Missing butterflies

I've been noticing that despite all the new blooms in my yard I haven't seen any butterflies. I was wondering whether there was anything to that, and apparently there is. Butterfly populations are the lowest in three decades.

It seems weird because last summer the painted ladies migrated through Davis so we had three days or so where there were thousands of them flying through town, and now there aren't any.

According to the article, there are only about half as many species and only about 12 percent of the total number of butterflies as there are normally. This may be due to the unusual weather we've been having, both directly due to affecting the life cycle and indirectly in effects on the plants they eat.

It's also having an effect on bats since there are fewer insects overall for them to eat.

They're welcome to our crane flies if they want them.