Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: Daily pictures #99, 1 by mellielong

mellielong wrote:
Just a few pictures from the museum today. I've got a Zebra Longwing, a Malachite, and a Monarch.

My boss finally has some green shrimp plant and ruellia cuttings in the flight cage, but I only counted two Malachites left so I think she's too late. While out with my net, I managed to catch two Monarchs, two Cloudless Sulphurs, and two Gulf Fritillaries. A guy in the parking lot said he'd never seen anyone actually catching butterflies before. That's one downside to the museum - having observers every time I go butterfly catching! When I miss one I feel really silly. Oh well, I'm sort of resigned to being eccentric anyway. On the upside I totally thrilled a five year-old girl by letting her hold a Monarch caterpillar. She behaved a lot better than the boy who kept shaking the plants and swinging his arms at the butterflies. It's weird how children can be so different. Parenting, I guess.

We've still got some Great Southern Whites (with plenty of food planted for them this time) and I saw a Julia in the flight cage. So the butterflies my boss traded for or ordered are hanging in there with these 80 degree temps. Melanie, however, is wilting. I had to crank up the AC and drink my ice water after chasing all those butterflies!

Melanie