Silly me, I thought it was because they loved my kale, which I planted last summer and is currently in full bloom. Turns out that these Red Admiral butterflies are all over Ocean County, NJ today and even making headlines because of it: Butterflies Fluttering By: Red Admirals "Irrupting” All Over The Place “The sudden influx of the butterflies is called an "irruption" — a natural, cyclical population boom that causes an increase of butterflies every few years. And the unusually warm winter we had this year helped them to thrive, experts say. A boom of this size has not been seen in 12 years, according to butterfly watchers.”
They do love the kale though. I’ve got 5 plants in the front yard and each one has about 6 or 7 butterflies dancing around it at one time. The kids don’t seem too interested, though Abbie was the first one to notice them early this afternoon, while she was looking outside the front door. I can’t get over seeing them everywhere. I’ve NEVER seen so many butterflies in one place at one time. I keep stopping in my tracks as I walk across the yard, just to watch.
I feel a little bad because the greenhouse door is open and I noticed that about 20 of them seem kind of trapped in there. They are all up there fluttering near the ceiling! I hope they can find their way out again.