Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: Daily Pics of Butterflies, 0 by TexasPuddyPrint

TexasPuddyPrint wrote:
Great idea!!! This time line should give us all a reference point on what, when and where to expect butterflies :o)

I was at the ranch on Satuday...winds were 23 mph but there were gobs of sulphurs, checkered whites and pipevine swallowtails still flitting about.

Here at home there were six fresh Mournful Duskywings on my duranta. Must've all emerged close by. There larval host is oak...and I have two huge trees in my yard...not to mention all the dratted runners that pop up :o) Never realized oak was a food tree. Hmmm...I'll never be able spot a caterpillar on those huge trees!

An equal number of sulphurs and whites flitting here too. Also saw a fresh Red Admiral was at the duranta too. They prefer butterfly brew and fruit...so I'll have to make a batch of bait this week. Had put it off due to the lousy weather.

Had three hummies zipping between the duranta and cape orange honeysuckle. Did come inside to fill up a couple of small feeders for them too. It took the female about 45 seconds to zero in on the feeders!!! Didn't take any photos as I was potting up some plants and getting seeds started.

Oh...and the Guava Skipper caterpillars are getting cuter every day. Getting big too. Strange critters...always tucked inside their refugium. I cleaned out their cat cage - they stink! Or maybe it was just the old guava tree leaves. Anyway, I removed a couple from their nests and nudged them onto fresh leaves. The others I just cut around the old leaves and set those on new leaves. Figured they'll come out when they're good and ready and make a new home on a fresh leaf.

Here's a photo of a gobs of sulphurs back at the ranch. I think the bush they are on is called White Brush...every time I saw one of these there were gobs of butterflies on it.

I was able to get 14 sulphurs and one gray hairstreak in this photo :o)

~ Cat


This message was edited Apr 15, 2007 10:46 PM