This blog post was sparked from a startling observation–a monarch butterfly in my backyard (in April). To most this doesn't seem like an issue. It was spring after all, and with warming temperatures come butterflies. The monarch butterfly, however, should not be in Southern New York until mid May, so why was this symbolic pollinator in my yard in late April?

Max Goldman, high school senior and nearly lifelong port Washington resident and environmentalist, has contributed this observation on phenological mismatch, on his observing a lone Monarch way too early in the season. Freak of nature or something more systemic and insidious?

Read More