DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 69

That actually seems like a nice assortment. I haven't seen a Clouded Sulphur before and that's a great photo. I think, according to my book, they technically live in my area, but I haven't seen one. Lots of Cloudless, though.

The cassias and sennas are starting to bloom here and there are sulphurs everywhere! I was picking cats and netting butterflies today at the museum. We have Cloudless Sulphurs, Orange-Barred Sulphurs, and Sleepy Oranges. You can't tell them apart when they're little so I end up checking the tanks each week and sorting out the caterpillars into their respective tanks. Gotta wait for them to grow up a bit, although I can usually guess the Sleepy Oranges because they prefer the Senna obtusifolia. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/58178/

I finally downloaded my pictures and have lots of good news to share, so let's start the show! I know the forum gets cranky if no one posts a Spicebush cat photo every now and then, so here you go!

And here he is freshly molted. I had four Spicebush Swallowtails over on my pentas and plumbago mixture today. It was crazy! I also had two Giant Swallowtails, two Zebra Longwings, a crazy Cloudless Sulphur, a White Peacock, and the usual Duskywings and Skippers. And you know I got a butterfly net for my birthday...

The Long-Tailed Skippers went nuts on my beans this week so I rounded up all the eggs and took them to the museum. I was sorting skippers too as I found two more Dorantes in with the Long-Taileds. The boss will be happy.

Here are the skipper eggs starting to change color as the caterpillar develops. They kind of remind me of flan.

Have I mentioned how much I love my new camera? Check out this Spicebush shot. Pentas are my new best friend.

I can't remember which skipper this is, but it's cute! And like every other insect, it is drawn in by my porterweed.

Speaking of insects, the bumblebees were out in full force on the cassias today at the museum. I was picking cats and the buzzing was so loud for such a little insect. Good to see the bees are healthy and happy, though!

So I was torturing my Silver-Spotted Skipper cats by making them pose in awkward positions because I cannot get over the fact that they have ADORABLE RED FEET!! I keep thinking mine should be in their chrysalis already. I mean, you know how skippers' heads normally look too big for their body? These guys actually look proportional, they're so big!

My Orange-Barred Sulphur cat posing on the couch. He's just made his sling and should be a chrysalis soon.

Doesn't this duskywing look so pretty against the blue porterweed? I was amazed by how nice this picture turned out. The duskywings are my friends because they're my constant companions. Even when there are hardly any butterflies around, I can count on them.

Gulf Frit enjoying some pentas this morning.

White Peacock resting in my plumbagos. Look at that skunk vine - I need to weed!

One of many Spicebushes I saw today. So here's the story - I have a butterfly net and I have a butterfly house. I figure if I can get a female in there with a host plant maybe I can get some eggs. I caught a few Spicebush but they were boys so I threw them back. I saw two females, but they're wily.

I did catch a Zebra Longwing and a put it in with the new passion vine (Lavender Lady) I got today. Dad took me to my fave nursery and Mom and him let me have a birthday shopping spree!

The Giant Swallowtails must live on pentas. They are on them all the time. They seem to have a slight preference for the pink.

Now for the awesome part of my day. I was a little bummed about not getting a female Spicebush when Mom comes running around the corner of the house with her hands cupped together yelling, "Get the door!" She tells me she caught one just as it landed on the cherry tree (which has the pentas planted right below). We get it in the butterfly house and I see the blue and tell her that yes, it's the female. But then I get to looking at it.

At this point, I still had the male Spicebush in there (had to consult my book first) and I notice that this butterfly is larger. Like, a lot larger. I know females are generally bigger, but this got me thinking. Then, Mom's words came to me. She caught it on the cherry tree. I took another look and realized she had caught (with her bare hands) a FEMALE TIGER SWALLOWTAIL (dark form)!!!! And it was probably about to lay eggs on my cherry tree!! So I took some cherry and put it in a container and set it in the butterfly house. I really hope I can get her to lay some eggs. If she doesn't sometime tomorrow I'll let her go, but I hope she does!!!

