Anyone notice the lack of butterflies and grasshoppers?

[gvstn]

Now, I'm fifty or so, but in my youth during recess we went out into the field behind our school and looked for and picked up grasshoppers even though they had some way of spraying you with some green juice. It was an actually activity scheduled by our school. Right or wrong but in those days you had to occupy the kids minds with something (pre-internet).

I was just thinking about this today. Forget grasshoppers, but I only saw one butterfly this summer. I'm not talking Monarchs, but any butterfly. They used to be so common that you would not even think about them. But they seem rarer now.

Has anyone seen a normal flow of butterflies? Larvae turning into butterflies was a normal part of science class because there were so many to be seen. But I just don't see so many. Does anyone, of my age, see a "normal" amount of butterflies? Or is it because
I just don't take enough walks in the park.

[SamKnause]

1. I had an abundance of butterflies and grasshoppers.

I also had an abundance of birds, fire flies; (lightning bugs), bumble bees, honey bees,

crickets, spiders, etc.

I had the usual visits from the wild turkeys.

I had my second set of deer triplets.

I live in rural Ohio.

Where are you located ???

[gvstn]

7. I live in Delaware.

We don't do a lot of taming the wild (grass mowing) except for freeway "divides".

Many less fire flies, bumble bees (and even yellow jackets--the stinging ones--like hornets.) A couple of odd ball plants that the bees used to pollinate very early in the season (with fifty bees going after the same plant) don't seem to get any attention now. Might just be a sick plant but it just came on so sudden.

I still get tons of crickets in my yard. They seem safe. But have only seen one butterfly all year. They just seem so rare here, now, where they were so common.

[jberryhill]

21. Are you above the canal or below it?

I've lived in New Castle County for over 50 years, and at least very locally to me, this year picked up a bit, but that's probably because I'm near that golf course that has been in litigation and turned into a meadow over the last few years.

If you think back to when, for example, the intersection between 7 and Churchman's road was pretty much just a stop sign, and then came the mall, the hospital, the banking laws changed and that spurred all of the suburban development along 40 and south of there... the amount of open space all the way down to the canal (and then south of the canal) is dramatically lower than it used to be.

[gvstn]

22. I'm in Talleyville

I don't go on many nature walks anymore but just remember lots of butterflies of different colors from my youth.

Yes, they have overdeveloped certain areas but it seems like there is enough green space to support butterflies.

What they did to route one in Sussex is unbelievable when I think about what it looked like when I was I kid.
I still miss Nassau Orchards. Such a waste of good peach growing land.

[jberryhill]

31. I just discovered a few weeks ago...

....that it's possible to go entirely on trails from the Brandywine up through Alapocas, come out by the old Blue Ball Barn, through the park there to Rockland and then to Bellevue, entirely on trails. It's a great bike ride, and a much longer walk.

[Docreed2003]

26. Not to derail the comments...

But we actually saw our second set of deer triplets in two years here in RI. We have a family of deer in the protected woods behind our house that we follow closely. I had always thought triplets in the deer population was very rare and last years set was a special sight. Then, we were treated to another set this summer.

[Scootaloo]

2. Depends on where you are

In Washington, summer was unusually hot and dry, even in the West of the state. It got so bad that our blackberry season lasted all of two days here on Vashon, before the ripe berries turned to gnarly raisins. Assuming they even ripened at all instead of being baked hard.

This is not optimal for soft-bodied insects like caterpillars. And since crickets and grasshoppers rely on temperature and humidity ot get their breeding on, it was pretty bad for them, too.

[gvstn]

10. My regional area or my house...

Seems to get its share of crickets. They love this place. Although I have seen plenty in the garage, it just seems to not be enough. I have called this a rather mild summer but everyone else I speak to says they think it was hot. I just don't think I will find crickets hiding/staying warm in my cardboard boxes this year. It wasn't unusually dry but perhaps a bit.

I was talking to a young woman at the sub/steak shop, who seemed to know every bug on earth. And I thought back to when we went out and picked up (then let them go) grasshoppers like it was the most normal thing on Earth to do. I haven't seen an actual grasshopper in 20 years.

I was just wondering if this was a local phenomenon or all around the country. They just seemed to be everywhere. Same as butterflies, you could see hundreds of various colors, but now I see none.

Now, moths still seem to be around to eat my sweaters. Those little guys I could stand a decrease in the population. I get them every year despite hanging moth deterring products in my closet. Who can figure?

[SheilaT]

3. I've been seeing butterflies and grasshoppers

here in Santa Fe. In my front yard I have a bush that is called a butterfly bush. Butterflies flutter around it quite happily. I can't know if I'm seeing "normal" numbers or not, but I am seeing them. Also goodly numbers of birds, including the usual swallows who occupy a nest right over my front door, which was built seven years ago.

This year, the mating pair that claimed it, didn't like how much the first nest had deteriorated, and built another one three feet away, in the same overhang. When the nestlings got big enough, one of the parents (have no idea which one since they look alike) would spend the night in the old nest. Swallow condos r us.

[ALBliberal]

4. I am seeing fewer and fewer Monarchs

we have milkweed growing wild in our backyard and always had many Monarchs this year we saw far fewer

[Old Codger]

6. I grew up??

In Minn. and as a child I recall many nights watching fireflies all over the fields, last time i was there didn't see any at all, asked friend about that and was told not anymore..Sad days

[Mister Ed]

11. We still get fireflies in my backyard...

...here in Stillwater, MN.

I don't know if the sheer numbers match the days of my youth, though. Close to the home where I grew up, there was a vast, gently sloping field which, on the right sort of night in June, would be alight with thousands and thousands of fireflies. Possibly tens of thousands, without exaggeration. What a dazzling sight!

