DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 67

Thanks Cat! The exhibit was awesome! I didn't want to leave!

Goodness, I've been so busy the last few days I've hardly been online, so catching up with all the great photos!! We were out in the north horse pasture and went to check the Willows and look what I found....two Viceroy cats....so we brought them up.
I've release a few Monarchs and Zebra's in the last couple of days, but have about another 5 or 6 Zebra's that should be ready in a day or two and another 8 Monarchs that should be eclosining and another 6 Monarch Cat's and a few Queens.
The Sulphurs have been having a field day on the Cassia's too !
He's smiling for the camera !!

Here's another pic from the side

Has anyone ever put black swallowtail cats and monarch cats in the same terrarium? All but two of my BS cats have done the chrysalis thing and I have loads of monarch cats. Right now I have one monarch cat in with the two BS. Of course I have fennel for the BS and the monarch is on milkweed. Just wondered if anyone can think of any potential problems doing this until I can get another container in a couple of days.

Msj...what caterpillar is that? A Red Spotted Purple? Sure is strange looking. We don't get those this far south. :o)

~ Cat

I bought a small pot of Italian parsley yesterday and, wouldn't you know, there was a very small caterpillar on it. Now I'm wondering what I will feed it after it eats my little plant. Do I understand correctly that grocery store Italian parsley isn't acceptable? Which BFs would be on parsley?

My two GST cats are getting very large. Please tell me what to expect next and any changes in their environment needed.

Thanks.

Cat, it's a Viceroy

Well, that goes to show me :o) - we don't get Viceroys down here either - well they are extremely rare for us - I think there was a record for one back in 2007.

~ Cat

I'm so happy I've just got to share that The Pipevine Swallowtail has landed! Can't tell you how many times I've seen the dark swallowtails just float on by. I was outside deadheading flowers when this one decided to land. I didn't have my camera and I had to walk right by it to go inside but it stayed and let me get a bunch of photos. It was missing a big chunk of the lower wing on the otherside but this side was near perfect.

angele, beautiful photo.

DNP

Thanks DNP, aren't they amazing?!

This little caterpillar was on a 4-inch pot of Italian parsley that I bought Saturday. Growing very fast. Any idea what BF?

TexasPuddyPrint, thanks to your beautiful shots with your new camera, DH decided we needed to go camera shopping !! We ended up buying the Sony DSC-H29. This photo was my very first, so it is pretty simple. LOL. I am DEFINITELY not a camera geek, so it has to be simple and I had held off getting a new one because I didn't want to have to learn any more new technology right now.

Dogs....looks like you've got a Black Swallowtail caterpillar on your parsley. They use parsley, rue, dill, fennel and a few other plants as larval hosts.

Congrats on the Sony DSC-H29. I still have a Soncy DSC-H9 (among a few other cameras) I carry around in the camera bag. I just can't pick one :o)

~ Cat

Thanks, Cat. My worry is how I'm going to feed this little guy on the parsley when this Italian parsley plant is devoured. This one was a closeout and I don't think the nurseries around here will have any more. I do have a curly parsley plant. Will they switch from one type of parsley to another? And grocery store parsley is a no-no even if organic; is that correct?

And I was just telling DH the other day, "I'm not going to do this all the time," (raise caterpillars). And then I found another GST egg and it became a cat sometime in the last 24 hours and is growing strong. ROFL.

ROFL...famous last words...I'm not going to do this all the time - can't keep count of all the times I've said that myself :o)

I've had to resort to grocery store herbs on very few occasions - try to get the organic one - something that hasn't been sprayed with pesticides or insecticides. Some country markets might have fresh herbs...or check with your local garden centers. Will mention lots of store herbs have been sprayed - the residue left in the leaves can kill the caterpillars even if they have been thoroughly washed.

You can try introducing other parsley, fennel, dill or rue. They also use Queen Anne's Lace and Dutchman's Breeches.

Other than that perhaps there are neighbors growing herbs or someone close by who raises butterflies too. It's worth a try.

~ Cat

I hear ya dogs… I'm forcing myself not to bring in any more monarch cats, as I'm not 0 for 3! I was excited to have one make it to chrysalis, but it elclosed sometime between 9pm and 3am, fell, and was really wet. It was still alive, but it never did get its wings dried and stiff.

Anywhooooo. They are still hard at work laying eggs.

And then this old monarch male was really grouchy and attacked this other male. I split up the fight and the younger one kept on nectaring.

I think this is a black form Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, but never got a view of it with open wings.

And another…

Finally got a silver spotted skipper at the house. And it was on the same day as I saw this one at the park.

And these two really cute skippers. No ID.

Wow, Mrs Ed, fantastic photos.

How wonderful to see so many Mrs. Ed. Very nice!

Well I must say, it has been very slow here this year compared to last. I have more monarchs because i increased the milkweed population. But I added a whole bunch of other nectar flowers and hoped to have more! We'll see… it's just getting hot here.

I had two sightings this week that I think were new to me but I didn't get a picture, so I just don't know.

Oh, that reminds me. Who else gets so excited to see a mourning cloak, only to realize it is a grasshopper!!! DUH!

by the way, that meadow blazing star liatris (in the dualing monarch picture) is a HUGE hit.

I believe this is a Pink-lined Sphinx Hawk Moth. I've had them here, but it scared the dickens out of me last night when I was collecting milkweed leaves.

