I know, they're moving just about 24/7! If they were smarter, they'd realize that being still would conserve their energy better.
DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 65
The GST are just the opposite, I never see it being active at all.
Congradulations on the first bf Lee....great shots! It is a special feeling and now you are hooked!!
Great shots Nanny, and Linda.
Great photos everyone!!!
Linda that Spicebush is truly awesome!!!
Congrats on your releases Lee. Sure feels good to watch them fly into the world doesn't it :o)
Are you sure the Gulf Frit was using aristolochia? The use passion flowers.
~ Cat
Cat you are so correct I meant to say my passion vine. I don't know where that came from. I don't even have aristolocia... I do have some seeds sprouted but they only have 2 tiny leaves. Guess i was thinking one thing and typing another. Happens when you get old. lol
I'm pretty sure the Zebra Longwing has laid eggs on my Corkbark Passion Flower. But it's not a big passi and mine is just about 6 months old from a small divison. Anyway, I've seen several Zebra Longwings around in the last few days and have cats suddenly on my Corkbark Passi. I'm really hoping it will be the Zebra. I'd like to increase their numbers around here.
I have a number of zebra's in my garden but haven't seen them laying eggs anywhere yet. I hope they do.
I have Passi's planted in the sun and the shade. I've read where the Zebra Longwings like the passi's in the shade, so I'm hoping...I just love them !
Maybe i need to put some in both sun and shade.
First Eastern Tiger Swallowtail of the season (in my garden)
Zebra Longwing was hanging around my Corkbark Passi, which is in a basket in the shade. It's kinda small to support cat's yet, so I hung a couple of small maypops in a basket in the same spot. hoping I get some cats soon!!
Congrats Mrs_Ed on your ETST. I saw a brood of them in early spring here (when Azaleas in full blooms), but since then I haven't seen any more down here.
MJ, I'm so jealous, you've all kind of butterflies there, and I haven't seen much in my garden yet. I saw one single Painted Lady and a EBST from a distance the other day. Some skippers, and that was it!
I bought some boomerang passion vine - passiflora biflora from butterfliesetc.com last year and that's what the zebra longwings out here prefer. I had other varieties growing in my yard for years but never had a zebras lay eggs - the butterflies would pass through and nectar but never stuck around. That passiflora biflora is the one they like laying eggs on :o)
You also might try growing some passifloras where parts of the vine will be shaded on and off throughout the day. I've noticed the zebras like to hang out in areas of the yard that are partially shaded - you know where the sun dapples through the trees.
Alright Mrs_Ed...stop with the big beautiful tigers!!! Grrrrrr...we don't get those this far south - sure wish we did. My feet still hurt from last year - when I was on a TDY in Georgia and chased those butterflies several times a week trying to get a photo - not one ever cooperated!!!
~ Cat
Cat, I've got passi's in full sun, part sun/shade, dapple sun/shade. The Zebra's been hanging around the one that gets very little "sun", mostly dappled sun/shade. And it's in a hanging basket. this is the most I've seen them hang around so I'm hoping they lay eggs.
hey, no photo, but looks like my monarch egg hatched! HOLY COW is it tiny.
Ooooh how exciting that's! Happy for you Marna. Ah, I saw a very pretty orange looking sulphur today. You know, not the typical light yellow of most sulphers, but darker orange and some circular spots on its wings. It visited my Butterfly bush and the coneflower but I didn't have the camera then.
I released two BST today and have several in the nursery to emerge the next few days/weeks. I am concerned about one that I have, will attach a picture. It had began to shed it's skin to pupate, but it only split a little ways. I didn't see the action, but I think it may have died. It was one of two larger cats that I had missed bringing in early and may have been parasitized. I isolated it and will keep it contained in the small cage in case insects emerge. It doesn't move when touched like some will.
Well, I had something very unusual happen today. My first beautiful GST of the season eclosed today.
We went to release her on the Hercules club, so she would remember to come back and lay her eggs on it, but instead she took off without letting me take a picture.
We were looking at her go up when she made a u turn and landed on my husband's head and sat there for a little while, here she is. Then she took off and landed high on the tree.
Well Frank...you are blessed! Next year you will have eggs laid on your head! LOL!
My GST in residence was in comma form today. The pic looks like it is floating on a cloud!
I release two GST last week, and keep seeing more flying around but not laying eggs. I brought some eggs in from the Rue, but since I have been bringing in BSTs off of that also I doubt they are GST. My Toothache trees are very small yet so I don't know if they can find them but my citrus should be easy to find.
my last 3 BST still have not eclosed after almost a month...I wondering if they have died. I brought in some monarch eggs too, and now that I've been killing off the wasps and those red milkweed bugs I'm seeing a ton more eggs, especially Queens...
Don't worry about the swallowtails eclosing - they work on their own schedule sometimes. As long as they haven't turned black (in a bad way) and they don't smell funny, they're probably fine. Mom was surprised the other day when a Zebra Swallowtail emerged - the last one I had went into its chrysalis around the end of March! Just mist them every now and then to keep them pliable.
Now I'm off to buy more parsley for my BSTs. I took lots of caterpillar photos yesterday so when I get home I'll share.
Oh, but I have to tell you guys now that yesterday I found a Red-Spotted Purple on my cherry tree!!! The first one ever to lay on my cherry! I thought when I planted it I was dreaming but like I always say, "If you plant it, they will come". Woo-hoo!
