Bumblebees feeding on Swamp Loosestrife (Decodon verticillatus)

Where are all the bugs this year? Normally this is the time of year when you would hear insects singing day and night. Normally you would see butterflies on every clump of wildflowers. Normally you would see spider webs along every path. Dragonflies should be skimming along the edges of the ponds. Not this year.

It makes me think of Silent Spring published in the New Yorker in 1962. Rachel Carson wrote about the impact of pesticides on the environment. The silence we are hearing now is due to the extreme drought.

The flowers and insects we do see tend to be clustered near water. I photographed these bumblebees this morning as they went to feed on the native Swamp Loosestrife growing along the edge of Potter’s Lake.