Melanie Returns (with Pictures)

Sorry I've been MIA for a bit. Work is a little crazy and then I just started feeling really tired. I thought I might be low on the B12 again but I had my blood tested and it was off the charts. Unfortunately, so was my white cell count. But after a round of Cipro I'm feeling much better. And that means I have lots of pictures to share.

Honestly, a couple of weeks ago I was ready to state that butterfly season was winding down. I hadn't seen a Swallowtail in a while, but it must have been due to the weather. We had the remnants of Ida and then a front came through so it was windy and rainy for a while.

But then it got warm and sunny again and all the butterflies came out to play. Like this Cloudless Sulphur who was laying eggs on my Senna ligustrina (Privet Cassia).

At the museum, we're getting both color forms of Cloudless Sulphurs. Those yellow ones blend into the flowers so well! Most of the time I find them by accident.

I still get confused though between the Cloudless Sulphur (yellow version) and the Orange-Barred Sulphur. Orange-Barred is on the left, Cloudless on the right. I always do a double-take to make sure I identify them correctly. Since we only get the yellow Cloudless cats once a year (when the plant blooms), I'm not used to seeing them.

Mom and I donated our time to the Tampa Bay Estuary Program and cleaned up a lot of invasive air potato. Afterward, they fed us lunch and I chased butterflies. Like this Dainty Sulphur!

The Gulf Frits are always out and about. I picked four cats and a whole lotta eggs off the passion vine today. I've seen the Zebra Longwings flying around, but they don't want to hold still.

Mom and I came home and we were shocked to see not one, but two Tiger Swallowtails in the yard! I believe one was male and one was female (the one pictured). I've searched for eggs with no luck. : (

And I think this is the male; it has a lot less blue on it.

Giant ST showed up later the same day! I saw it again today and it laid four eggs on my rue. Could be more, I'll check again in a day or two.

The skippers are still sunning themselves out front. Now that it's cooler, they actually hold still on occasion. Last week at the museum there was a family looking at the chrysalises and I heard one of them say they liked the Long-Tailed Skipper (we have pictures of the butterflies next to the chrysalis). So when they came inside the flight cage I showed them one that was sunning himself like this one. I told them it was pretty rare to see one holding still and we all "oohed" and "ahhed" over the turquoise coloring.

Found myself another Dorantes Skipper cat!

Saw this very weathered Tiger ST the day after I saw the other two. So that means there were at least three in the neighborhood.

Believe this is a Twin-Spotted Skipper. Apparently, the skippers like to sun themselves on my plumeria leaves.

We released three Monarchs this week and I think they're hanging around. I've also picked a whole bunch of eggs off the milkweed this past week.

Good pictures, missed you. Not much action lately on the thread. I have a few but normal bfs. I have the candle tree and the Privet Cassia but no sulfurs have laid eggs that made it to caterpillar stage that I can tell. Maybe next year.

Nice to see these Mel! Trying really hard to get myself a winter vacation somewhere warm with butterflies!

I rounded up dozens of Monarch cats today. There's almost as many of them as there are aphids, LOL! Living in the middle of Florida I see a good variety, but I still want to travel both north and south so I can get a look at the many butterflies that live just beyond the periphery of my area.

Beautiful photos, Mellie. Your Twin Spot skipper is a Brazilian Skipper (Calpodes ethlius), and the Dainty Sulphur is a winter form Barred Sulphur (Eurema daira). It has been quiet here lately. Glad to see some more photos and posts.

Dale Clark
Dallas County Lepidopterists' Society
www.dallasbutterflies.com