Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY PICTURES #107, 1 by vitrsna

vitrsna wrote:
some fun happenings in the garden this morning:

1) I discovered an Opsiphanes chrysalis on the Areca palm on the patio. Hidden from the birds, but in clear view of someone moving from the house to the patio (so i can keep my eye on it). I am thinking it will be about 16 days before the butterfly leaves the chrysalis. It looks like a newly made one, maybe made yesterday. I don't know how the caterpillar eluded me because they are very large 3"+ with an orange racing stripe down the back. Well yes i do know because they are masters of disappearing into the background. Would have liked the opportunity to say hello to the caterpillar though.

2) Polydamas passing through and feeding heavily from the zinnias...moving very fast. I wish the photo were better. It looks like she is looking at the camera, but it turns out she was seeing her boyfriend coming to whisk her away, both flying past my nose at the speed of light.

3) One of two Queen caterpillars that i've found on the Asclepias. They are still very small, i am pretty sure it is a Queen but it's possible it could turn out to be a Soldier.