Where are all the butterflies?

One sad observation has been the eerie absence of butterflies. Where are they? I miss the joy they bring when they bob, flit or zip around as if in a mad hurry. Each is so unique and beautiful. 

There have been a few fluttering here and there and some days a few more show up, making me wonder if this is the day they’ll burst out. That day just hasn’t come and I’m wondering if it ever will. What’s happened to them?

For years, hundreds of coccoons hung attached to the siding of the house and garage, the patio furniture or even the back door. I’d find them everywhere, including clinging to the tires of the car. In due time, caterpillars, mainly of the Fritillary butterfly, would make their grand exit in their colorful winged adult form following their metamorphosis.  It was always quite a fascinating ritual to watch, a sheer spectacle. Not this year. The chrysalis have been negligible. 

Despite the heat, there has been plenty of nectar from a variety of native plants in sunny, protected areas and an array of awaiting host plants. Still, I’ve had no takers.

The rather common sulfur butterflies have made scant appearances and the gorgeous swallowtails have made a few rounds. Only a few snouts have been visible, but I did come across a dill plant covered with swallowtail caterpillars. My milkweed plants, host to the infamous monarchs, remain unvisited.  

Strangely, I’ve seen a near-normal amount of caterpillars except monarchs, but few airborne butterflies.

What in the world is going on? Will they make a sudden appearance this summer or fall? Will there not be a spectacle this year? Have the drought or heat been major factors? 

You probably recall in 2006 Central and South Texas were under siege from swarms of snout butterflies. Their proliferation had been triggered by drought that thinned the caterpillar’s natural predators. This was followed by heavy rainfall that sparked new growth on hackberry trees, attracting the egg-laying caterpillars that could briefly thrive without enemies.

The Dallas County Lepidopterist’s Society reports on their Web site the slight season is a normal process in the grand scheme of things and has happened countless times before. The group reports that while nature is not static, specific reasons may be many, complex and not fully understood. Increase in predators because of a rise in butterflies the year before may be one reason, as is the possibility of increased pathogens. The Dallas area, too, is reporting significantly reduced numbers of the winged wonders and idle host plants like passion-vine and dill.

With more than 495 different species found in Texas during the last 130 years, including a major convergence of eastern and western species making Texas the nation’s butterfly sanctuary, it is hard to imagine the numbers being reduced to nil in a single season.  But it is not happening in Texas only.

In 2006, California researchers reported their worst butterfly season in the state in four decades after having a bumper crop the year before. Art Shapiro, a professor at the University of California, counted only half of the usual species in drastically reduced numbers. Unusual weather may have been a factor, but experts suspect broader forces, though not fully understood such as urban development and climate change, may be at work. 

Findings of a study conducted by Natural Environment Research Council in Britain revealed population declines of butterfly species from 54 to 71 percent in 2004, suggesting impending losses of historic proportions. An unmatched monitoring system was used in the extensive study, which has been closely scrutinized by major U.S. researchers including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.  All the evidence supports the theory that the sixth big extinction in Earth’s history is well under way.

With their absence, butterflies have made us take notice. It may be a sign of things to come.

Delgado is a Texas Master Naturalist. She and Scott are members of the Highland Lakes Birding and Wildflower Society and the National Audubon Society. E-mail them at viva.dana@yahoo.com