeting life even shorter.
 |
| Black Swallowtail on purple coneflower |
The monsoon like rains and overcast skies have given us lots of lush foliage but fewer flowers. I am surprised that we actually have as many blooms as we do. And, many of them are very tattered.
 |
| silvery checkerspot sharing purple coneflower with friendly bee |
The humidity on some days is very high and when the sun does come out there is no need to pay to go to the spa, just take a walk outside. An ideal butterfly climate. The butterflies we saw earlier this month seem to have been successful despite the challenges they faced. We are finally seeing signs of the next generation.
 |
| Variegated Fritillary |
We found our first caterpillars of the summer this weekend. Three Variegated Fritillaries on some passionvine that seeded itself amongst the roses.
 |
| Variegated Fritillary caterpillar on passiflora |
I also saw two Eastern Tiger Swallowtails fluttering around together. Another good sign!
 |
| Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on buttonbush |
Sadly, we didn't see any Monarchs this season but some of the other butterflies are enjoying the milkweed.
 |
| two silvery checkerspot on butterflyweed |
A few Red-spotted purples have also been hanging around in the garden. Despite the fact that we offer the rotten fruit, which they prefer over nectar, they find the dog dung that hasn't been picked up yet irresistible.
 |
| Red-spotted purple |
One of the most common butterflies in our garden is the black swallowtail. We usually see lots of caterpillars on the parsley and fennel from this species. Unfortunately, this year we only had one in early spring. Fingers crossed that we see more very soon.
 |
| pipevine swallowtail |
Have you been keeping track of your butterfly sightings? What are your results....banner year or lacking?
In my next post we'll talk about trees with some fun facts provided by my son.
