This morning I discovered the ... FIRST ... BST butterfly, hanging from the twig in the cage. It's been about 1.5 hours now and it is still clinging to the twig but now has it's wings spread. Can't get much of a photo because of the twig's position in the narrow cage.
We are having storms here although right now, the rain has subsided. There is nothing in the cage for it to feed from so I assume it will need to be released soon. Hate that it's stormy but assume it should still be allowed to fly away when it's ready to venture forth?
Also discovered one new BST baby cat on the parsley this morning so I've had a new mama BST visit the parsley once again. Only see one little BST cat so far.
My thanks to everyone for the help, information, links and encouragement. It has really been delightful to watch the growth of these lovely little creatures. I will try to get a photo of it with it's wings extended before it flies away.
Mary
1st BST Butterfly from my babies this morning !!
He/she is plumping and spreading it's wings... whoo hoo
Beautiful BST Mary, Congratulations!!!
Thank you, Frostweed.
Can't wait to see him/her better and try to determine the gender. Just to see it fly away will be so thrilling. I'd like to carry the enclosure into the back garden area where there are nectar plants but with all the other little guys still hanging on the twigs, afraid I'll damage them by moving the cage around so it will have to find nectar on it's own.
Mary
I am sure it will have no problem finding the nectar, those guys know their way around right away.
Congratulations!!! My biggest is in his "J" now...
Well, when he was ready to go, off he went! Didn't want his photo taken, didn't want to gossip, just wanted to get out into the big world. It had the yellow across it's back so it must be a little boy. He took off down the street and about 20 minutes later he visited my garden in the back. I was so surprised to see him and didn't even have my camera out there. Was out there to fecth the new baby. Once I got the baby BST cat settled, I took my camera back out and sat a while but he didn't come back. Maybe in the days to come, I'll see him again. What a treat this was ... just made my summer. :-)
Mary
I know what you mean, my first butterfly was a Gulf Fritillary and I was totally amazed at her beauty, and of course I was hooked, such a wonderful hobby this is.
Josephine.
LOL Mary! They take off so fast like a kid off to college!
So true! Let's hope he doesn't return dragging a bag of dirty laundry ... :-)