Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: Daily pictures #97, 1 by AmandaEsq

AmandaEsq wrote:
Hey everybody - I'm insane trying to rehab some monarch cats (4) who aren't doing their thing. Good news is though, that 2 of them, after being offered different kinds of MW have started to eat again - common MW. None of the cats were pulled from the common MW so it's strange for the preference, but if it gets them thru this "phase" and on to migration, well it'll be worth the insanity.

There are 19 chrysalis and 3 big cats ready to take their turns.

On Saturday, almost at once, about 10 of them all started marching around to find a spot to hang from. I moved all of them into the large enclosure that the BST had occupied. Fortunately (?!) the last remaining BST chrysalis popped about the same time and I released the last of them.

Not much butterfly watching here - mostly cabbage whites, an occasional Eastern Tigertail and the motley crew of skippers and hairstreaks.

Thanks for all your pics and the updates. I've read that conditions are fairly poor and migration numbers expected to be low again due to drought and warmer temps having caused host plants to bloom out already. Back to tend those in sick bay!

A.