Scarce as hen's teeth

I m not sure what that means so I will analyze. Do hens have teeth? If I caught one in my sharp and foxy teeth I could check, but I will hazard a guess. I would say they do not have teeth. (Unlike my cat brother Adric for example, who has huge teeth.)

Anyway, what my Person tells me is that monarchs are as scarce as hen's teeth but she exaggerates, always, and in fact here is one now. The sad part is she is not exaggerating very much. These beautiful creatures, and all butterflies it seems, as well as bees, are in short supply this season. Why? Habitat loss. Drought. Chemicals that either attack insects' central nervous system called neonicotinoids and other chemicals that keep nectar plants from growing near row crops. In other words, mainly things that people do to control the world around them. Then there is a resulting thing - unintended consequences, a concept this Little Red Dog struggles with daily.

Monarchs, that lovely span of orange flutter, that is tough enough to fly VERY far, is so scarce that if you see one you can report the sighting online at Journey North.

This visitor stopped for a bit of nectar in our yard and we sat quietly and watched it. I hope we were watching something we will see many times again in the future. But it is possible that we were watching a delight, once as common as dog's teeth, that will be, someday, rarer than hen's teeth.