I have not seen one honeybee so far this spring. It’s the first time. I have seen an abundance of bumblebees since April and May and they are the large ones, not the smaller ones of last year.
I have not seen one Monarch butterfly (migrant) or any of the Swallowtail butterflies, or even a Viceroy for that matter. Butterflies are usually abundant at some point here in June because the present year’s caterpillars have morphed. It’s too late for the Monarchs to make a decent comeback because, as far as I am concerned, their frequency was yanked, and I don’t know about the Swallowtails and Viceroys. I’ve seen some of the smaller butterflies (Cabbage Whites and Skippers) that usually go unnoticed, except by people such as me, and a few other native species but the more dramatic butterflies are missing so far. I did see a Mourning Cloak a while back. One.
There’s plenty of milkweed here and it’s one species of milkweed the Monarchs need to lay their eggs on.
Later this month I will update this post if I begin to see more butterflies. The place I live borders hundreds of acres of protected wild lands. There are open meadows which are mowed every year before the emergent flora begins to grow so that grasses and wildflowers are maintained. If anyone should be seeing butterflies, it’s me. I can see one of these meadows if I go outside. I am that close.
As The World Churns 
Phew!! There are loads of honey bees nearby, just not passing through the backyard. Thank you for that!!
As the summer wears on I’ve noticed many of the usual insects are missing or are very rare. I’ve been coming across some of the tiniest insects I’ve ever seen. The most miniscule insects that can be seen with the naked eye have been landing on me so I am compelled to study them. They are exquisite. Imagine what their world is like.
A new spider for me is the Venusta Orchard Spider — which has beautiful shades of green on it. One had built a web across the outside of one of my windows but was snatched, most likely by a bird. I found another one, a small one, which was building a web between the head of the mattress and the wall. Haha! How did that one get inside??
A few bats finally showed up and have been very busy at night.
I’ve never seen so many Luna Moths as I have this season; more than all of the previous years combined. I have to attribute this to our neighborhood bats being MIA which are not picking off the ones attracted to the lights here.
There are so many night insects this year (scads) because there are no bats!! This is the first year of no bats around. I used to see them every evening at dusk very close by. Good grief!! The lights outside are swamped!!
One of the butterflies I see a lot of in Spring are the Spring Azures. They are the most glorious and delicate shade of blue. I did not see one until a few days ago and it was smaller than usual. It flew along the length of the back fence. I guess they are called Summer Azures at this time of year.
I went on a butterfly run. I saw a lot of Cabbage Whites so they are not struggling too much. They are the most common of all every year. I saw one White Admiral, a few Great Spangled Frittilarys and several Skippers which are hard to identify as such because they are so small and quick. There’s a definite deficit.
I’ve done a couple of butterfly searches out back and did not see many.