Ooh, have to catch up! Angele, that is a gorgeous photo. Y'all are making want to buy a new camera! Maybe for Christmas...

DNP you now have a Black Swallowtail! I'm raising them, too. In fact, their Mommy was laying eggs on my rue (see picture). Sucker was fast and kept landing on everything else and I kept yelling, "No, the rue is over HERE!" I've switched mine to parsley and they're fine. I've also fed mine organic parsley from the store and they ate it up and came out all right. I'd rinse it really well first.

I think that is a dark form Easter Tiger ST because you can kind of see the stripes on the wings due to the backlighting of the sun.

My Tiger STs are happily growing although I have lost a couple. My Polydamas nearly all died. I don't know if my neighbor was spraying or the mosquito patrol came by, but I only have two left.

At the same time the Black ST was laying eggs this Spicebush was on the pentas. Oh, and this weekend at the museum I managed to net three ovipositing females: one each of Spicebush, Pipevine, and Black ST! I had to wait for the Spicebush to come down from the camphor tree but I knew it would get hungry and when it went for the red salvia I went "whomp' with the net. Something either stung me on my finger or I hit a thorn when I did it but it's okay now and hopefully she'll lay lots of eggs in the flight cage.

I also ventured back into my neighbor's property for the first time ever. He owns the 9 acres that runs behind the houses on my side of the street. I knew from county records that part of it was wetlands. I saw some Spicebush STs and a Zebra Longwing flying around, and found four Spicebush cats on camphor trees. He's got a lot of cherry trees too, but I didn't find anything...yet. But in the next post I'll tell you what I did find.

There was this skipper hanging upside-down on a blade of grass so naturally I bent down to look at it. It flew away, but it left these two eggs! I've searched my books and I think the grass it was on was Maidencane and I "think" it might have been a Clouded Skipper. The eggs just started changing color today so hopefully they'll hatch soon.

Finally, speaking of eggs, I need everyone's help. I was out collecting cats and eggs off my beans again. Apparently, the skippers are very sexually active. Anyway, on one leaf I saw some eggs that were a little...different. Does anyone know what the heck these are and why they come in different colors?! Are they friend or foe?

Melanie

Mellie,
I know you know this but keep those away from your other cat's for now. I've had some weird looking 'eggs" on some of my plants and I'm not convinced that they are not predators of some sort. I've released 6 Monarchs in the last two days and I saw them laying eggs today. Also saw the Zebra Longwings Laying eggs. If they can stay ahead of the Gulf Frits, that will be great. 3 of my Zebra's longwings have not eclosed correctly. Very small, and they couldn't fly. I think they are much more sensitive than others about being "disturbed", and with them being on the porch well that happens sometimes. Anyway, I "washed" the Milkweed on the southside of the house, trying to keep the aphids under control. Really trying hard not to use any thing but may have to resort to "Safer soap pesticide". One of my Queens is NOT eating, but in General I'm getting more and more out there, so I'm hoping I can get ahead of the predators with them all. I killed another 6 wasps today. Where the heck do they come from !?

Thank you Mellie :-) the joy of seeing these beautiful creatures in our gardens is only added to when we have someone to share with. Congratulations on all you beautiful visitors too. :-)

The eggs are in solitary for now, lol! I've had the same thing happen with my Zebra Longwings this year. They had trouble either making the chrysalis or coming out and when they did they were small and their wings didn't straighten quite all the way. They also looked faded, like they were much older. I had two and I released them in the flight cage at the museum since I didn't think they would make it in nature. They were still flying around last weekend. Fortunately, I've seen some normal Zebra Longwings flying around the neighborhood. They love firebush; I planted a row just for them and I had one out there feeding on it a few days ago

Random thought...I keep seeing Gulf Frits in my vegetable garden. Granted, the passion vine is located on the fence behind and just to the south of the garden. I even have to pull up runners sometimes from inside the garden. I've got canteloupe flowering now and the okra is just starting. Whenever I see the Frits I tell them to get busy pollinating my crops! I already know the skippers are "getting busy" on my beans, LOL!

Melanie

Melanie

Glad you are posting all the exciting finds Melanie. Look forward to seeing what the eggs turn out to be.
Great pictures everyone...can't post my pics right now, but I have a bunch to share when I can. It will take me a week to go through them!

I took pics of an EBST that we had on the porch...it eclosed this morning.

Almost ready to go outside......

ID anybody on this interesting little one?

Maybe a Strymon melinus - Gray Hairstreak, Nanny (out on a limb 'cause I'm no expert but it is fun to 'play')

Congrats, nanny...we seldom see the hairstreaks with the wings open like that. I found this for comparison, and think angele is right!
http://www.ctbutterfly.org/life%20histories/Gray%20Hairstreak/Gray%20Hairstreak.htm
Now, as for my mystery skipper cats, there were 10 that pupated and two that aren't quite there yet. No more, one emerged and I believe I've solved my mystery!
First, here's what I first saw in the cage (light was bad, but it can be seen):

Exciting! But I had to be sure....knew what it looked like, but couldn't believe it! Took the cage outside and tried to encourage the butterfly to open its wings without escaping.
Voila....I believe I have Laviana White-Skippers, Heliopetes laviana! Yes, I'm jumping with joy!

This message was edited Aug 12, 2009 9:36 PM