Yesterday in the Reston, Virginia area, (Fairfax County and near D.C.) in my opinion, counts were very low. It was sunny, temperatures in the high 80’s, and high humidity. I live in Loudoun County, in Sterling within a mile of the Potomac River, and about 20 minutes away from Reston. Its the same thing. But what is interesting to me is the number of specieis noted are not as down in comparision to the numbers out there. We had a hot dry spring and now a very hot and humid summer, with rain almost every day. The theory with people I was with in the count is that the dry spring did not help, or did the number of days of very poor air quality due to Canadian fires. I dont have exact figures but it is very apparent. These are my personal observations. The most predominant species in my area right now, besides Cabbage Whites, are Eastern Tiger Swallowtails and Zebra Swallowtails. I also have Monarchs spotted so far, 8 days since April, intil now. I feel the population most impacted are skippers. Again, I see the various species, just not the high numbers. I know that these are my own general comments and lack the empirical data, but trying to keep it simple.
counts were very low
This corresponds with my recent experience. Yesterday (July 11, 2023), I went to Pinery Provincial Park, a premiere destination for butterflies in southwestern Ontario, and saw no skippers, specifically no duskywings, no crescents and only two checkerspots. There were a collection of other butterflies but certainly the count was lower than I expected. The weather was fine and flowers were out, though fewer than I would expect. Pinery has had a cool spring with a hot, wet July.
Hi Byron. Welcome. It seems likely that wild fire smoke affects butterflies, both by dimming sunshine and (possibly) by the particulates affecting respiration (like the rest of us!). Up here in Quebec Canada we have had very heavy rain from the beginning of July (after a super June) and I seen lower numbers of adults although species count seems good. Given a few days of good morning sunshine, I would hope that the numbers bounce back. Good news is that vegetation is exuberant with the extra rain, and the caterpillars should be feasting!