Melanie (doing her happy dance)
Ok, I bought more parsley and as I was unloading the car two hummingbirds went racing around the porterweed and then over the house. I don't know if they were flirting or fighting but they were making a lot of "tweet" noises. I couldn't believe they were that close to me. I was starting to think they had left since I hadn't seen one in about two weeks, but then the other day going to work I saw one as he left the porterweed to go perch in the oak tree. That's where he waits until I get in the car and he feels it's safe to come back. So you can see why I was surprised to be standing next to the car and have two come flying out at me.
In other excitement, here's a picture of my Red-Spotted Purple cat! He had really silked himself up - even had his antlers silked together, LOL! I wasn't sure if I should try to help so I left him alone and he seems to have worked it out. Still haven't found any more on my cherry tree, but I'll keep looking.
My Dorantes skipper made its chrysalis. Normally, he would be wrapped in a leaf but I unwrapped him for observation purposes.
Here are three of my Zebra Longwings acting shy in front of the camera.
And here are my parsely piggies (Black STs). Two are in their slings now, but there's still a bunch munching away.
Melanie
Wow, Melanie. I'm so happy for you! Seem as if you've hit the jackpot! LOL.
Melanie, what kind of cherry tree do you have?
Hi everybody, haven't had time to be on much, but I do read, when I can. Babysitting my Grandson is becoming a full time job. 9 months old today. : )
~Lucy
I have a prunus serotina. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2519/
Zebra Longwing stopped by today! Between the Frits and the hummingbirds I don't know how it managed to sneak in there.
I had one of those clearwing moths buzzing around, too.
And my faithful duskywings...I think I've got a whole colony of them. I also spotted a Long-Tailed Skipper, three Gulf Frits, a Monarch (male, thankfully), and what I think was an Orange-Barred Sulphur. Oh yeah, and a Polydamas came by later this afternoon. Good butterfly day after all this rain!
Melanie
Great shots everyone. Mellie you are a busy happy girl!!! Do that happy dance!!!
Dang...where are my BF's!!! LOL
I bought stuff for cats too and not a one yet....*sigh*
If you plan for them they will come in time.
Nanny, when I went to Hornbakers today there were tons of butterflies on their plants. I wanted them to get in my truck an go home with me!
Things are really starting to pick up here. Though I haven't seen the black swallowtails, I've been looking for cats because I found them last year on the 12th.
Mellie - what did you raise the Dorantes Skipper on? Are you going to post the complete life cycle on your gardening blog or a separate post? Would like to see that.
~ Cat
This message was edited Jul 12, 2009 12:11 AM
Cat, the Dorantes eats the same thing as my Long-Tailed skippers, Desmodium spp. Also known as beggarweed or beggarticks. Whenever I tell someone what I'm feeding them I say, "You know those little seeds that are shaped like half circles and come in rows that stick to your socks?" Everyone knows exactly what I mean. When I was a kid those things used to get stuck to my shoelaces, socks, jeans, etc. Last night I found one in my bedsheets, LOL! I didn't get to take too many pics of him as a cat because when I found him he was already third instar and then it took me another instar to realize he wasn't a Long-Tailed Skipper. But when he emerges I'll be sure to post something special.
I went to the museum today where I found about thirty Black ST cats. I don't know where they've been hiding but in the last month they are just everywhere! It took the Zebra Longwings a while to come out this year, too. Wonder why that is? Maybe something to do with how dry it was?
My BSTs are eating the organic parsley I bought at the supermarket ($1.69 for a big bunch). There was a lady getting some dill right next to me and she was saying to her husband how she only needed a little and what would they do with the rest. I thought about telling her to feed it to some hungry caterpillars, but I wasn't sure they would appreciate my opinion. Right now I'm watching one of my BSTs finish making his sling and prepare to settle in. I'd pet them if they wouldn't stinkhorn me.
I let a bunch of kids hold Monarchs today in the flight cage which was fun. I also released a few Polydamas and some White Peacocks. Today in the few minutes I spent running from my door to the car (it's hot out, people), I saw a Cloudless Sulphur, Gulf Frits, Long-Tailed Skippers, Monarch, and my usual gang of duskywings. Seriously, I think I counted about eight at one time. Pretty much the same mix at the museum with the addition of many, many Polydamas. I must have picked a hundred eggs.
Melanie
Mellie you have more of them than i do. Are you just buying parsley at the grocery??
I released a second one today.
My first Giant Swallowtail emerging in the flight cage. What a thrill...still have seven in the nursery.
whoa! big one! I love those.
Ooh, I have two Giants in their chrysalis. I can't wait until they emerge!
Yup, I bought a big bunch of parsley (organic, of course) from the supermarket. Most plants stay good in the fridge for several days and the cats are eating it and no one's puked or died yet so I figure they like it.
So I was out picking passion vine this evening and gave my cherry tree the once over while dodging mosquitos. I still haven't found any more Red-Spotted Purple cats, but I did find this interesting guy. I looked in my books and I think he's a Nason's Slug Moth. If someone seconds me, I'll add him to the Bug Files and take more pics. At least I knew better than to touch him! I enjoy petting my caterpillars, but only the ones who don't sting me in return. They can stinkhorn me, but no stinging.
Melanie