And yes, that's a Monarch chrysalis up there in the butterfly house. : )

The underside shows the tiger stripes! Mom has the craziest luck sometimes. I was really surprised by all the butterflies around today. Mom always tells me she watches them through the window while she's working, but I never get to see it for myself as I'm at work. And the last month or so it's been way too hot to go outside for very long on the weekends.

And just for kicks, here's my other winged friends. These are sandhill cranes and I'm sitting in the breakfast nook looking out the window to the patio. I like that they eat the insects out of the ground, but they're kind of dumb and have a tendency to stand in the middle of the road. And horns don't scare them. Gently nudging them with your car doesn't scare them. You pretty much have to wait for them to decide to move. The good thing is that the endangered Whooping Crane hangs out with them so I guess that provides more safety and security for them as a group. Not that I've ever seen a Whooping Crane, but my dad has. I wonder if they sound as annoying as the Sandhill Cranes. They're really obnoxious when they get going. I mean, there were some across the street from me - like 100 yards away - and it sounded like they were in my yard. One time I heard them as they flew over the house. I'm glad butterflies are quiet.

One more thought before I go...I had to perform some emergency medicine on a Black ST cat today. He had molted, but there were still strips of his old skin stuck to him. I got as much off of him as I could and he was actually pretty good about not stinkhorning me unless I hit a sensitive spot. It made me wish that I had a loofah for caterpillars. Sometimes they just need a little help exfoliating!


Melanie

Nice Mel. I had a good chuckle at your Mom yelling "get the door"!

Great photos!!! I had no idea the Long Tailed Skippers stacked eggs like the QMs!!! Interesting! By the way, I'll never eat flan again without remembering your comment! Not sure if that's good or bad but I'd hate to see the size of caterpillar if it came out of a serving of dessert flan!!!

~ Cat

I suppose it's better than me running through the house yelling, "Butterfly sex!" We almost saw some of that yesterday amongst the Giant STs. The guy was trying hard, but she was not impressed. He kept up a lot longer than the Gulf Frits; they seem to give up way too fast, but then again, there's a lot of them around so maybe it's easier for them to move on.

I must have some seriously good butterfly karma because I was just about to leave for the grocery store when a butterfly started flying around the garage. I saw a glimmer of blue and thought I had a Pipevine ST and got very excited. But it turned out to be even better because it was a RED SPOTTED PURPLE!!! it landed on my cherry tree and I thought it might be laying eggs but I couldn't find any. It flew off after a few minutes. Dad claims credit for it because he was sanding cherry wood in the garage and thinks the smell drew it in. I also dumped the compost pail and didn't cover it up because there's some rotting fruit in there. I'm also going to go check my neighbor's cherry trees. The Purples will be mine!!

Did catch a female Spicebush today and have her in the butterfly house right now. So far, no luck. But pulling in when I came back from the store I saw a swallowtail on the pentas and even though I was far away, I had a feeling it was a Palamedes. I was right!

And just for the Texans, here's the topside of the Palamedes. There are a few ways to ID the Palamedes. One, the yellow stripe on the underside of the wings that runs parallel to the body. Two, their body is striped whereas many swallowtails are spotted. Third, I think the yellow on the Palamedes (as opposed to the Eastern Black ST) is much less defined. I say it has an "air-brushed" look to it. I gotta get more host plants!!

And the sulphurs are still out in force.

Melanie

Melanie - Your photos of the Palamedes are excellent. I love seeing its striped body. The sulphurs must like red flowers. I caught a Cloudless on my Rajun Cajun ruella this morning.

A Monarch paid a visit to my butterfly bushes.

Monarch with wings fully open.

The three Pipevine Swallowtails were here again.

Melanie, you crack me up.

nice pix, shive.

I think this one is a Tawny Emperor, but I'm not certain.

