We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/996614/
Yesterday was White Peacock day at the museum; I must have had ten or so emerge. It's nice to be able to get a good look at them when they're fresh and new. I never knew the undersides had a reddish tint to them.
And here's the topside. I was also super excited to see our first batch of Eastern Black STs on our parsley. I rounded up about a dozen of them. Have you ever noticed they're quicker to stinkhorn you than many other cats? And they've got their technique down - they really bend their heads around and smear that stuff on my hand. Good thing they're so pretty.
Forgot to say my Spicebush baby didn't make it. He stopped eating and was getting weaker and weaker so this morning I put him out of his misery. I still have the bigger Spicebush cat who I expect to start turning yellow any minute now.
In the good news department...when I got home yesterday I had to go pick more milkweed for the Monarch piggies. Mom was pulling in the drive when I noticed my first Zebra Longwing of the year in my yard! I haven't seen very many of them this year - a couple at USF and a few at the museum. This was the first one in my yard and I think it's no coincidence that the firebush is just starting to bloom. It was fluttering around the passion vine but I'm afraid they're may be too many Gulf Frit cats on there already. We watched it for a while but then the thunder started and we got inside before the skies opened up.
In other good news, I was walking around the yard to get some bay leaves and stopped to check out my other plants. I do this pretty much every day - just walk around and check for cats and eggs while I'm out picking food. So I was totally surprised to get to my Hercules' Club and see a nearly full-grown Giant ST cat! Where has he been hiding? I knew I had the butterflies around so I'd been checking pretty regularly. I saw a leaf that had big chunks out of it that weren't there before and I looked down and there he was! Caterpillars can really hide when they want to. I haven't raised any Giants in a long time so I'm happy to have this one.
Melanie
Those white peacocks are gorgeous, Melanie! I saw a few when I visited my daughter fall before last, and I was surprised at how small they are - for some reason I thought they were bigger than they are.
I found 3 nearly full grown giant swallowtail cats hiding in some rue last spring, so I know how they can hide - a rose bush had grown in with the rue, and they were hiding under the thick cover.
A male luna moth emerged yesterday, and he flew off last night - 'hope there was a female out there somewhere "calling"!
I found some more red-spotted purple cats, so I brought them in, and my first cloudless sulphur is pupating. I saw a female cloudless sulphur in my garden today - she may be the mother of my CS cats.
Sherry
Awesome Luna!!!!
~ Cat
I still haven't found a single RSP cat. I wonder....maybe the drought is to blame? The Monarchs skipped us this spring...not that I blame them! I can just hear them discussing their spring plans.
"Hey, Mona, it's March...are you going to stop by that place in Medina Co. and lay eggs later on your way north?"
"I'm afraid not, Archie. I heard there just hasn't been much rain and hardly any host or nectar plants are ready along that route because of the drought."
But that's okay. I've had some really great butterflies and moths that came by.
This message was edited Jun 15, 2009 11:35 PM
And I forgot to add that one of my two BST cats is starting to pupate!
The Peacock is beautiful Melanie! Too bad about the spicebush but we can't save them all.
I was out in the yard in the heat, but shade most all of the day. I kept seeing a GST floating around and it went to a center bed I have in back once. I remembered that was where one of my toothache trees are. They are only a foot or so tall, I checked and it was surrounded by four o'clocks. So I gave several of them trims so the sun would hit on the tree. I saw it come back three times and go up and down beds and all over the yard, but didn't catch it laying. Sure hope it did. One of my two inside is pupating now.
I took I don't know how many pics trying to catch two GFs having bf sex but no luck. The female even layed down on a wide plant leaf and the male just wouldn't cooporate! I don't have the pictures out of the camera and it is too late to do so.
I saw some whites laying eggs on a couple of small plants and briefly looked and saw about 25 eggs I think. I love the whites, but they don't sit still long.
Linda...The Monarchs skipped us this year too. If I remember we were having some cold fronts or high winds about that time that may have pushed them further east.
Rut roh...now we know Sheila is truly hooked! Welcome to the ranks of butterfly porn photographers!!!
~ Cat
Melanie and you started it.....bad influence you two are. Here is the lay down pic. LOL!!
This was the buckeye, tattered as she was laying eggs!!
Mating giant swallowtails?
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89/PucPuggy/MatingGSTs.jpg
Hehehe!
Sherry
;-)
I confess, I'm a butterfly voyeur! It's a good thing I have "experience" though as I've had to explain several times at the museum in the last few weeks why the two Monarchs are "stuck together". We always get some good chuckles out of that. I can tease with adults, but when kids are around I stick to my very scientific explanations. I was a gifted child so I used to ask a lot of questions that kids my age wouldn't normally think about. But luckily I had parents who were always very matter-of-fact with me so I try to do the same for others. The birds and the bees and the butterflies all do it and there's no reason we can't learn about it!
My big tank of Monarchs have decided to all make their chrysalises - yea! I had some volunteer milkweed come up in my bromeliad garden so I cut that for food tonight. I guess the butterflies don't want to navigate all those spiny leaves because there wasn't a single egg on the milkweed.
Hey Sheila, what is that Buckeye laying eggs on?
