Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 35, 1 by mellielong

mellielong wrote:
I was checking the cats this evening after I came back inside from planting more nectar plants. Lo and behold, my Zebra Longwing was hanging from the top! No warning or anything - it was a chrysalis one minute and a butterfly the next.

Mom reports the ZLWs are hanging around the bougainvillea in front of her office window. I've seen more duskywings lately. Dad reports "lots of those yellow butterflies". He also saw a butterfly he was hesistant to describe to me (because often my parents start describing things that don't actually exist). He told me he saw one like a Cabbage White but it was speckled. I showed him a picture of the Checkered White and he was relieved. Dad's a little color-blind, too. Mom released a Zebra ST this afternoon and I saw it fly by and over the house when I was out planting this evening! I hope they stick around! Mom's been seeing a Giant ST a lot and I'm hoping it's the one I released.

Mom and I went out to Cockroach Bay this weekend because the Environmental Protection Commission and Parks and Rec are celebrating "Clean Air Month" by having all sorts of events. They took us on a ride through the preserve and explained how they were turning old borrow pits and phosphate mines into wetlands. I had two Zebra STs eclose that day so I took them with me and we all watched them eclose and then I released them in the preserve. One of the rangers told me they had a butterfly guy out last year that counted 16 different species, so this year they're going to do an actual census where they split the land into squares and get all official about it.

After the guided tour we went canoeing. Mom only flipped the boat twice. Dad thanked me for not beating her with the oar, but I told him karma did it for me when the boat conked her on the head the second time we flipped. Mom also has to buy me a new digital camera seeing as how it was IN MY POCKET and we fell in SALT WATER! The butterfly book I had in my bag is also a soggy mess. And to think she's pandering for Mother's Day gifts...