Have you seen the red admiral butterfly migration?
 

I thought I was losing my mind... driving north into Buffalo today, and there were all these butterflies crossing the highway, and all but one were moving west to east! It's kinda hard to ID a butterfly (or moth) at 65 mph...

But later my mother mentioned that she'd heard something on the radio about red butterflies... and I searched for news reports on "red butterflies" and found a number of articles talking about the "red admiral butterfly" migration being earlier and larger than usual, due to our warmer spring.

So I was *not* imagining things!

Sad to say, I killed three of them. Can't brake for butterflies on the interstate.

Have you seen the butterfly migration in your area? If so, tell us where!

I guess that what I saw last week ... had a lot of what I was calling "reverse monarch" butterflies ... and yes, they looked somewhat like your pic. So now I know!

Years ago, my daughters and I were driving to Kansas and we were somewhere in the pan handle of Texas and we had a similar incident. My eldest daughter was 9 and told me to stop, because I was killing the butterflies. It was incredible to see. They were yellow, not sure what they were. It was the end of May when it happened.

When I was very young in the late 1950's, we still lived in Kansas and we were on out way to my grandparents' house in Goddard, just outside of Wichita, and we had to stop for a herd of turtles crossing the road. My dad stopped the car because at first look it appeared the road was moving, then he realized what it was so we stopped and watched them. It never happened to us again.

I live in Grandfalls Texas and two years ago they stopped here and rested on the trees for a few days. It was amazing and oh so beautiful. Last year we had some but not nearly as many as before. I hope that they come and stop by again this year.

We have those here alot. Have seen them already this year.

Thanks for sharing. What an experience! Mother Nature is awesome and we miss so much of it.

I've not seen butterflies do that. However, we have large moths called bogongs which swarm like that. I have been in buildings where they swarm up against the windows and block out the light. They have a very fat, edible body and are generally as long as one's middle finger, but can be larger. I will try to attach a photo of the first one I have spotted this year.[ATTACH=CONFIG]332707[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]332708[/ATTACH]

edible???not by me...that is a frightening pic-that close up of the moth.......but speaking of the red admiral butterfly....it looks like what we have here in Illinois, but I always thought they were a kind of moth????????they are colorful and they do like my butterfly bush!!!!!

Sometimes in Las Vegas we have a swarm of grasshoppers.....ick!!!

We experienced the same thing on Sunday while driving south from Toledo to Columbus. At first , I didn't realize what was flying in front of the car. It reminded me of a scene from "The Birds". Needless to say, they made quite a mess on the windshield, grill of the car, and the backs of the mirrors. I can't imagine how many had a collision with my car!!

what a pretty butterfly, but not here in CO yet ..nature's creatures are sometimes the most beautiful or ugly ..

I live along the WI/IL border (WI side) and spotted a few of these at a dear friend's house. Her hubby told us that the whole back of his garage were covered with them - beautiful creatures aren't they?

Had some on my rose bush under the sewing room window. There were just 2 or three. Thought they were so pretty, but didn't know what kind they were. Thank's again, Quilting Board, for coming up with an answer to a question. LOL

Flowering bushes in my backyard have been full of these butterflies the past few days. Have seen only one this morning. NW Ind.

We have had them here in Northfield, MN. My brother mentioned seeing hundreds of them a week or so ago when he was driving up from Rochester, MN. I know we have had them here.

Anita in Northfield, MN

goodness gracious, that moth is huge and beautiful!!!

My friend and I were commenting on the number of butterflies around lately. I just heard on the news this afternoon and there was an article in the newspaper about them. Seems like the warm weather and early spring brought them out. I must have had 20 around my deck one afternoon. Really something to see.

I had at least a dozen on my vibernum (don't think I spelled that right) bush this afternoon!

Yes I have
 

I have had some red admiral butterflies in my yard recently. So beautiful.

Hundreds of them flew past our house yesterday. Absolutely awesome watching them flit around! I am from St. Paul, Minnesota. And, it was a gorgeous day! Edie

Yes, we've had tons of them here in Illinois the past several weeks.

I live close by Buffalo and my husband and I were just talking yesterday about all the butterflies around here.

they're here in central new jersey today. i've never seen them before so they're new to me.

Several days ago there were about 30, of those orange and black butterflies, feeding on the blossoms of our crabapple tree. I'd never seen that before, here in MN. Several years ago, in Nov., we were in the panhandle of Florida and caught the tail end of the Monarch butterfly migration. I'd never seen so many in one spot before - they just covered the shrubs.

I drove through a swarm of bees one time. that was scary thing.

Ah, so that's what my DGD spotted on our hike last week! It was sunning itself on a bush near the trail.

I spotted several of those butterflies in the last week or so.

I've not seen a swarm of butterflies. I sure would like to see one. The only swarm I've seen is bees! Ouch!!