So glad to hear that Josephine. I think we have seen more bfs this last two weeks than all of May!!...
I have another GST, and seven BST that are in chrysalis form now. I am not keeping the Gulf Frits inside, they would keep me busy for sure. I have them on all of my PVs except the tiny p. foetida that you shared. I don't think they have found it yet. The maypop was eaten down, but I am moving cats each time I remember to to one of my larger PVs. That is going to be a popular fence next year!
DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 64
I got a chance to take a couple pictures this morning.
Here is one more.
I'm so glad you all have butterflies and share the pictures. I don't see many here. sniffs sniff.
Cat~ you've got your skill down to an art when comes to raising butteflies. Such darling little angels you've gotten there!
Great pics...this is always a fun thread to catch up with! Here's what is going on in my neck of the woods. Is this some sort of weird "pupation party" or what? LOL. There is plenty of room in their enclosure, but apparently they want to hang out together.
Just where do you think you're going, mister? ;-)
Keep on marching, please...
Teheheee, SunnyG, those are too cute cats.!!!
Oh Sunny, that's precious!
Love that book photo - but don't get mad at the caterpillar - he's giving the term "Book Worm" a new twist!!!!
~ Cat
Very cool BST cats! I am trying to raise a few, too. I have one in chrysalis right now. This gulf fritillary was posing for me this morning.
Sorry- I forgot the picture!
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This message was edited Jul 4, 2009 9:28 AM
Here it is.
I'm preparing to kiss my passion flower goodbye. I've counted at least four. Look at the fat belly on this one laying eggs ( another one fluttering around in the background).
That's a very cool picture!!
I am envious of y'all that have your CAT's!! hahaha I ordered a Butterfly Bush from Springhill nursery in May & it took them almost a month to get it to me & it was early June by the time I got it & it arrived half dead so now it's totally dead!!!! Our heat didn't help! I am soooo mad with them, of course they say they will ship a new one out, but not until April.. I am really ticked as I had set up a special area & the dill, parsely & fennel are doing very well in the conatiners around this huge container I have for the bush!
However, on a good note, I think I too saw a Buckeye.. as it didn't have the tails like a Swallowtail.. & it was blue, of course it left as quickly as it landed & I was deadheading the Cosmos so I didn't have my camera!!! hahahaha
Between the museum and my house I am swamped with caterpillars. But that means I have lots of photos and wisdom to share so sit back and enjoy!
First up is a picture Mom took. For those who don't know, Mom works from home (tech support) so I planted a lot of butterfly plants right in front of her window so she can watch them.
She really likes the Spicebushes so she was trying to get a picture of one. Here she is aiming through the window to get it on the anise hyssop.
And she caught an Orange-Barred Sulphur ovipositing on the cassia. She said she wondered why it kept fluttering around that plant.
Saw a Checkered Skipper - I always see them around my Dad's Canary Island Date Palm. Must be a good resting spot.
Went to buy more milkweed at my favorite nursery and this little skipper was posed so perfectly for me. Last time I went to the nursery there were no caterpillars but they had plenty now. The owner said she had been worried and I agreed that there had been a strange lull in caterpillar activity.
Now, I'm not a big fan of garden art, but this was so cute I wanted to share it with everyone. Sadly, he was not for sale.
Very nice! Here's a couple of the fat PVST cats whose capacity to make Aristolochia leaves disappear is fast stripping my plants of foliage. I've explained the consequences of such gluttony, but they just won't listen.
So I've been raising some Long-Tailed Skippers again. When I was out collecting them, I noticed there was one that was a bit larger than the 1st instars I was collecting. He was eating the young seeds of the desmodium and not the leaves which I had never seen one do before. After he got a little bigger, I noticed he wasn't a Long-Tailed Skipper at all! He was some kind of skipper though, and after some research I determined he was a Dorantes skipper!
I've seen a few of them flying around over the years, but this was my first caterpillar. I placed him next to a Long-Tailed skipper cat so you can see the difference. Long-Tailed is on the left and had red marks on his face and a yellow stripe that turns to orange near the tail. The Dorantes is on the right and is a bit more plain.
Linda, my Polydamas cats have the same problem and they don't listen to me either.
My little American Lady chrysallis.
Here's a Buckeye I released at the museum today.
Underside of Buckeye
How neat! I have quite a few bean vines and so far the only things eating the leaves are beatles and grasshoppers. I've been hoping for one of the bean skippers to lay eggs!
A Spicebush I got to release at the museum as well (in between the scattered rain storms that soaked me not once, but twice).
In more skipper news, this evening I went out to pick parsley and saw a Silver Spotted Skipper! I know they're very common in many parts of the country, but this is only the second one I've seen here. I have some false indigo so I hope it laid some eggs for me!
And my Giant ST came out while I was napping so I released him after dinner.
In other news, I'm raising a bunch of Polydamas I found as eggs at Lowe's. I also have a bunch of Black STs I took from Home Depot. Just call me caterpillar rescue, I guess. Yesterday, I found some more Dainty Sulphur eggs and one cat in the vacant lot across the street. I also have a Zebra Longwing cat! I might have a few more, but the cats are still too small to be sure. We still don't have any Zebra cats at the museum, but someone must have gone out and netted a few adults because we had quite a few in the flight cage today. Hope they get down to business and lay some eggs soon!
Melanie
Could anyone tell me what kind of caterpillars use 4 o'clocks as a host plant?? My BF book doesn't say anything about them. Any help would be appreciated.
Great pics Linda and Mellie!
Don't know the answer Lee, but I found what looked like a skipper cat on my 4'Oclocks.
Melanie or anyone....can you ID this lil fella?
I believe this is a White Peacock on my giant tickseed (coreopsis).
Nice shot there!
Oh how pretty, I released a female monarch today, but didn't take pictures.
I had a BST to emerge today and since it wasn't so hot, I sat outside to watch the show. Got the whole process on camera!
This skipper was curious as to what was going on and lit on the top of the cage! Anyone have an ID on it?
Then I was out later and saw what I thought was a hairstreak or skipper.....but no it was a BLUE!!! Whoo..hoo!! My first one...now is it a Cassia or a Marine??
Either one it is not many reports in our area!!
That is precious Sheila.
Congrats Sheila! It's a Cassius Blue - they have a more overall white appearance than the Marine Blue.
...as for the previous caterpillar photo - some type of pesky small moth I think.
Here's a photo showing the Cassius and Marine Blues :o)
~ Cat
This message was edited Jul 5, 2009 9:36 PM