Melanie
The Buckeye is laying eggs on Turkey Tangle Frogfruit....is that not a cute name. It is a Texas native and makes a great ground cover too. It's bloom is very tiny but lasts a long time.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/62730/
Well, that's what I thought it was! It's also a host for the Phaeon Crescent and the White Peacock. I didn't realize Buckeyes would use it as well. Now I'm going to have to crawl on my knees through my neighbor's yard looking for them while dodging fire ants. At the museum the Buckeyes tend to use the plantains so I had kind of forgotten their other host plants. How interesting...
Melanie
I've checked Frogfruit for those many times, nothing ever found. But I'm glad they sometimes use it somewhere!
My poor BSTs...the one that was pupating, the chrysalis doesn't look right, not "finished". The other started the processing, then started writhing as if in pain, little stinkhorns out. Looks like they won't make it, these cats may have been found too late.
Sounds like they were parasitized doesn't it.
My FF has a lot of little holes in it, but I find nothing. I guess I need a magnifing glass.
Congrats Texas PP!!! Cat's Two-Barred Flasher was featured as a random bugfiles picture of the day today!!! All the pics in the TBF database are hers!
Well, a Queen just flew right by me when I was outside watering. One egg on milkweed spotted already. But I better go water some more. With all the heat and drying winds we've had, some plants are really suffering even if they're watered every day.
Hey! I think I've got some action now! Put out fresh butterfly brew and had a comma right away.
This message was edited Jun 17, 2009 11:38 AM
A little skittish so had to move to the other bait station!
Black Swallowtail cats all over my curled Parsley. Nearby is a flat leaf Parsley with no cats. Will they eat that one also? The curled Parsley is near gone. Are these near ready to cocoon?
This message was edited Jun 17, 2009 11:43 AM
Rut roh, I planted 80% flat leaf! LOL.
Have you all heard of this book?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/22/AR2009052201128.html
This guy is going to be on The Daily Show tonight on Comedy Central. Sounds interesting
and an NPR page
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104021730
This message was edited Jun 17, 2009 12:57 PM
My Two-Barred Flasher was in the spotlight? Rats! I missed it!! See what happens when you have to work late...and if anyone asks...I'm taking a break right now :o)
~ Cat
ps...one of the Pipevine chysalids I brought back from the ranch weekend before last emerged this moning. Turned it loose before I left this morning :o)
I just knew my PV was going to emerge today because it was getting dark, but still hanging there. Tomorrow will be the day.....maybe.
I'm jealous of your exotic butterflies...Is it a good year so far?
It's a banner butterfly season here this year...I just posted a blog about it in the Houston Chronicle
'Hells Hatchery'
http://www.chron.com/commons/persona.html?newspaperUserId=rjudd&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=rjudd&plckPostId=Blog%3arjuddPost%3ad591a3bf-0aff-4108-8ae8-396f679f0507&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest
Rj
It was a little slow here, but now it's picking up! I like your blog, BTW! It's been hectic today. Mrs. Queen came by several times and decided she had found the promised land of milkweed utterly free of cats. So she fixed that problem most of my milkweed had. Lady BST came a few times and laid eggs on the Rue. There were also eggs and new 1st instar cats on the Italian Parsley and wild parsley. Last, Mme. GST (I think) left an egg on a Hop Tree. Hmm, now where am I going to put all these eggs and cats?
aaah...good picture. You should have seen me today in my butterfly blind ..atop a ladder trying to get one of the elusive swallow tails...didn't get the shot either...I think it's the one that has all those larvae in the blog photo..I couldn't believe how many cats were on it..!
Thanks by the way
RJ...loved the writing!!! Always a joy to read your musings :o)
~ Cat
Thanks Cat!
It's been so hot here the Chalice vine leaves are getting yellow...
Nice article RJ! Love the shot of the cats eating you out of house and home. You need to send some extras our way. We are just now heating up and seeing more action. Had a GST nectaring today on my monarda.
D's SO built this birdhouse for me an instead of putting it up I've kept it on the front porch and set plants on it. I guess this bst cat thinks it will be a nice place for his "siesta" all he needs now is a sombrero.
This message was edited Jun 18, 2009 8:05 AM
Funny MJ! I'm surprised it didn't go inside! Last year I had one crawl inside a piece of cactus wood. I had to cut it out.
Well, I was a bit remiss in catching these guys up off the porch, so there's quite a few hanging about. Well, it's 20% reduction in heat/sun...protected from predators, ( 2 yr old grandson's being the exception) and it's rather a large space. So, I guess it will work.
Love that Mexican Villa style bird house!!! Wouldn't that be cool to have a BST pupate on every one of those sticks - then they would look like those green jalapeņo Christmas lights :o)
All I get in my birdhouses are sparrows and wasps!
~ Cat
I have put out some brew and gotten nothing yet here..no Commas or Question Mark's. Wish this rain every other day would stop!!
ummmm...don't complain!! zero rain all June..18 days of 90F and above..things are starting to look like it too.
Check this larvae out...it started morphing from the time I took the photo this morning, to the time I left for work at 1pm.
Mrs. Ed This year I have not had one caterpillar on my curled parsley and a whole bunch on my flat leaf. I always see a BST paying loads of attention to my fennel, which I allowed to bloom. However I haven't seen any cats on it. Who knows?
