There were a lot of butterflies in Texas this spring. My aunt Shellie Metroka got some great photos of them in her yard. I asked her a few questions about these butterflies.

J: Why do you think we had so many butterflies in Texas this year?
S: I think it was because we had a mild winter and the drought ended. It was a good combination of weather-related circumstances.

J: What types of species did you’d see the most often? We’re there more than one?
S: There were more Red Admirals than other kinds but I was able to identify Hackberry Emperors and Question Marks. And there were three or four different kinds that I didn’t get photos of so I wasn’t able to identify them.

J: what species did you see the least?  Or we’re they all the same species?
S: There was a Black Swallowtail that was just beautiful but I only saw a couple of those. I tried to get photos but it wouldn’t hold still long enough.

J: You got some great photographs of the butterflies. How hard was it to take those pictures?
S: I was surprised. It was easier than I thought. The camera I used has a great zoom feature that really helped. I will admit that for every great shot, I had to delete four or five blurry ones.

J: Did you notice more of anything else, like bees this year? How often did you see those?
S: It’s funny, usually there are lots of bees and not so many butterflies. This year it was the other way around, lots of butterflies but not so many bees.

J: do you have a favorite butterfly?
S: Of course you can’t live in Texas and not be partial to Monarchs, since we are on their migration path. I also really loved seeing the Question Mark. It’s an intriguing name and a really lovely butterfly.

We don’t see as many butterflies now as we did at the first of May but we still see them. My mom is trying hard to plant butterfly-friendly plants in her yard to keep them attracted to our house.

Thanks Aunt Shellie!

Butterflies could be seen all over North Texas
Photo by Shellie Metroka

Red Admiral
Photo by Shellie Metroka

Question Mark Butterfly
Photo by Shellie Metroka

Hackberry Butterfly
Photo by Shellie Metroka