Less butterflies in 2011?

I was just curious if anyone else had experienced this. We are in North GA. Normally we have a lot of butterflies in our yard every year. I plant a lot of plants that attract them. This past year however we had probably a quarter of the butterfly population we've grown accustomed too. I do have out door cats. But they didn't seem to affect the population the years before that. I have no idea if they developed a taste for butterflies and I maybe missed it. But I'd think I'd see the butterflies in the yard before being killed. But I just wasn't seeing them this year. I found an article saying a lot of Monarchs had been killed due to cold in Mexico but I'm not sure if there was something affecting the butterfly population as a whole and thought I'd see if others had noticed a change.

US/Mexican trade is booming. Perhaps many Mexican farmers (where the Monarchs over-winter) can now afford pesticides that they couldn't before.

Neither my father nor I have seen a single monarch this year, anyone else have a complete lack now?

The forests where they spend the winter are under constant threat of illegal logging. There's been a few documentaries and a National Geographic story.

That's unfortunate. Thanks Dale.

My pasture had lots of milkweed and we didn't see a single monarch. And it did seem like the numbers were down for other kinds too. I heard the Bt corn pollen coats stuff and kills the caterpillars, but not many people grow corn right around here, either.