I wrote to the membership of the International Butterfly Breeders Association on May 26, 2026, to get us all thinking more about what we're observing all over the world during season changes. Butterfly breeders are asked all sorts of questions about butterflies, and we try our best to inform people and be butterfly advocates. The IBBA shares information, like what was written here, to the membership frequently, to ensure we're up to date with current studies and important concepts in...

Unfortunately, many beneficial native plants that volunteer themselves in people’s yards are misunderstood and being pulled out as “weeds”. Would seeing the pollinator the plant benefits or attracts make someone more likely to allow a native plant to grow in their yard, or would simply understanding the plant isn’t an invasive weed be enough?

Could the drop in observations on iNaturalist for the Eastern Black Swallowtail for the first half of the year in 2025 be correlated to extreme weather events or is the drop in observations independent of weather conditions? A comparison without correlation would indicate another cause for the drop in observations when an increase would be expected due to the increase in data added to the database each year.