Silver Spotted Skipper, I think.

Melanie...YAY on your RSP!!

Beautiful pics shive...that last one doesn't look real!!

Saw a Red Admiral but missed getting a photo. All I have is a Painted Lady.

i haven't seen a painted lady in ages Nanny! last year at this time I had bunches of them. And the silver spotted skippers.

bad, bad year here.

But nic pix!!

I have noticed that Sulphurs like red flowers. They're always hitting up my neighbor's firecracker fern. Love that Pipevine picture - so shimmery and blue!

So I went back outside after lunch and caught a Palamedes but it was a boy so I threw him back. I saw the hummingbird checking out the new plants I got yesterday. Not sure if he was on the porterweed or the firebush or both. I also found three RSP eggs on my cherry! Then, I went over to the neighbor's yard to check his out. I found one more RSP egg. I also stopped at one of the Senna obtusifolia that is coming up and found a nearly full-grown Sleepy Orange cat and tons of eggs. Nothing on the partridge pea, but the sulphurs won't leave my Senna ligustrina alone.

Now for the educational portion of my post...RSPs are in the same family as Viceroys. This means they have a lot of the same habits. For example, the way they lay eggs. They lay their eggs on the tip of the topside of a leaf. They'll sit facing the trunk of the tree and put their abdomen right on the tip and lay the egg. So don't bother looking elsewhere for them. Here's a picture of one of the eggs I found today. I still think they look like little disco balls.

Saw this pretty orange skipper hanging out on the pentas.

The Giant STs were out again today. Yesterday, Mom and I watched a male doing his best to convince a female to bear his children. Today, Dad and I watched as they were at it again.

A fuzzy Carolina Satyr - he wouldn't let me get very close. Haven't seen one in a while but occasionally they turn up in the leaf litter.

Melanie, you're a wealth of info. on butterflies! Thank for sharing them. I saw two Gulf Frits. earlier, they were flying and perch so close to me as they were paying no mind -- I think they maybe newly eclosed and has no real fear of the environment?

And this tattered Monarch. It has been around for couple of days, I hope it will leave some eggs behind.

And finally, I wanted to share this with everyone. My Mom has a friend at church who is helping support her adult children and grandchild. She's the only one in the house with a job right now and it's tough. So Mom and I went to Target and got her granddaughter, Michelle, lots of school uniforms and such. And a few weeks ago I had a bad day at work so I went to the Sanrio (Hello Kitty) store and indulged in some hardcore retail therapy. I got her a bookbag, lunchbox, and all the matching accessories. Yeah, I love Hello Kitty. All the stuff on my desk is Hello Kitty. My lanyard, my tea mug, everything. I love when someone asks to borrow my stapler, LOL!

Mom said that Michelle's grandma said she liked to draw, read, and was into animals. A few weeks ago I was at Borders and they had one of those butterfly guides in the bargain section (a whole $2.99!). I picked up two copies - one for me and one for the museum. But after I got home I realized I already had this book; they had just put a new cover on it! So I thought Michelle might like to look through it and I put it in the bag of stuff to give her. Apparently, she loved it and loves butterflies, as do most ten-year old girls. Yesterday, Mom came home from church and gave me Michelle's thank you. I'm totally hanging it in my cubicle at work! I don't have kids so I don't have any cute drawings, but now I do! I just thought you guys might like to see it.

Melanie

I like to share my knowledge. Remember, Gulf Frits are poisonous/nasty-tasting so they don't have to fear predators quite as much. I always laugh at the way Zebra Longwings (who also eat passionvine) fly like they don't have a care in the world. Just slow and lazy like there's nothing to fear.

Melanie

That is so sweet Melanie.....I love the drawings that my granddaughters make for me. Always have one on the fridge door!

Melanie - That little girl is quite the artist. I'd be proud to hang that picture at my workplace.

Aw! The little girl and the drawing made me tear up! So many people needy today...more than a couple of years ago, that's for sure!