One night, years later, I took a woman there on a date, believe it or not. We drove up from the city on a warm summer night to see it, and she was enchanted. The field is now a housing development, and the fireflies are gone from it. But the woman has been my dear wife these twenty years and more.

[Old Codger]

17. Lived in

Plymouth... as you say there were thousands of them usually.. I was there last year and didn't see any at all

[Shandris]

5. I think I cracked this one the other day!

It's crazy simple (not for grasshoppers, but butterflies). Back in the 70s I used to see hundreds of butterflies. Years later, I didn't. What changed?

Simple. Indiana started using prisoners to mow the ditches. That killed all the milkweed. No milkweed, no pretty Indiana butterflies.

I was actually thinking about seeing if planting a milkweed patch is legal to see if it could help get some new butterflies going (with local help of course, I'm not made of cash!).

[beam me up scottie]

8. It shouldn't be illegal, they give out free seeds to encourage people to grow milkweed:

https://www.livemonarch.com/free-milkweed-seeds.htm

More info here:

http://www.nwf.org/Pollinators/Monarch/Milkweed-Resources.aspx


We stopped bush hogging our back pasture to help the wildlife, especially bees and butterflies.

[Shandris]

20. Oh, nice! I had NO idea anything like this even existed.

And it's amazingly cheap from the looks of the second site. Like a couple dollars to get started (plus materials stuff of course, but I think I can get the vast majority of that from family). Besides, I have like an entire winter to do it.

I noticed this year, at my dad's house (only), a resurgence in honeybees. That was nice (and thankfully sting free lol) to see, as I hadn't seen one before this year for quite a while.

Thank you so much!

[beam me up scottie]

24. You're very welcome!

I remember milkweed used to be everywhere when I was a kid, now it's scarce and I fear for the future of Monarch butterflies.

You can plant it with some wildflowers too, wild asters are great perennials for the bees and butterflies, they're very hardy and beautiful:

?w=960

[JDPriestly]

9. I grow lots of milkweed and, therefore, see lots of Monarchs and other butterflies.

I plan to grow some anis to attract Swallowtails if possible in my area of the country.

[Tanuki]

14. Do you have a butterfly bush (Buddleia)? I have one, and the swallowtails love it!

Monarchs also love lilacs.

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/spring2011/c060911_4.html

[JDPriestly]

19. I'm in California. We have lantana. There is a type of lilac that can be grown here, but I

don't grow it. It does not have the sweet odor that Northern lilac has.

[murielm99]

12. I saw plenty of grasshoppers and fireflies.

I did not see many butterflies.

I live in the country, in rural Illinois.

When I miss seeing something, I usually attribute it to pesticides. Our neighbor sprays excessively. His father sprayed more lightly, when the land belonged to him.

[leftyladyfrommo]

13. I think I 'm seeing fewer fireflies.

We used to have a lot. And fewer bees.

[Phentex]

15. I see plenty of butterflies...

haven't seen grasshoppers but I don't get too close to the grass.

[Baitball Blogger]

16. I intentionally set up a garden for butterflies.

And I learned not to be too greedy. After one incredibly abundant year, there were others that were followed with melting disease and large kill-offs.

Nature has its way.

The Monarch is the one we do need to concentrate on.

[dembotoz]

18. have a campsite at a camping resort in wisconsin

place is packed on weekend and empty during the week
so i prefer mid week....yes i am that antisocial

what struck me this year was the absolute silence at night.
beyond what i had been used to.
like deprivation chamber quiet.

hearing loss? dunno
i hear crickets and stuff at home in the burbs....

[Yo_Mama]

23. I was up in the Midlantic and saw tons this year in the summer.

It struck me at the time - I remember thinking that they must have recovered from the big freeze.

Normal numbers in the south.

[Tipperary]

25. We have lots in rural NC, but I did notice

very few honeybees this past summer. That made me sad.

[angryvet]

27. We had no

mosquitos and very few flies this year. Butterflies were OK, don't remember ever having grasshoppers here.

[gvstn]

30. Interesting about the flies.

I haven't been to any outdoor parties this year but I have seen very few flies.

I did have one in my garage that persistently tried to drink my Dr. Pepper while I was smoking a few weeks ago.

Glad to hear butterflies are still around and flourishing.

[tavernier]

28. Fortunately, no.

We are in the Florida Keys and we have butterflies and bees and certainly more mosquitos than you would ever want to see. But we also have ocean breezes that blow off the pollution and poisons.

But I understand your concerns.

[greytdemocrat]

29. Plenty of them both. nt

Still seeing grasshoppers. Near St.Louis.

[Le Taz Hot]

32. We had an overabundance of grasshoppers this year for some reason.

If I could get them when they were small enough I throw them into the widow webs. (I have a garden in the back and we don't use any type of "icides" so critters are not an unusual thing to see.) We had no aphids this year which is weird because the ladybugs, lacewings and praying mantis' showed up but there was nothing for them to eat. Never did get any aphids this year. We had a bazillion beetles that LOVED my cherry tomatoes but they'd just swarm one tomato at a time, suck it dry, then move on.

[KoKo]

33. Less fireflies, no grasshoppers, less butterflies and bees...

I live in the suburbs of a city and I blame some of it on people using leaf blowers instead of raking their lawns. The blowers are now high power and also go into the shrubbery which blows out insect eggs, larvae and compacts the soil.

I would wish to ban blowers...but, realize its a convenience that people feel is important.

We've planted Butterfly Bush and other plants that attract some bees and butterflies but its nothing like the diversity of insects that I remember growing up.
.