Got Butterflies??

I just spent about 30 minutes outside in my garden and walking the surrounding wood-line. Numerous flowers are in full-bloom, the breeze was calm; but something was missing.

I saw exactly zero butterflies. No skippers, no swallowtails, no sulphurs; not even a cabbage white. Nothing ! Something isn't right; I have bee-balm, queen-anne's lace, ox-eyed daisies, black-eyed susans, butterfly weed, butterfly bush and other assorted species blooming everywhere. Not one butterfly.

Nothing was to be found except for one single Black & Yellow Lichen Moth. That was it. The bee population seems low to me also. I have a few of the small bumble bees on my tomatoes and I can see about a dozen or so honey bees on the white clover that is my lawn. No great numbers of either. As they would say in Alabama; "something just ain't right".
The Butterflies Of West Virginia and their Caterpillars (Pitt Series in Nature and Natural History)

Posted by High Virginia Outdoors     Photos by High Virginia Images

STOP

In this busy world, we are often in too much of a hurry to fully take advantage of opportunities we are given. It is really a shame that we do not take time to enjoy the wonders of nature.

I was driving through Canaan Valley to make a delivery on Friday and was within twenty minutes of my destination. I noticed some honey bees swarming in a fence row.

I thought that I should get some photos on the way back and traveled on. After about 4 miles, something made me turn around and go back to get the photos.
It was quite an experience. I pulled my truck as close to the bees as I could. They weren't exactly in a docile mood. I only was able to take 3 photos, before the inside of my truck was filled with bees. By that time, my dog was hiding on the floor behind the seat.

Niether one of us were stung, but it was an interesting minute for both. I planned on stopping on the way back through, in hopes that they would settle down. When I came back there wasn't a bee in sight. They had already moved on.

Never let an opportunity pass, you never know if another will present itself.
tucker county canvas prints
Honey Bees and Beekeeping: A Year in the Life of an Apiary, 3rd Edition


NOVA: Bees - Tales From the Hive


Keeping Bees And Making Honey